﻿BIRDS 
  OF 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  

  

  167 
  

  

  Yellow-billed 
  Tropic-bird. 
  Phaethon 
  americanus 
  Grant. 
  New 
  York 
  specimen 
  (immature) 
  in 
  State 
  

  

  i 
  nat. 
  size 
  

  

  Museum. 
  

  

  describes 
  its 
  capture 
  in 
  Our 
  Birds 
  and 
  their 
  Haunts, 
  page 
  615 
  [see 
  also 
  Coues, 
  

   N. 
  O. 
  C. 
  Bui. 
  5 
  :63 
  ; 
  compare 
  also, 
  Maynard's 
  Birds 
  of 
  Eastern 
  North 
  America, 
  

   p. 
  474]. 
  

  

  Family 
  SULIDAEi 
  

  

  Gannets 
  

  

  Bill 
  long, 
  very 
  stout 
  at 
  base, 
  tapering 
  and 
  slightly 
  decurved 
  toward 
  

   the 
  tip, 
  somewhat 
  serrate 
  and 
  very 
  deeply 
  clef 
  t 
  ; 
  nostrils 
  abortive 
  ; 
  gular 
  pouch 
  

   naked 
  but 
  small 
  ; 
  wings 
  long 
  and 
  pointed 
  ; 
  tail 
  long 
  and 
  wedge-shaped 
  of 
  1 
  2 
  

   to 
  18 
  feathers; 
  legs 
  short 
  and 
  stout, 
  placed 
  nearly 
  at 
  the 
  center 
  of 
  body; 
  

   head 
  large; 
  neck 
  rather 
  long; 
  plumage 
  compact; 
  two 
  carotids; 
  ambiens 
  

   femorocaudal 
  and 
  semitendinosus 
  muscles 
  present 
  but 
  the 
  accessories 
  

   absent 
  ; 
  sternum 
  long 
  and 
  narrow 
  ; 
  coracoids 
  directed 
  forward 
  ; 
  a 
  remarkable 
  

   development 
  of 
  the 
  pneiimatic 
  cells 
  extending 
  beneath 
  the 
  skin 
  and 
  among 
  

   the 
  muscles. 
  

  

  