PHAKTIION. 357 



New South Wales, and Mr. W. K. Oijihie-Grant enumerates an unlocalised adult skin from 

 the latter State in the " Catalo,L;ue of ISirtis in the Uritish Museum," which was presented by 

 the Trustees of the Australian Museum. During; the twenty live years I have been connected 

 with the institution, no specimen has been received from New South Wales waters, and if it 

 occurs at all, it can only be looked upon as a strasc;ler, like Phadltou lepliirus I recorded from 

 Botany Bay. That sea-birds are frequently driven by adverse winds, or wander far out of their 

 usual ranf;e, is well known ; we ha\'e had an instance (jf it in I'rnidld iiqiiiAi, an inhabitant 

 of the tropical seas, bein;;- obtained at BriL;hton, near Melbourne, Victoria. The present species, 

 too, was first added to the North .American List, from a sin:_;le specimen, by Mr. A. \V. Anthony, 

 who wrote in " The Auk :"-- " On 2jrd July, i^')"/, a Red-tailed Tropic Bird, Plnhinii nilificdiida, 

 was shot a short distance north of Guadalupe Island, thus adding the three species of the ,L;enus 

 to our fauna. The Red-tailed Tropic-bird has, I tinnk, heretofore been known only from the 

 South I'acilic. Whether it is of reL;ular occurrence in south-western waters will be ascertained 

 when we have a better knowledge of the pelagic species of this little known region." 



Respecting this species on Raine Islet, where it was also met with by the members of 

 the " Challenger Expedition." Mr. [. MacGillivray communicated the following note to Gould: — 

 i " This Tropic-bird was found by us on Raine Islet, where, during the month of June, about 

 a dozen were procured. Upon one occasion these were observed perfornnng sweeping flights 

 over and about the island, and soon afterwards one of them alighted ; keeping my eye upon the 

 spot, I ran up and found a male bird in a hole under the low shelving margin of the island 

 bordering the beach, and succeeded in capturing it alter a slKjrt scuttle, during which it snapped 

 at me with its lieak, and uttered a loud, harsh, and oft-repeated croak. It makes no nest, but 

 deposits its two eggs on the bare floor of the hole, and both sexes assisted in the task of 

 incubation. It usually retires from the sea about noon, soaring high in the air and wheeling 

 round in circles before alighting. The contents of the stomach consisted of the beaks of cuttle- 

 fish." 



From information received from Dr. P. Herbert Aletcalfe, late Resident Medical Officer on 

 Norfolk Island, Dr. W. M. Crowfoot writes as follows in "The Ibis:" — [ "The Tropic-bird 

 ( l-'lidiihoii ruhriidiidd ) breeds on Norfolk, Nepean and Philip Islands, but the last mentioned 

 island is its principal resort, and here it may be counted by hundreds. It lays its single egg on 

 ledges of rock, in cracks of the cliffs, under overhanging boulders and in such-like situations. 

 The bird defends its egg with its strong beak, and may be easily caught on the nest. On 

 Norfolk- Island the eggs are diflicult to get, but on Philip Island they may be readily obtained. 

 The young Tropic-bird is a curious looking object, being completely covered with thick snow- 

 white down." 



Lieutenant J. H. Macfarlane, R.N., writing in "The Ibis" ? on the birds observed by him 

 during a cruise in H.M.S. " Constance " in the Western Pacific, remarks: — " Ducie Island, in 

 about 20' S., which was visited on the i6th March, 1884, is a \'ery dangerous atoll, having a 

 sandy beach, with some clumps of bushes, not more than forty feet high on its northern side, 

 and a barrier reef over which a very heavy surf was breaking, fringes the remainder. The lagoon 

 is very shallow, and has a few passages suitable for boats in calmer weather. Landing was 

 ellected on the northern side, where the British bar(]ue " .\rcadia " was laying a total wreck, 

 ha\ing most likely gone on shore during ni,L;ht or thick weather. The Red-tailed Tropic-bird 

 {I'lidtthou rnhricdiuid ), was breeding in great numbers, and our blue-jackets enjoyed themselves 

 greatly in collecting eggs and bundles of the red tail-feathers. The latter operation was rendered 

 easy ; the birds being without guile, allowed themsehes to be lifted up by the feathers, antl their 

 own wei.i^ht did the rest." 



• Auk, Vol, XV., p 39 (iSg8). f Handbk, Hds. Austr , Vol II , p. 502 (1S63) 



; Ibis, 18S5, p. 2U.S. $ Loc. cit.. 1S.S7, p 211, 



