382 RED-BILLED T-ROPIC BIRD. 



mild zone of the tropics, and advertises the mariner with un- 

 erring certainty of his entrance within the torrid cHmes. Yet 

 though generally confined to these more favored solar realms, 

 which it widely explores to their utmost bounds, it sometimes 

 strays beyond the favorite limit, and hence we have given it 

 a place among the oceanic birds which stray in summer to the 

 coasts of the warmer States. 



The flight of the Tropic Bird is often conducted to a pro- 

 digious height, at which in every season it can obtain a tem- 

 perature of the most delightful kind. At other times, affected 

 by the ordinary wants of nature, it descends from its lofty 

 station, and accompanied by an ignoble throng of Frigates, 

 Pelicans, and Boobies, it attends the appearance of the flying- 

 fish as they emerge from the water, pursued by their enemies 

 of the deep. These birds are sometimes observed to rest on 

 the surface of the sea, and have been seen in calm weather 

 upon the backs of the drowsy tortoises supinely floating, so that 

 they have been easily taken by allowing the approach of a 

 boat. On shore they will perch on trees, and are said to breed 

 on the ground beneath the shade of the adjoining woods. 

 They are met with on the islands of St. Helena, Ascension, 

 Mauritius, New Holland, and in various parts of the South 

 Seas, but in no place are they so numerous as at Palmerston 

 Island, where, along with the Frigates, they have been seen in 

 such plenty that the trees were absolutely loaded with them, 

 and so tame or listless that they suffered themselves to be taken 

 from the boughs by hand. In the Sandwich and Friendly 

 Islands, where they also abound, the natives set a high value 

 on the long tail-feathers, made use of by way of ornament, and 

 in Otaheite they form a conspicuous part of the ostentatious 

 garment worn by mourners. The flesh, though often eaten by 

 mariners, cannot be accounted good. 



This cannot be considered more than an accidental straggler to 

 Northern waters, though examples have been taken as far north as 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



Note. — The Yellow-billed Tropic Bird {P. flavirostris) 

 has been taken in Western New York. 



