THE TROPIC BIRDS. 



197 



while on the wing. The boatmen informed me that these were the male birds. Others, probably im- 

 mature birds, had the head black, the throat white, and the legs and feet pink. All had long black 

 forked tails. I obtained a specimen of each, but did not preserve them, as I had much to do ; and 

 besides, they are stinking birds to handle, as bad as, or worse than, the Turkey-Buzzard (Cathartes). 

 The Pelicans have also a breeding-place in Fonseca Bay, but it is in an island at some distance from 

 the one in possession of the Frigate Birds." 



In the Ellice Islands, the Rev. S. G. Whitmee states that the birds are domesticated by the 

 natives, and when he was in those islands in 1870 he saw scores of them about the villages, sitting on 

 long perches erected for them near the beach. The natives procure the young birds and tie them by 

 the leg and feed them till they are tame. Afterwards they let them loose, and they go out to sea. to 

 get their food, and return to their perches in the villages. The same gentleman also informed the 

 writer that a post had been established between some of the islands by the missionaries, much after 

 the fashion of Carrier Pigeons in England, and Mr. Whitmee had himself seen more than one letter 

 arrive in a quill attached to the bird. 



THE SECOND FAMILY OF THE STEGANOPODES. THE TROPIC BIRDS (Phaethontidce) . 

 These birds, more familiarly known to mariners as " Bo'suns," are inhabitants of the centre of 

 the ocean between the tropics, and are generally observed following in the wake of vessels. From 

 their white plumage they have much the aspect of Sea Swallows, which they also resemble in their 

 night. They may, however, be distinguished by the two long central tail-feathers, which in one of 

 the three species known are red, in the other two white. Mr. Hume describes the Tropic Birds 

 as not uncommon in the northern portion of the Indian Ocean. They flew about the ship much like 



TROPIC BIRD. 



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