THE TROPIC BIRD. 4.7.7 



has been happy in the name which he has given to one of his birds, 

 and this is the tropic bird. He has called it Phaeton, no doubt 

 whatever, because it is chiefly to be found in that region where old 

 Apollo's son cut so conspicuous a figure on his father s coach-box. 

 All the world has heard of Phaeton, and of the manner in which he 

 unfortunately broke down in his first and last attempt at four-in- 

 hand. Linnaeus, then, did well in giving the name of Phaeton to 

 the tropic bird ; and I should not wish to see the name exchanged 

 for that of the first doctor, duke, or draper of these our latter days. 



Whilst inspecting the bird Phaeton, which may be found in some 

 of our museums, full many a careful parent may say to his aspiring 

 heir, Take warning, my lad, in time, and shun all jockeys and jarvies 

 as thou wouldst shun a pestilence. " Consiliis, non curribus utere 

 nostris." The turf-boys will get the last penny out of thy pocket, and 

 laugh thee to scorn ; and thou wilt be obliged to leave thy family- 

 place, and go to foreign parts, there to vegetate on short allowance. 

 As Phaeton and his rueful adventures have been immortalised by 

 the Roman poet, whose works will be read by all nations to the end 

 of time, the name of Phaeton, which Linnaeus has given to the tropic 

 bird, runs no risk now of being lost, like those of some of its con- 

 geners, in the impenetrable obscurity which hangs over the modern 

 nomenclature of birds. 



Far, far away from land, where the Atlantic waves roll beneath the 

 northern tropic, our mariners are often favoured with a view of the 

 bird which I am about to describe. The total absence of all other 

 winged inhabitants of air, save now and then a Mother Carey's 

 chicken, renders the appearance of Phaeton very interesting in thiy 

 sequestered region of the deep ; and every soul on board hastens to 

 get a glance at him as he wings his lonely way through the liquid 

 void. 



The plumage of this bird is black and white ; but the white on the 

 upper parts of the body is not pure, having a tinge of salmon colour 

 in it The whole of the skin itself is entirely black. A streak of 

 black feathers, two-eighths of an inch broad, ranges from the upper 

 mandible to the eyes, and is continued from thence in a curved line 

 downwards, for nearly an inch and a half in extent. Another range 

 of black feathers commences at the shoulders, and ends with the 



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