Laroid

We now come to a small group of Laroid birds, remarkable for their curious bill, the lower mandible of which has been compared with a "short-handled pitchfork," and for their long wings, viz., the skimmers, the Rhynchopinæ, not less remarkable for their peculiar habits and their geographical distribution, parts of America, Asia, and Africa being inhabited by one species each.

The whole form of the skull is, indeed, essentially Laroid, and quite unlike that of the Kingfishers;