186 



TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS — STEGANOPODES. 



B. Elongated middle rectrices with their webs much narrower than the very rigid shaft. 



3. P. rubricaudus.i Bill yellowish ; middle tail-feathers dull reddish, with black shafts 

 will" 13.0U inches or more ; culmeu about 2.50. Hab. South Pacific Ocean. 



Phaethon flavirostris. 



THE YELLOW-BILLED TROPIC BIRD. 



Leptunm candidus, Briss. Orn. VI. 1760, 485. 



Phaeton candidus, Guay, Gen. B. 1847, pi. 183. 



Flmetonacthcrcus, Bonn. Tubl. P. E. 1783, 22 (ex PL Enl. 3C9 ; nee Linn., 1758). — Bonap. Synop. 



1828, no. 361; Consp. II. 1855, 183. — Nutt. Man. II. 1834, 503. — Aud. Orn. Biog. III. 



1835, 442 ; Synop. 1839, 312 ; B. Am. VII. 1844, 64, pi. 427. 

 Phaethon flavirostris, Brandt, Bull. Sc. Acad. St. Petersb. II. 1837, 349. — Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, 144. — 



Lawr. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 885. — Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 629. — Coues, Key, 



1872, 307 ; Check List, 1873, no. 538 ; 2d ed. 1882, no. 763. — Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, 



no. 654. 

 ? Plwcton flavo-aurantius, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. VII. April, 1860, 143 (hab. ignot.). 

 " Phaeton Edivardi, Brandt." 

 The Tropic Bird, Edwards, Nat. Hist. B. 1749, pi. 149. 



Hab. Atlantic coasts of Central America, north to Florida ; West Indies ; Samoan Islands. 

 Sp. Char. Bill yellow. Adult: General color satiny white, usually tinged more or less with 

 .salmon-pink ; a broad crescent before the eye and a stripe behind it, exposed portion of the poste- 

 rior scapulars, inner tertials, a broad stripe across the middle of the middle wing-covert region, 



and outer webs of four to six outer 

 primaries deep black. Shafts of the 

 tail-feathers, and of all the primaries 

 toward the base, and a broad stripe 

 on the inner web of the outer prima- 

 ries next the shaft also black ; edge 

 of longer scapulars and ends of outer 

 webs of outer primaries white ; flanks 

 longitudinally striped with black ; 

 elongated middle rectrices delicate 

 pinkish salmon-color, sometimes 

 nearly white. Bill deep chrome- or 

 wax-yellow ; ^ iris brown ; tarsi and 

 extreme base of the toes yellow, rest 

 of feet black. Young: General color 

 white ; black of the wings and that 

 behind the eye indicated by spots ; 

 back, scapulars, rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, nape, and crown irregularly barred with black ; tail-feathers marked with a black spot 

 near the end, the middle rectrices not elongated. 



Total length, about 2.5.00 to 32.00 inches ; extent, about 38.00 ; wing, 11.00 ; elongated middle 

 tail-feathers sometimes 20.00; culnien, 2.25. 



1 PuAiirnoN rubricaxjdus. 



Phaeton rtilricauda, lionn. Tabl. P. E. 1783, 57 (ex BuFF. PI. Enb 979). 



Phaethon rxcbricaudus. Streets, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 7, 1877, 25 (Christmas I.). 



Plwenicurus rtthricanda, Bonap. Consp. II. 1857, 183. 



Phaeton phoenicuros, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788, 583. — Jard. Contr. Orn. 1852, pi. 84, fig. 3. 



Phaetlwn mthercus, Bloxh. Voy. Blonde, 1826, 251 (not of Linn., 1766). 



2 Audubon describes the bill of the male as " orange-red," and that of the female as yellow ; but he 

 seems to have had P. a;thercus in mind in tlie former case, though his description otherwise applies exclu- 

 sively to P. Jlavirostris. lie say.s that both sexes have the "iris brown ; tarsi and base of toes yellow, 

 the rest and the web.-^ black, as arc the claws" (" Birds of America," Vol. 7, p. 65). 



