BRD S. OF SAMOA 20 
denly flying out and seizing a tern 
or gannet in mid-air by its tail and 
violently shaking it until the captor 
disgorged the fish it had just cap- 
tured, and darting down seizing it 
before the fish had reached the 
water. 
In nesting they are fearless of 
man; in Nassau Island they have 
been seized by the neck and lifted 
off their nests. 
TAVA'E. 
The Tropic Bird or Boatswain. 
(Family Phaethontidae). 
Are represented by 3 species, and 
in size are somewhat inferior to the 
culls. 
