PHABTHONTID^ PHAETHON 23 



informant on the beach at Hermanns, a fishing village on the coast 

 in the Caledon district, in February, 1902. 



Family IV. PHAETHONTIDJB. 



The Tropic Birds are purely oceanic in their distribution and 

 are found as a rule only in the warmer portions of the world, as 

 their name implies ; they combine the structure of the Gannet with 

 the habits of the Tern. 



The chief characters are : — Cervical vertebrae fifteen in number ; 

 palatines not coalesced, so that the palate can hardly be termed 

 desmognathous ; nasal apertures large and pervious ; vomer large ; 

 femorocaudal, semitendinosus and accessory semitendinosus present, 

 ambiens sometimes present, sometimes absent ; skin highly pneu- 

 matic ; eggs always spotted. 



Genus 1. PHAETHON. 



Type. 

 Phaethon, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 219 (1766) P. aethereus. 



Bill strong and compressed, the oulmen evenly curved but not 

 hooked ; the mandibles serrated along their cutting edges. Nostrils 

 distinct, basal and linear ; no naked skin about the eye or throat. 

 Wings long and pointed, first primary the longest. Tail of from 

 twelve to sixteen feathers, wedge-shaped, the two central feathers 

 very much elongated and attenuated. Tarsus short, toes moderate, 

 fully webbed, fourth toe very much smaller than the others, claw of 

 the middle toe slightly pectinated. 



Six species of this genus, generally known as Tropic Birds, have 

 been described ; they , are confined to intertropical parts of the 

 oceans of both hemispheres, though doubtless occasionally wander- 

 ing beyond these limits. One species is recorded from our shores. 



573. Phaethon rubricauda. Bed-tailed Tropic Bird. 



Phaethon rubricauda Bodd., Tahl. PL Enl. p. 57 (1783) ; Sharpe, ed. 

 Layard's B. 8. Afr. p. 775 (1884); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 162 

 (1896) ; Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 451 (1898). 



Description. — General colour white, tinged with rosy ; a patch 

 in front of the eye and a small streak behind, shafts of the primaries 



