482 



THE TROPIC BIRD. 



into which are scraped a few sticks, stones, and dry grasses. The Tern 

 reaches this country about May and departs in September. An adult 

 bird in summer phimage has the tip of the head and the nape of the 



neck jet black, the 

 upper part of the 

 body ashen gray, the 

 under surface white, 

 and the legs, feet, 

 and bill coral-red, 

 the bill deepening 

 into black at the 

 tip. The length of 

 the Tern rather ex- 

 ceeds fourteen in- 

 ches ; much of it is 

 due to the long fork- 

 ed feathers of the 

 tail. 



The Tern {Sterna Jammh,) y^iQ now arrive at 



the last family of birds, the Pelicans, a group which includes many 

 species, all remarkable for some peculiarity, and many of them really 

 fine and handsome birds. 



As its name implies, the Tropic Bird is seldom to be seen outside 

 the tropics unless driven by storms. It is wonderfully powerful on the 



wing, being able 

 to soar for a 

 considerable pe- 

 riod, and passing 

 whole days in 

 the air without 

 needing to settle. 

 As a general 

 fact, the birds do 

 not fly to very 

 great distances 

 from land, three 

 hundred miles 

 being about the 

 usual limit; but 

 Dr. Bennett ob- 



Ttit' 'ri>->u,.. F>,or. / d; ■; sL ^ scrvcd thein on 



lUE iKoPJc i>iRD [Phaeton cethereus). 



one occasion 



when the nearest land was about one thousand miles distant. The 

 long tail-shafts of the Tropic Bird are much valued in many lands, 



