356 PHAETHONTID.E 



As soon as the weather cleared they returned north, and on one occasion were distinctly seen, 

 late at night, flying north in the bright moonlight." 



One egg usually constitutes the sitting, but sometimes two are laid. They are oval or 

 elongate-oval in f(jrm, the shell being coarse-grained, chalky-white, and lustreless. An average 

 specimen in the Australian Museum Collection, taken on Raine Islet by the late Mr. John 

 MacGillivray, measures 2'5 x 1-7 inches. Four eggs received on loan from Mr. Bernard 11. 

 Woodward, Director of the I'erth Museum, and taken by Mr. J. T. Tunney, the Museum 

 collector, on Bedout Island, between the 20th and ihih May, 1901, measure as follows: — Length 

 (A) 2-52 X 1-65 inches; (B) 2'52 x 17 inches; (C) 2-45 x 177 inches; (D) 2-5 x 179 inches. 



Family PHAETHONTID^. 

 Phaethon rubricauda. 



l;Ktl-TAII.ED TKOPlr-BIRli. 

 J'hni'/.oii rubriamJa, Bodd., Talil. PI. Eid., p. '>7 (17.^.'>). 

 Pharton phneiiiciiriif, Gould, I!ds. Austr., fol., Vol. VII., pi. 73 (18tS); id., Handlik. lids. Austr., 



Vol. II., p. 501 (18G5). 

 /'//(«7/tf'(t ?-((('/r(frt'"('rt, Ogilvie-Uraiit, Cat. Hds. iiiit.Mus., Vol. X.Wl., p. 451 (IM'jy) ; Sharpe, 

 Ha.id-1. Bds., Vol. I., p. 23S (ISDO). 



Adult m.\le. — (TP.neral cnlotir nhovi- uml hilow piirf silkij ii-liilc, ivi/Ji a didicali' roseate /Aii(/c, ii/iich 

 i.v more proiioimeed on the outer iivlis of thr qii,ills. thr alKifls of thr latter, except near their tips, lilnck, 

 the imiermoat sicondarie.'' hariii'i n hrond central stripe nf a <Iark i/rei/ish-blaeh, e.reejit at tlnir tips, 

 the leityth'-iied llauk feathers siinilarli/ marked ivil/i i/reyiah-hlaek, Imt nj a liyhter hiie : lail-featlierii 

 white inith a slie/ht roseate tiitr/i; their sliafts black at l/ie Ixtae, irliite on the apical lliird of the featlier, 

 except the central pa,ir, irhich are rerij hniij and tlieir vebs attenuated hare the sliajts lilack fur tlieir 

 entire Icnr/th, the apical lialf of tlf n-dis feinr/ a dreji red : a crescentie marking in. front, and a lin.e 

 e.rtendint/ over and beliiud tlie eije ilall black, the centres of some of the feathers on the cron-n of the 

 head and nape dull black : bill orange-red n-ith a blackish streak along the nasal aperture. '/'atid. 

 leni/tli olf inches, ?i:i ng l-l-.'o, central pair of tailfeatliers 17-'>, outer tail feathers 4, bill .'■;'/, tarsns 1-.2. 



AnULT FKM.^LE. — Similar in pin/nage to the male. 



Distfibution. — Western .Xustralia, North-western .Australia, Northern Territory (jf South 

 Australia, Queensland, New South W'ales, Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands. 



IfsN Australian waters the range of the Red-tailed Tropic-bird, or " Boatswain-biid," e.xtcnds 

 Jl. to the seas washing nearly three sides of the continent ; in the southern limits it can only 

 be looked upon as a straggler. The islands of Torres Strait are its stronghold, and it was at one 

 time common on Norfolk Island, and is still soon Lord Howe Island. The decrease in its numbers 

 on the former island and adjacent islets, is due, I am informed, to its being hunled for its red 

 elongated central tail-feathers. In October and December, 18S7, a series of these birds and 

 their eggs were procured on behalf of the Trustees of the .Australian Museum, by Mr. E. H. 

 Saunders, from the western side of Mount Lidgbird, on Lord Howe Island. Dr. P. H. Metcalfe, 

 late Resident Medical ( )iticer on Norfolk Island, obtained its eggs there during a number of 

 years, and also on the adjacent Philip and Nepean Islands. I have never seen this species from 

 any part of Southern (Queensland, or the New South Wales Coast. In the former State Dr. K. 

 P. Ramsay states it is seen occasionally off Hinchinbrook Island, and also records it as inhabiting 



