CEYLON WATER BIRDS. 299 
crescent-shaped black patch in front of the eye, and a broken 
curved black streak running from behind the eye to the 
nape. The first five primary quills are black on the outer 
and on half of the inner web ; the remainder of the inner web 
and the tip of the quill are white. The flanks are barred 
with black. The middle tail feathers or streamers are under 
12 inches long, their shafts are black at the base and white at 
the tip. 
Bill pale orange-red, dusky on the margins ; iris blackish- 
brown ; legs and feet yellowish-white, with some black on the 
inner toes and their webs. 
Length, including streamers, up to 21 ; wing 11°5; tail 7°5 
to 12; tarsus 1; bill 3°25. 
Distribution.—Rather a doubtful inclusion in our list, but 
birds seen by Holdsworth in the Gulf of Mannar probably 
belonged to this species. It occurs on the Indian seas, from 
the straits of Malacca to the Red Sea. 
PHAETHON FLAVIROSTRIS (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 350 ; 
Legge, p. 1172). 
The White Tropic Bird. 
Description.—Plumage in adults satin white; a black 
crescent-shaped patch in front of the eye and a black stripe 
behind the eye to the back of the head. There are two broad 
black bands on the wings: the inner one on the median 
coverts and tertiaries, the outer on the first five or six 
primaries. The streamers are long and white, with black 
shafts which whiten towards the tip. There isa wash of gray- 
black on the flanks. 
Immature birds are barred with black on the upper plumage. 
Bill pale yellow ; iris brown ; legs and base of the toes dull 
yellow ; rest of foot black. 
Length, including streamers, up to 30; tail up to 18; wing 
1@-76.; tarsus °9 5 pull 2°8. 
Distribution—Specimens have been obtained at Chilaw and 
Colombo, others have been seen off the west coast. Occasion- 
ally reported from the Indian coast, and once a bird was 
caught 170 miles inland in Cachar, north-east India. The 
species ranges all round the tropical seas. 
