LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 193 



Food. — He also makes the following reference as to the food of 

 this species : " The contents of the stomach consisted of the beaks of 

 cuttlefish," I have not been able to find any other references to its 

 food, which probabl}^ does not differ materially from that of other 

 tropic-birds. 



Behavior. — Doctor Fisher (190G) refers to its flight as follows: 



To see these birds at their best one mnst watch thorn flying about in the 

 bright sunshine when tlieir pale, sahuoii-pink plumage sliines as though burn- 

 ished, and the satiny feathers stand out like scales. The two long, red tail- 

 feathers are possessed by both sexes, and the female is only a trifle less pink 

 than the male. Usually when flying about they were quiet, and progressed by 

 short, nervous wing beats, never attempting to sail. Occasionally, however, 

 they swooped about our heads and made the neighborhood lively. 



I regret that, as I have never seen the red-tailed tropic-bird in life, 

 I can not add anything to the life history of such an attractive bird. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Warmer portions of the Indian and Pacific 

 Oceans. East to the Galapagos Islands. South to the Kermadec 

 Islands. West to Mauritius. North to the Bonin Islands and Lay- 

 san Island. Also on many intermediate islands. 



Winter range. — Practically^ the same as the breeding range, extend- 

 ing north in the Pacific Ocean to the Linschoten Islands and Kru- 

 zenstern Rocks and south into New Zealand seas. 



Casual records. — Taken once near Lower California, Guadalupe 

 Island, April 23, 1897. This and the Laysan bird are now considered 

 subspecifically distinct from the birds of the Indian Ocean and Aus- 

 tralian seas {Scaeojjhaethon ruhricaudus rothschildi [Mathews]). 



Egg dates. — Bonin Islands: Five records August 15 and 27, Sep- 

 tember 14, and December 1. Galapagos Islands : One record, March 

 6. Laysan Island: One record, May 23. Mauritius Island: One 

 record, September 15. Lord Howe Island : One record, December 3. 



Family SULIDAE, Gannets. 



SULA DACTYLATRA Lesaon. 



BLXJE-FACED BOOBY, 



HABITS. 



The blue-faced booby is an inhabitant of the tropical oceans, breed- 

 ing as far north as the West Indies, in the Atlantic, and as far as 

 San Benedicto Island, off the coast of Mexico, in the Pacific Ocean. 

 Its principal breeding grounds seem to be on the islands of the 

 Hawaiian group in the mid-Pacific. 



