552 Mr. Karl Plath : With the 



XXXIV. — With the Tropic-birds in Bermuda. 

 By Karl Plath, Chicago, U.S.A. 



(Plates XXI.-XXIV.^) 



During a recent visit to Bermuda, that idyllic archipelago 

 in the Atlantic, I had nunjerous opportunities of observing 

 the beautiful Tropic-bird known locally as the " Long-tail " 

 or " Bo^sun-bird." Little has been written of these 

 wonderful creatures, which choose Bermuda as their most 

 northern breeding-place. Occasionally they are seen on 

 American sea-coasts, but then it is probable that they have 

 been blown in by severe storms. 



The Yellow-billed Tropic-bird (^Phaethon americanus O.- 

 Grant) is the most abundant of the sea-birds of Bermuda, 

 and is the most conspicuous by reason of its colour and its 

 numbers. It is only seen there, however, between February 

 and October ; after the latter month it migrates south to 

 the West Lidics, where a larger species, the Red-billed 

 Tropic-bird (P. aetherius), is also found. Another sea-bird, 

 the Audubon^s Shearwater {Pvjffinus lhtrm,inieri) , occasion- 

 ally breeds in limited numbers in the same localities with 

 the Tropic-birds, but it is so very rare and so seldom seen 

 that very few people are aware of its existence there at all. 



The first glimpse I had of a living Tropic-bird was on the 

 morning we first sighted land en route to Bermuda from 

 New York. It was flying along in its characteristic manner, 

 not unlike a white Pigeon, and the purity of its plumage 

 and the long willowy tail-feathers excited the admiration of 

 the passengers. We had experienced a rough sea, and that 

 morning found us all Avith that peculiar feeling of relief 

 which most of us experience after leaving the horrors of 

 sea-sickness behind. I had escaped it, but one of the 

 passengers afterwards confided to me that it was the most 

 terrible thing he had been through — one moment bethought 

 he would die and the next feared that he would not ! Even a 

 small school of whales and the numerous flying-fish, as well 



* For explanation of tlie plates see p. 559. 



