262 



longest normal tail feather by 570 mm.; the nearest approach to 

 this record is a length of 510 mm. found in a specimen of meso- 

 nauta (M. C. Z. 32400) collected on St. Lucia, Lesser Antilles, by 

 John Semper about 1875. Two Tropic Birds taken by Beck on 

 Daphne Island, Galapagos, March 6, 1901, are indistinguish- 

 able from birds collected in Caribbean waters and are referable 

 to mesonauta. 



Material examined. — Phaethon xthereus xthereus, from Ascen- 

 sion Island (4cf, 2 9) and St. Helena Island (2). Phaethon 

 xthereus mesonauta, from Panama: Swan Key (4cf, 3 9 ); from 

 the Lesser Antilles: Anguilla (2c?), St. Lucia (5); from the 

 Cape Verde Islands: Brava (ld\ 19); from the Galapagos 

 Islands: Daphne Island (lcf, 19); from the west coast of 

 Mexico: Isabella Island (19). Phaethon xthereus limatus, 

 from the Galapagos Islands: Tower Island (2c/ 1 ). 



I have not seen Phaethon xthereus indicus (Hume), 2 but com- 

 parison with this very distinct subspecies is not required. In- 

 dicus is said to have the black band on the sides of the head 

 nearly obsolete behind the eye, and the bill orange red with the 

 tip and cutting edges of the mandibles blackish. 



-Phaeton indicus Hume, Sti\ Feath. 4, p. 4S1, 1876 (Mekran Coast). 



