-! PHAETHON. /137 
Fam. PHAETHONTIDA. 
The Tropic-birds are distinguished from the rest of the Steganopodes by the form 
of the tail and bill. The central feathers of the former are produced considerably 
beyond the others, and the nostrils are distinct and linear in shape. Mr. Pycraft gives 
the following definition of the Family [cf. Ogilvie Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. 
p. 450]:—Nostrils pervious; palatines completely separate one from the other; 
_vomer present ; a deep nasal hinge; carina extending nearly the whole length of the 
corpus sterni; free end of clavicle not provided with a facet for articulation with the 
acrocoracoid.” 
PHAETHON. 
Phaéton, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 219 (1766). 
Phaéthon, Iliger, Prodr. p. 280 (1811) ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 450 (1898). 
_ The characters of the genus Phaethon are the same as those of the family 
Phaethontide, of which it is the sole representative. Mr. Ogilvie Grant characterizes 
the genus as follows :—* Bill compressed, pointed, and slightly curved throughout, the 
cutting-edges of the mandibles serrated ; nostrils distinct, linear ; wings long, the first 
primary rather longer than the second ; tail composed of from 12 to 16 feathers, the 
middle pair being greatly elongated and attenuated ; tarsus very short.” 
Six species of Tropic-birds are known, all of them inhabitants of the tropical seas. 
Two occur off the coasts and islands of Central America, viz. P. americanus and 
P. cethereus. 
/ . 
1. Phaethon americanus. 
Tropick-Bird, Catesby, N. H. Carolina, ii. App. t. 14°. 
Phaeton ethereus, Audub. Birds Amer. vii. p. 64, t. 427 (nec Linn.) *. 
Phaeton flavirostris (nec Brandt), Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. vii. p. 128°; Gundl. Orn. Cuban. 
p. 314°; Scott, Auk, viii. pp. 253-256°; A. O. U. Check-l. N. Amer. Birds, 2nd ed. 
p- 39°. 
Phaéthon americanus, Ogilvie Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 456”. 
Pure albus, macula anteorbitali nigra, supra regionem paroticam producta ; tectricibus alarum medianis nigris, 
et scapularibus ad apicem nigris, vel nigris albo limbatis; primariis externis nigris, intus albis et albo 
apicatis; secundariis intimis nigris, intus albis et albo late terminatis: subtus pure albus, hypochondriis 
imis medialiter late griseo-nigro striatis; rectricibus 12, albis, roseo tinctis, rhachidibus nigris: rostro 
flavo. Long. tota circa 29-0, ale 10-5, caude 4-6, rectr. med. 18-0, culm. 2°0, tarsi 0°9. (Deser. maris 
adulti ex Bermuda. Mus. nostr.) 
@ mari similis. Ale 11-0. 
Hab. Wust Inpirs and ATLANTIC Coast or CENTRAL AMERICA north to Florida and 
Bermuda, accidental in Western New York®; Banamas®, Jamaica®, Cua 4, &e. 
The Central-American representative of the yellow-billed Tropic-bird of the Old 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. III., April 1901. 18 
