288 STEGANOPODOUS BIRDS. 



nut trees, the frigate-birds would sally out on the successful fishers returning in 

 the evening, and perpetrate a vigorous assault on them until they disgorged for 

 their behoof at least a share of their supper, which they caught in mid-air as it 

 fell. The swoop after the falling spoil was so elegant an evolution, that I always 

 hoped that the poor noddy would give up as heavy a morsel as possible, in order 

 to necessitate a corespondingly eager dive after it. Refractory gannets were often 

 seized by the tail by the frigate-birds, and treated to a shake that rarely failed 

 of successful results. Fierce foes as they were in the air, on terra firma they 

 roosted near each other like the best of friends. On the island of Fernando do 

 Noronha Moseley describes the frigate-birds as building their nests on the 

 verge of an inaccessible precipice ; these being visible on looking down from 

 the top, and each containing a single egg. On the other hand, in the unmolested 

 Raine Island, these birds nest on the ground. 



THE TROPIC-BIRDS. 

 Family PHAETHONTID^. 



The tropic birds, or " boatswains," as they are commonly called by sailors, are 

 represented by three species, and are somewhat inferior in size to the common 

 English gull. In general appearance they are not unlike terns, from which they 

 are, however, distinguished at a glance by the greatly elongated middle pair of 

 feathers of the tail. In addition to this feature, they differ from the frigate-birds 

 in their conical and pointed beak, near the base of which are situated the very 

 large nostrils ; by the longer and naked metatarsus, the completely webbed toes, 

 and the absence of a bare space round the eye, and of a throat-sac. The best 

 known and most widely distributed species is the red-beaked tropic-bird (Pkaethon 

 cethereus). ranging over the tropical regions of the three great oceans. In the 

 adult the body plumage is white, with a reddish tinge, and black shaft-stripes to 

 the feathers ; the outer webs of the primaries are white, the hinder secondaries 

 mingled black and white, and the two long tail-feathers white. The beak is coral- 

 red, the eye brown, the leg yellow, and the web and toes black. In younger birds 

 the feathers of the back have black bands at the tips ; while in a still younger 

 stage the middle tail-feathers are not elongated, and the beak is brown. The 

 yellow-beaked tropic-bird (P. flavirostris) is distinguished by its yellow beak, and 

 the red middle tail-feathers. Tropic-birds often follow in the wake of vessels 

 for long distances, and display great boldness. During the breeding -season they 

 frequent the Bermuda and Pacific Islands in great numbers, generally breeding in 

 companies, and making their nests in holes in the rocks. 



The writer once had the good fortune to see a living specimen of the white- 

 tailed tropic-bird, which came on board the R.M.S. Magdalena, in the South Atlantic 

 on September 5, 1893, during the night, in an apparently exhausted condition. 

 After a night's rest it recovered, and flew away on being liberated. The pearly 

 lustre of the lovely grebe-like plumage of the head and neck was particularly 

 striking ; and the beauty of the two long tail-feathers of this child of the ocean 

 excited the admiration of all the beholders. 



