Tropic-birds in Bermuda. 555 



are so absurdly small tliat they are too weak to hold 

 them up. 



The birds being so tame — or, rather, fearless — while on their 

 nests, I had splendid opportunity to observe their coloration. 

 The plumage of head and breast has an exquisite satiny 

 sheen^ which loses some of its lustre after the bird is dead. 

 The general colour is snowy-wliite, varied with jet-blaclc on 

 sides of head and the wings and with dark grey on the flanks. 

 In fully adult birds there is a beautiful tint of delicate 

 salmon-pink, which suffuses the sides of the neck and the 

 long feathers of the tail. The upper sides of the tail- and 

 wing-shafts are black, fading to white at the tips. The feet, 

 the four toes of which are connected by one web, are black, 

 the tarsus being bluish white. In size they may be com- 

 pared to a large Pigeon, but their extent of wing is much 

 greater, being about 38 inches. If I chanced to visit a nest 

 while the parents were absent, the returning bird would 

 hover in the air above me or else soar about^ but would not 

 alight. As soon as I left the vicinity and got into my boat 

 it would sail down, and, after alighting, would creep 

 awkwardly to the nest, turning round several times before 

 finally settling down. 



But one e^^ is laid, which averages 2^ inches in length 

 by \\ inches in breadth. The colour is light purplish 

 brown, thickly speckled, especially at the larger end, with 

 a darker shade. Both sexes incubate, and, when the birds 

 relieve each other, they would caress one another, mean- 

 while uttering sounds reminiscent of the "Flicker''' (the 

 Golden- winged Woodpecker), " flee-ker — flee-ker," and the 

 relieved bird would depart soon after. The young bird is 

 downy and white, with dark-coloured skin around the bill 

 and eyes (Plate XXIII.) . 



One would not suspect these elegant creatures of being- 

 related to the clumsy Pelicans, but they belong to the same 

 group, and also have a gular pouch, but it is fully feathered 

 and not at all conspicuous. For the first few days the young 

 bird is fed on regurgitated juices and partly-digested food 

 from the pouch of its parents. Later on it is fed on more 

 solid food, such as squids, minnows, flying-fish, &c. Squids 



