PHAETON FLAVIROSTRIS. 61 



this was the only livino; specimen that I had the good fortimo to meet with for many 

 years. In all of my journeying among the keys and along the coasts of Florida, I did 

 not see another. Upon my visit to the Baiiamas in 1883 and 1884, I fully expected to 

 find this species, but was disappointed, as, although I constantly kept a lookout for it, 

 not a Tropic Bird did I see in all of the many hundreds of miles that we travelled among 

 the islands; Ijut singularly, after losing sight of Abaco, when on om- way north, one of 

 tliis species, suddenly made its appearance, coming from the direction of the island, and 

 hovered about our vessel, for a few moments, iiying within a few yards of us, as we sat 

 near the stern ; so close, in fact, did this erratic wanderer of the sea approach us, that T could 

 see even the color of his eyes, and note the exact shade of salmon on his long tail feathers. 

 He remahied but a short time, much to my regret, and departed, steering straight back 

 toward Abaco. During a second trip among the Bahamas, in 1887, as I was returning 

 from Andros to New Providence, I saw two Tropic Birds, flying high in air, bound east- 

 ward, and uttering loud screams as they flew. I looked in vain, for this species, on my 

 way through the outer, or easternmost islands, in January of 1888, southward bound to 

 Inagua, nor did I meet with it on that island. My next sight at the Tropic Birds, was 

 while lying at anchor, off the west end of Hayti, on March third, of that same year. Here 

 were high cliffs, rising abruptly from the sea to the height of several hundred feet, and 

 about these cliffs, the Tropic Birds were flying. When leaving this point, I did not ob- 

 serve any at sea, nor about the island of Jamaica, although I journeyed the entire length 

 of the island. On a voyage from Jamaica to Cayman Brae, later in April, 1 did not ob- 

 serve any of these birds, until well under the eastern end of the key. Here, too, are 

 cliffs rising out of the sea, to a height of some eighty feet, and about these rocks, were 

 soaring numerous Gannets, ( probably Cory's ) and among them, a large number of Trop- 

 ic Birds. 1 ascertained afterward, that they bred not only in these cliffy, but al.so on the 

 cliffs that rise from a strip of lowland, on the northern side of the island, and also near the 

 eastern end. Some few also nested on lower cliffs, on the opposite, southern, side, but 

 scatteringly. As I lived at the western end of Cayman Brae, during my stay on the isl- 

 and, I did not have an opportunity of visiting the main breeding place, but saw some- 

 thing of the birds on the southern side of the key, and also observed them on the northern 

 side, from the water. I was less inclined to make the journey, from one end of the key 

 to tlie other, which, although only twelve miles distant, was only to be approached by 

 land over a rough road, with no means of conveyance, on account of having been informed 

 by tlie inhabitants, that I could find the Tropic Birds breeding on the eastern end of 

 Little Cayman, an adjacent key on a low cliff. Much to my disapiiointment, liowever, 

 I found upon visiting this point (piite late in April, that the birds had abandoned the lo- 

 cality, and not a solitary Tropic Bird did I see on this island. Upon leaving the Cay- 

 mans in May I lost sight of these birds, and in voyaging from thence through the West 

 Indies, northward, I did not see them again. 



From these observations, I can state with confidence, that the Yellow-billed Tropic 

 Birds do not, as a rule, wander far from their breeding grounds, at any season of the 

 year, only stragglers departing from this custom. When upon the wing, the Tropic 

 Bird does not resemble a Tern nor any species of Gull, as nn'ght. perhaps, be expected. 



