Color Key to North American Birds - novelonlinefull.com
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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_.)
