TROPIC BIRD. 503 



These are wandering and oceanic birds excelling in flight and in 

 vision, and venturing out to great distances from the land. Unlike 

 the Frigate Birds they are able to repose upon the sea, though they 

 never dive. They alight on trees, rocks, and sometimes on the rig- 

 ging of vessels, but are scarcely able to walk. They associate in 

 families, and chiefly frequent remote and desert islands. They feed 

 mostly on the flying-fish, which abound in the intertropical seas, and 

 Beize them by grazing the surface of the water. They nest in hol- 

 low trees, or in the clefts of impending rocks : the eggs are 2, and 

 the young are at first clothed with a white and soft down. Their 

 appearance, though a sure indication of the torrid zone, is none of 

 the proximity of land. 



As their common name implies, these are tropical birds, and in 

 suitable climates appear all round the globe. The genus is com- 

 posed of but 3 species ; and they appear to be allied to the Terns. 



TROPIC BIRD. 



(Phaeton CBthereits, Linn. Lath. Bonap. Synops. No. 361. Le Grand 

 Paille en cul, Buff. PI. Enlum. 979. and 998. [young.] Phaton 

 phcenicurus, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. pi. 279. [adult.] Tropic Bird, 

 Ray, WiLLUGHBY, and Edwards. Phil. Museum, No ) 



Sp. Charact. — White varied with black; bill red; tail wedge- 

 shaped, composed of 14 feathers. — Adult somewhat tinged with 

 rose-red ; the long tail feathers red. 



The Tropic-Bird, soaring perpetually over the tepid seas, 

 where he dwells without materially straying beyond the 

 Terge of the ecliptic, seems to attend the car of the sun 

 under the mild zone of the tropics, and advertises the mar- 

 iner with unerring certainty of his entrance within the tor- 

 rid climes. Yet though generally confined to these more 

 favored solar realms, which he widely explores to their ut- 

 most bounds, he sometimes strays beyond the favorite limit, 

 and hence we have given him a place among the oceanic 



