TERNS AND TROPIC-BIRDS 31 



while as to the slow-flying Grass-Owl of the East 

 {Strix Candida), a near relative of the Barn-Owl, 

 Indian falconers say it is one of the birds which 

 " will show you the stars," in allusion to its habit 

 of " ringing up " and thus escaping the pursuit of 

 their Falcons. 



The flight of various birds, indeed, admirably 

 bears out the old " horsy " proverb, " They run 

 in all shapes " ; one. often cannot at all predict 

 what a bird's flight will be like from looking at a 

 dead or caged specimen. Terns, for instance, are 

 so Swallow- like in build that they are often and 

 quite reasonably called sea-swallows, but their 

 flight is not at all Swallow-like, though recognizably 

 like that of their family relatives, the Gulls. Tropic- 

 birds (Phaethon) look very like Terns, and feed in 

 the same way, but their flight is not at all like 

 that of a Tern, but is performed with quick wing- 

 beats, like that of a Duck. 



It thus differs much from that of all other long- 

 winged sea-fowl, but much resembles that of the 

 swift-flying Ring- necked Parrakeets {Paleeornis) ; 

 and it is curious that the Tropic-bird has the long 

 pointed tail one usually associates with a Parrakeet. 

 Generally this wedge-shaped tail is favoured more 

 by ground-birds like the Pheasant than by fine 

 flyers, but besides the Tropic-birds, the Skuas also 

 possess it, and they are experts, being able in the 

 course of their piratical profession to fly down the 

 Terns, which have the forked tail usually associated 

 with dexterous flight, and very seldom found in 



