EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 17 



ORDER IV. - STEGANOPODE3. Totipalmate 

 Swimmers. 



The eggs of these birds are usually covered with a chalky 

 deposit. 



Family VIII. — PHAETHONTIDtE. Tropic Birds. 



Eggs but little chalky, colored, and deposited in holes of 

 rocks. 



112. Yellow-billed Tropic Bird, Phaethon Jiavirostris. 

 (Type, Plate II.) Eggs, 1, oval, chalky, white, and so thickly 

 covered with spots and blotches of reddish chocolate as nearly 

 to obscure the ground-color; there are no other American eggs 

 similar to these, excepting those of No. 113; 1.50 -j- 2.15 to 

 1,60 -|- 2.25. Breeds in the Bahamas, Bermudas, and West 

 Indies, in May. The bird occurs rarely in Florida, and occa- 

 sionally further north. 



113. Red-billed Tropic Bird, Phaethon cethereus. Eggs, 

 1, elliptical, creamy white, with a purplish tinge, thickly 

 speckled with claret-brown ; 1.20 + 2.23 to 1.55 -f 2.30. Oc- 

 curs on the coasts of troj^ical America, northward, on the 

 Pacific, to Lower California; accidental on the Banks of New- 

 foundland. 



Family IX. — SULID^. Gannets. 



Eggs deposited on cliffs ; when fresh, bluish green, covered 

 with a chalky deposit. Size alone distinguishes the species. 

 Known by the bluish green shell-color. 



114. Blue-faced Boody, Sula cyanops. Eggs, 1, white ; 

 1.70 -{- 2.45 to 1.75 -j- 2.55. Occurs in the West Indies, and north- 

 ward, to Southern Florida. Breeds in December and January. 



'll5. Boody, Snla sula. Eggs, 1 or 2, oval; 1.50 + 2.15 

 to 1.58 -{- 2.65. Eggs placed on the ground in a nest of sea- 

 weed. Breeds in the Bahamas and on the coasts of tropical 



