FAMILY PHAETHONTIDjE 



The Noddy strikingly differs from other terns 

 in having a rounded fan-shaped tail; this species 

 is a sooty brown bird with a hoary crown. It 

 appears to breed somewhere about the Bay of 

 Panama. Many were seen flying off Chepillo 

 Island in March 1926. Nests in trees or bushes. 



21. Family PHAETHONTIDJE 

 The Tropic Birds 



The members of this small family are like 

 stout-bodied terns in build and appearance, 

 though actually related to the gannets and 

 pelicans, resembling them in having all four 

 toes connected by webs. The middle tail 

 feathers are slender and greatly elongated 

 and stream out behind in a conspicuous man- 

 ner in their flight, which is very graceful and 

 buoyant. Their wing beats are rapid and 

 pigeon-like, but they sail and glide with great 

 ease, and plunge for their food like gannets, 

 often from a height of many yards*. They 

 are inhabitants of the tropical and sub- 

 tropical regions and are great wanderers, not 

 fearing to range far out to sea. The tropic 

 birds nest on the ground on islands, or more 

 often in holes or crevices, or on ledges on 

 rocky cliffs. 



i. Phaethon aethereus Linnaeus 

 Red-billed Tropic Bird 



Sexes alike. Length about 760 mm. (30.00 



in.); tail (middle feathers) 485 mm. (19.00 in.); 

 105 



