302 ASTOLA, A SUMMER CRUISE 



tinder the bead of Sterna albigena, was fishing, in company 

 with a large mixed flock of S. albigena and S. minuta, (?) iu the 

 Bay at Jashk, and kept dropping down and settling Gull-like on 

 the water. I believe I have correctly identified the species,* 

 as it does not seem to me to agree so well with the descriptions 

 of either of the other species A. senex and A. leucocapilhis, S. E\, 

 Vol IV., p. 480. 



Measurements as follows : — 



Sex. 



3 



Legs and feet dusky vinous brown ; irides and bill blackish ; 

 gape, pale yellow. 



996.— Phaeton indicus, Hume. 



We saw about a dozen tropic birds in all during our trip, but 

 only noticed the species off the Mekran Coast between Ormarra 

 and Gwadar. All of the birds were in precisely the same 

 plumage, and corresponded exactly with the birds obtained by 

 Mr. Hume {vide S. F., Vol. I., p. 287). Surely this must 

 be a distinct species as suggested by Mr. Hume, S. F., Vol. 

 4, p. 482, and not the young of true athereus, otherwise how 

 is it we never come across birds in the adult plumage, or with 

 long tails. 



From what I can gather from Captain Bishop, the birds re- 

 main here all the year round ; and if, as Mr. Hume imagines, they 

 breed iu the neighbourhood, surely in the breeding season, if at 

 no other time, they should appear in full plumage and with 

 long tails ; but Captain Bishop, who has been constantly up and 

 down the Mekran Coast at all seasons for years, and has observ- 

 ed the bird closely, informs me that he has never seen it in any 

 other plumage. Mr. Hume procured alibis specimens in Janu- 

 ary, February and March, and I procured mine (three in beautiful 

 plumage) at the end of May, and as they are all apparently 

 exactly alike, I think Mr. Hume is justified in provisionally 

 separating the species as P. indicus. The birds were not at all 

 wild crossing the bows of the ship constantly within 10 or 15 

 yards. Two of the birds I obtained measured as follows :— 



* Certainly ; the specimen is stolidus. — A.O.H. 



t The lengths given by Mr. Hume, S. F., IV., 482, are only to end of ordinary tail 

 feathers.— E.A.B. 



One not measured in the flesh had the tail 9 inches. — A.O.H. 



