482 THE LACCADIVES AND THE WEST COAST. 
alluded to. Both these species breed in the neighbourhood of 
Mauritius. 
The present species breeds, I believe, on the Omara Headland 
of the. Mekran coast and on the Island of Astolah ; also as 
Heuglin tells us in the Red Sea in the Dahlak Archipelago 
and elsewhere. 
Now I have shot and measured 14 specimens of this bird ; 
all were of one and the same type ; none had very elongated 
middle tail feathers ; all ranged pretty much of a size. 
I subjoin for purposes of comparison the dimensions of our 
Indian Ocean species as recorded by myself and Heuglin, 
and of the true etherius, according to Brandt, Schlegel, 
Hartlaub and Finsch. 
P, indicus. P. etherius. 
—-_~_- Pee ee Ey Ce ee 
Ae <oN 
Hume Heuglin. Brandt. Schlegel. Hart, and Finsch 
Total length to end 
of longest ordinary 
tail feather. 16-83” to 18-05 1642 to 17”52 21738 ae 20735 
Longest ordinary tail 4/0 ,, 4/"75 38 4”.38 6724 5”0 
feather 
Central tail feathers 75 to10”6 987 to12”61 17752 31/35 219-300 
Wing O75) pl Sie GY-Obr lo Ameo eye 13°15 
Bill at front ONLI aaa Se PY oe OHMS 25 2/761 2/752 
Tarsus HEAY 5 NAAM AO ef ee ont 1”3 
It seems to me very clear, whether we look to total length 
to end of ordinary tail feathers, to wings or central tail feathers, 
that ours is a very much smaller bird than the true etherius. 
It might have been said that my fourteen specimens were all 
young birds, but then Heuglin found them breeding repeatedly 
and some of these must be adults, and yet his dimensions agree 
perfectly with mine. 
Then again Finsch and Hartlaub (Faun., Central Polynesiens, 
p- 250), state that the old birds of etherius are pure white, 
only the outer web of the first primaries and of the longest of 
the latest secondaries, the eye stripe and the basal portion of 
the shafts of the middle feathers, black. I have certainly seen 
thirty specimens of our Indian bird besides those that I have 
shot flying round about vessels in which I was, and passing 
by me within thirty to fifty yards ; all were without exception 
variegated with black like the specimen I described, Vol L., p. 
287. Again, it may be urged that all the specimens I saw may 
have been young birds, but Heuglin also says, and he has repeat- 
edly found them breeding, and must, to judge from the tenor 
of his text, have seen hundreds of these birds, referring to F. 
and H.’s description of the old bird, “In this plumage have 
I never seen this Phaeton.” 
Taking all these facts together, it appears to me that I am 
quite justified in provisionally separating the species which 
