1886.1 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 631 



82. Sula cyanops Sundev. White Booby : Blue-faced Gannet. 



Not abundant; observed several building in trees at Kick-em-jenny 

 in May. 



I went on a collecting trip to our little islands about the middle of 

 May, which proved a disastrous one. I procured several specimens, 

 amongst which were four "Boobies," but got swamped in a boat, owing 

 to the heavy sea, and lost them all. Two of the Boobies were new to 

 me, viz, a white one with red feet {ISida piscator f) and one which was all 

 brown except the tail, which was white ; feet also lake-red {S.parvaf). 

 They were building nests in trees ; several nests on same tree. I could 

 not procure any eggs, as the trees overhung the rocks, and were inac- 

 cessible. The other Boobies observed were brown ; one with white 

 breast, feet dull pale yellow (8. fiber or S.ftisca f). 



Family PH^THOXID^E. 



83. Phaethon eethereus Linn. Boatswain; Trox>ic Bird; Paille-en-queqne. 



2 Length, 38 inches; expanse, 41 inches; wing, 13 inches; tail feather, 

 19^ inches. 



These birds are abundant amongst the small islands between this and 

 Carriacou, notably the La Tantes, where they breed in holes in the 

 rock ; they are easily taken alive whilst sitting on their nests ; they 

 are very graceful on the wing, the long tail feathers having a tremulous 

 motion ; they utter a shrill grating cry at intervals whilst flying, from 

 which the name Boatswain has been given them by sailors. In Pere 

 Labat's book, published in 1722, there is an illustration of one of these 

 birds, called by him Paille-en-cul, a name by which it is known to the 

 inhabitants of Isle de Ilhonde at the present day. The male bird has 

 two of the long tail feathers; the female only one. The specimen from 

 which the above measurements were taken was shot on the wing at 

 La Tantes Islands on 20th January, 1881. A live one was taken from a 

 nest at the same place in April last and brought to me ; it lived for two 

 days. 



Family LARID^. 



84. Larus atricilla Linn. Mauve; Laughing Gull. 



S Length, 16^ inches; expanse, 39 inches; wing, 12 inches. 



Numerous all round the island ; several of them attend on the flocks 

 of pelicans, and when those birds dive for fish the gulls swoop down 

 with them and pluck the fish or a part of it from the mouths of the 

 pelicans, uttering at the same time their peculiar laughing cry, which 

 the fishermen interpret as "half," "half." On the 15th May, 1882, I 

 observed a number of these birds at Isle de Rhoude, hovering over a 

 large Figeur tree. On going up to the tree I found that they were 

 plucking and eating the berries ; they never alighted on the branches, 

 but kept hovering around and plucking at the fruit, keeping up an in- 



