990 TROPIC-BIRD 



without either Tropick," and hence, indulging a pretty fancy, 

 Linnaeus bestowed upon it the generic term, continued by modern 

 writers, of Phaethon, in allusion to its attempt to follow the path 

 of the sun.^ There are certainly three well-marked species of this 

 genus, but their respective geographical ranges have not yet been 

 definitely laid down. All of them can be easily known by their 

 totipalmate condition, in which the four toes of each foot are 

 united by a web, and by the great length of the two middle tail- 

 quills, which project beyond the rest, so as to have gained for the 

 birds the names of "Rabijunco," "Paille-en-queue" and "Pijlstaart" 

 among mariners of different nations. These birds fly to a great 

 distance from land and seem to be attracted by ships, frequently 

 hovering round or even settling on a mast-head. 



The Yellow-billed Tropic-bird, P. flavirostris or candidus, appears 

 to have habitually the most northerly, as well, perhaps, as the 

 widest range, visiting Bermuda yearly to breed there, but also 

 occurring numerously in the southern Atlantic, the Indian and a 

 great part of the Pacific Ocean. In some islands of all these three 

 it breeds, sometimes on trees, which the other species are not 

 known to do. However, like the rest of its congeners, its lays but 

 a single egg, and this is of a pinkish-white, mottled, spotted and 

 smeared with brownish-purple, often so closely as to conceal the 

 ground-colour. This is the smallest of the group, and hardly 

 exceeds in size a large Pigeon ; but the spread of its wings and its 

 long tail make it appear more bulky than it really is. Except 

 some black markings on the face (common to all the species 

 known), a large black patch partly covering the scapulars and 

 wing- coverts, and the black shafts of its elongated rectrices, its 

 general colour is white, glossy as satin, and often tinged with 

 roseate. Its yellow bill readily distinguishes it from its larger 

 congener P. aethereus, but that has nearly all the upper surface of 

 the body and wings closely bdrred with black, while the shafts of 

 its elongated rectrices are white. This species has a range almost 

 equally wide as the last ; but it does not seem to occur in the 

 western part of the Indian Ocean. The third and largest species, 



1 Occasionally, perhaps through violent storms, Ti'opic-birds wander very 

 far from theii- proper haunts. In 1700 Leigh, in his Lancashire (i. pp. 164, 

 195, Birds, tab. i. fig. 3), described and figured (after Willughby) a "Tropick 

 Bird " found dead in that county. Another is said by Mr. Lees {Zool. ser. 2, p. 

 2666) to have been found dead at Cradley near Malvern — apparently before 1856 

 (J. H. Gurney, jun. op. cit. p. 4766) — which, like the last, would seem (AV. H. 

 Heaton, op. cit. p. 5086) to have been of the species known as P. aethereus. 

 Naumann Avas told {Rhea, i. p. 25) of its supposed occurrence at Heligoland, 

 and Col. Legge {B. Ceylon, p. 1174) mentions one taken in Lidia 170 miles from 

 the sea. The case cited by MM. Degland and Gerbe {Ornith. Europ. ii. p. 363) 

 seems to be tluit of an Albatros. 



