Color Key to North American Birds Part 2

Order III. Albatrosses, Shearwaters, Petrels, Etc. TUBINARES.

(2 families, 30 species, 1 subspecies.)

Sea-birds keeping, as a rule, well off sh.o.r.e, and flying low, near the water, often skimming over the waves. Bill, with upper mandible hooked; nostrils opening through tubes; wings long and pointed; tail short; feet webbed; hind-toe rudimentary or absent. Color usually gray or black and white; no bright markings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BILL OF SHORT-TAILED ALBATROSS.]

Family 7. ALBATROSSES. DIOMEDEID?.

Nostrils opening through tubes, separated and on either side of the bill.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FULMAR.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: LEACH PETREL.]

Family 8. FULMARS, PETRELS AND SHEARWATERS. Procellariidae.

Nostrils joined and situated on top of the bill.

Order IV. Cormorants, Pelicans, Gannets, Man-o'war Birds, and Tropic-Birds. STEGANOPODES.

(6 families, 19 species, 5 subspecies.)

Large birds, two feet or more in length, varying widely in appearance and habits; in external structure agreeing only in having all four toes joined by webs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: YELLOW-BILLED TROPIC BIRD.]

Family 9. TROPIC BIRDS. Phaethontidae.

Bill pointed, somewhat tern-like; central tail feathers much elongated; chin feathered.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GANNET.]

Family 10. GANNETS. Sulidae.

Bill stout, its tip not hooked; chin and eye s.p.a.ce bare; tail pointed, its feathers not 'fluted.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANHINGA.]

Family 11. ANHINGAS; SNAKE-BIRDS. Anhingidae.

Bill straight and slender; chin and eye s.p.a.ce bare; tail rounded; its middle feathers fluted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: VIOLET-GREEN CORMORANT.]

Family 12. CORMORANTS. Phalacrocoracidae.

Bill with a hooked tip; a small pouch at its base; plumage usually black or blackish.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BROWN PELICAN.]

Family 13. PELICANS. Pelecanidae.

Bill hooked at tip, with a large pouch; tail short, square; eye s.p.a.ce bare.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAN-O' WAR BIRD.]

Family 14. MAN-O' WAR BIRDS. Fregatidae.

Bill hooked; pouch small; tail long and forked; eye s.p.a.ce feathered.

Order V. Ducks, Geese, and Swans. ANSERES.

(1 family, 49 species, 6 subspecies.)

Birds of familiar form; bill, except in Mergansers or Saw-billed Ducks, broad and with rows of 'strainers' or 'gutters' on either side; wings short, in the Ducks usually with a bright colored patch or speculum; tail generally short; legs short; feet webbed. Most species, unlike the Grebes, take wing rather than dive when pursued.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MALLARD.]

Family 15. DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS. Anatidae.

Bill long, narrow, and rounded with tooth-like projections along its sides. (Mergansers. Subfamily _Merginae_.)

Bill broad, flattened, typically duck-like; tarsus or leg with transverse scales; hind toe without a lobe. (River Ducks. Subfamily _Anatinae_.)

Bill and tarsus as in preceding, but hind toe with a broad lobe or flap. (Sea and Bay Ducks. Subfamily _Fuligulinae_.)