PELICANID.F.. 53 



It now adorns my smoking-room in a case of ocean birds ; but though wonderful the skill of 

 the taxidermist, and pleasant the old times these stuffed specimens recall, they all lack the 

 unattainable quality of life, without which they no more resemble their former joyous selves 

 than a mummy does King Pharaoh. All Tropic-birds are very careful of their tails, both in 

 roosting and nesting; but the Red-tailed ones, especially, are frequently met with without 

 these two long appendages ; they may be moulting ; but it is also the fact that in many of 

 their breeding-stations they are caught for the sake of their brilliant feathers alone, and then 

 set at liberty. Especially are they coveted by the native chiefs, who skilfully work them into 

 a bristhng crimson coronet. I was once becalmed off the Island of Ticopia, lat. 12° 14' 8., 

 long. 168° 53' E., and boarded by a host of these dusky warriors ; and with many of them this 

 same coronet constituted their sole attempt at dress. The Red-tailed Tropic-bird is thus 

 described by Gould in 'Birds of Australia," vol. ii., p. 503: — "The adults have a broad 

 crescent of black before each eye, the upper part of which extends over and behind that organ ; 

 centre of the tertiaries and flank-feathers deep black ; the whole of the remainder of the 

 plumage silky white, with a rich roseate tinge, especially on the back ; shafts of the primaries 

 black from the base to within an inch of their apex ; shafts of the lateral tail-feathers black to 

 within half an inch of the tip ; two centre tail-feathers white at the base and rich deep red for 

 the remainder of their length, which extends to eighteen inches, their shafts black ; irides 

 black ; bill vermilion, with a black streak running through the nostrils, and a narrow line of 

 faint blue at the base of both mandibles ; tarsi and the base of the toes and webs faint blue ; 

 remainder of the toes and webs black. The young birds for the first year are very different 

 from the adults, being of a silky white, without the roseate blush, with the whole of the upper 

 surface broadly barred with black, and with the black of the shafts of the primaries expanded 

 into a spatulate form at the top of the feathers." In page 502, he says there is " a more 

 decided roseate blush upon the plumage of the male, especially on the back ; but this varies 

 slightly in intensity in different individuals of the same sex, and fades considerably in a 

 preserved skin." Dr. Walker, in a voyage from Liverpool to Vancouver's Island, 1863, says : — 

 " From 28° S. to 5° S., flocks of Tropic-birds. One shot that fell on deck (I'hactou pJueuicunis) ; 

 from tip of beak to tip of longest ordinary tail-feather, 18^ inches ; one red tail-feather, 

 9 inches ; from tip of beak to extremity of commissure, 3'6 ; 2-3 to extremity of nasal 

 opening." The eggs (two in number) are of a yellowish white, with reddish spots ; but it is 

 extraordinary how greatly specimens differ both in form and colour. 



The Common Tropic-bird {Vhcutun wthercus). — This bird is all white, except black bands 

 on the wings, and a little black at the base of the two long tail-feathers ; the beak is red. It 

 is the same shape and size as P. plmnicurm, and is met with in the same localities. 



