1 



PHAETHONTIDiE — THE TROPIC BIRDS — PHAETIION. 



189 



iil)iindance near high islands, breeding in holes made in the face of rocky precipices. 

 In the mountainous regions of Taliiti it is quite numerous. 



Dr. Henry Bryant found tlie Tropio-bird breeding in the Bahamas, where he visited 

 throe lireeding-places. At Long Ro(;k, near Exunia, it breeds in holes in the horizon- 

 tal surface of the rock, as also at Water Key, one of the Ragged Island Keys ; at Cayo 

 Verde — which is about thirty miles east of Great Ragged Island — in holes in the 

 perpendicular faces of the cliffs, and also in the horizontal surface of the rock. Before 

 the depositing of the egg the pair oc^nipy the same hole ; but afterward only one 

 l)ir(l is found. Both sexes incubate. On the 20th of April about half had begun 

 to lay, and only a few eggs had been sat on three or four days ; most of them had 

 l)een freshly laid. The birds feed from early daylight until about nine o'clock, when 

 they return to their holes, in which they pass the hotter jjart of the day, again leaving 

 tlieni toward sunset in search of food. The holes chosen are seldom shallow, and 

 are often so winding that, though its harsh note can be heard within, the bird can only 

 be procured by demolishing the rock. In their habits the Phaetons closely resemble 

 the Terns, as they do also in their mode of flight and external appearance. When 

 flying, the long feathers of the tail do not separate. If their breeding-places are 

 ai)proached when the parent birds are out of their holes, they hover over the intruder, 

 screaming and darting at him in the manner of the Terns. The single egg is large 

 for the size of the bird, whitish, covered almost entirely with reddish chocolate- 

 colored spots, finely dotted over the surface ; and these marks may be easily rubbed off. 

 They measure 2.09 inches in length by 1.65 in breadth. The egg was sometimes 

 deposited on the bare rock, and sometimes on a few twigs — which may, however, have 

 accidentally fallen into the hole. 



Eggs of this species in the Smithsonian Collection (No. 1859), obtained in the 

 Bcrnuulas by Mr. J. H. Darrell, have a ground-color of a purplish brownish white, 

 marked with fine spots and sprinkled with deep claret-brown — in some so dark as 

 to approach blackness. They are 2.10 inches long, and from 1.45 to 1.55 inches 

 in breadth. 



Phaethon aethereus. 



THE SED-BILLED TBOPIC BIBD. 



Phaethon aihereus, Linn. S. N. I. 1758, 134; ed. 12, 1766, 219.— Bodd. Tabl. P. E. 1783, 5.8 (ex 

 PI. Enl. 998). — Semper, P. Z. S. 1872, 653 (St. Lucia, W. I.). — Salvin, Trans. Zool. Soc. 

 Loud. IX. ix. 1875, 497 (Tower I. Galapagos). — Ridgw. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, no. 655. — 

 CiiuEs, 2d Check List, 1882, no. 762. 



Phaeton Catcsbyi, Brandt, Mem. Ac. St. Pctcrsb. 1840, Sc. Nat. IlL 270. 



? Phaeton inclanorhynchas, Gmel. S. N. I. ii. 1788. 



ILvn. Coasts of tropical America. Socorro Island, Western Mexico, and Gulf of California ; 

 casual near Newfoundland Banks. 



Sp. Char. Bill deep coral-red. Adult: Prevailing color satiny white; abroad crescent ini- 

 mtiliatnly in front of the ej'e, and a stripe behind it, extending back to the occiput (sometimes 

 nu'ctin}; behind), longer scupidai's (except edges), greater portion of the primary-coverts, and outer 

 webs of lour to six outer primaries (except at ends), deep black ; nape, back, scapulars, rump, and 

 i.piicr lail-coverts, narrowly and rather irregularly Ijarred with blackish plumbeous ; flanks broadly 

 striped with plumbeous. Elongated central rectrices pure white, the shafts blackish toward the 

 base. Bill deep coral-red ; iris brown ; tarsi and base of feet, to first joint of toes, including nearly 

 the whole of the web between inner and hind loes, yellow (orange in life ?) ; remainder of feet 

 black. 



Total length about 30 to 35 inches; wing, 11.75-12.50 ; elongated middle rectrices, sometimes 

 22.00 ; culmen, about 2.50. 



