THE PELICANS 221 



sunset, returning before dusk; probably these times are selected 

 because the squids are not found on the surface of the sea at noon. 

 The chick is fed by regurgitation; it is well feathered by the fortieth 

 day and leaves about the sixty-second day after a short fast, the adults 

 having quite deserted it. Like the shearwater it cannot fly, but only 

 flutter down to the water, where it swims alone into the open sea. 



The red-billed tropic bird has not been so intensively studied, but 

 undoubtedly has a similar life history. It is a small species. Murphy 

 says it is "well named after Phaethon, the son of Apollo, who hurtled 

 from the far sky into the sea. I remember the July day when I first 

 saw one dive from the height of the masthead into the quiet transparent 

 water. For several seconds it remained below and, after reappearing, 

 shook a shower of pearls from its feathers, rested at the surface with 

 wings spread and raised, and tail plumes cocked up, and finally leaped 

 into the air as lightly as a tern." 



