THE ISLANDS OF THE BAY OF BENGAL. 323 



996 bis.— Phaeton aethereus, Lin. (0.) 



This species I am informed is often seen on the passage to 

 and from the Andamans, especially in the monsoons, and in 

 the neighbourhood of the Cocos. At Treis Mr. Davison and 

 others of our party saw a Phaeton with a white tail over two 

 feet in length which can have been no other than the present 

 species. I think there is no doubt that the specimens I obtained 

 on the Mekran Coast, Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 268, belonged 

 to this species, and I do not understand why authors generally 

 seem to consider it confined to the Atlantic Ocean. 



997.— Phaeton flavirostris, Brandt. (0.) 



This is another species that we failed to meet with ; but 

 Colonel Tytler himself shot a fine specimen at Ross Island 

 that for some days had constantly hovered about in the neigh- 

 bourhood of his dove-cot apparently attracted by the white 

 pigeons he had in it. 



Mr. Gray identifies this species with his candidus, but he 

 figures this latter with a red bill, whereas our flavirostris of the 

 Bay of Bengal has the bill very pale yellow. 



Dr. Jerdon describes the feet as dusky, but Mr. Gray cor- 

 rectly figures them. The tarsus, hind toe, first joint of mid toe, 

 and nearly the first two joints of the lateral toes are olive yellow ; 

 the rest of the foot and claws, (except the tip and dilated edge 

 of the mid claw which are yellowish horny,) black. 



I would add to Dr. Jerdon's description that in Colonel 

 Ty tier's specimen the feathers of the flanks are very broadly 

 centred greyish black ; that several of the feathers of the rump 

 and upper tail coverts have a narrow black bar towards the tip, 

 mostly concealed by the overlapping of the preceding feathers, 

 and all the feathers of the crown and occiput will be found 

 to have a large blackish brown spot near the base completely 

 concealed by the ovei'lapping of the feathers. The entire 

 ucder-surface of the wings, (except in the case of a few of 

 the last tertiaries), is white. But on the upper surface the 

 first four primaries have the outer webs, shaft and a narrow stripe 

 on the inner web black, to within about 15 of their tips ; the 

 fifth and sixth have traces of the same, and the rest of the pri- 

 maries have the upper surface of the basal halves of the shafts 

 black. The tail feathers, especially the two elongated central 

 ones, are conspicuously black shafted. 



The male, a fine specimen shot on Ross Island by Colonel 

 Tytler, measured — 



