Identifier: birdlifeguid00chap (find matches)
Title: Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Chapman, Frank M. (Frank Michler), 1864-1945 Seton, Ernest Thompson, 1860-1946
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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board. Two species of Petrels are found off our coasts, Wil-sons and Leachs. The former has a yellow area in thewebs of the toes and a square tail, while Leachs Petrel hasthe webs of the toes wholly black and a slightly forkedtail. These differences, however, would not be appre-ciable at a distance. Wilsons Petrel nests in certainislands of the southern hemisphere in February, andlater migrates northward, reaching our latitude in Mayand spending the summer, or what in fact is its winter,in the North Atlantic. It is, therefore, probably thePetrel most frequently seen by transatlantic voyagers atthis season. Leachs Petrel nests on our coasts from Maine north-ward, arriving from the South in May. The nest ismade in a burrow in the ground or beneath a rock, anda single white egg is laid. Generally one of the birdsspends the day on the nest while its mate is at sea, butat night the incubating bird leaves the nest, its place beingtaken probably by the one who has been feeding duringthe day.
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Plate XXVII. Pages 118, 119. NIGHTHAWK. Length, 10-00 inches. Male, above, black, white, and rusty; below,black and white; throat, bands in wing, and tail white. Female, similar,but throat rusty; no tail-band. WHIP-POOK-WILL.Length, 9-75 inches. Male, body black, rusty, and buff; primariesspotted with rusty; tips of outer tail-feathers and breast-band white.Female, similar, but breast-band and end of tail rusty. DUCKS. - 89 LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS. (ORDER ANSERES.)Ducks, Geese, and Swans. (Family Anatid^:.) This family contains some two hundred species, andis represented in all parts of the world. It includes fivesubfamilies : the Mergansers (Mergince), or Fish-eatingDucks ; the Pond or River Ducks (Anatince), the Bay orSea Ducks (FuligulinoB); the Geese (Anserincb); andthe Swans (Cygninm). Ducks, like all hunted birds, are exceedingly wild,and comparatively few species will come within reach ofthe students opera-glass. The group may therefore bereviewed briefly. The Mergansers or She

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