114 HAWAIIAN BIRDS. 



The young are sooty brown above; head, neck and lower parts smoky 

 •gray. 



Sula sula (Linn.). Booby. 



According to Rothschild this gannet was very plentiful on Lis- 

 iansky and Midway Islands, and was noticed by Palmer off Nii- 

 hau. It is however, "altogether the rarest of. the three species in 

 these waters and was absent from Laysan." 



"This species builds a nest of twigs on scrub and lays two eggs, 

 but on Midway Island, where only grass is found, it builds on the 

 ground. 



. Description. — Adult. Mostly sooty brown; lower parts from breast 

 backwards white. Length 30 to 31 inches. 

 The young are sooty brown all over, but paler below. 



PHAETHONTID.^. TROPIC BIRD FAMILY. 



Phaethon lepturUs Laup. V. Daudin. Koae. Salmon-tailed Tropic 

 Bird. Bos'n. 



In the "Auk" for January, 1901, the writer-called attention to the 

 presence of the "Yellow-billed Tropic Bird" on the coast of the 

 island of Hawaii, giving it the name of P- americanus. He was 

 not aware at the time that the Pacific Ocean form of the yellow- 

 bill had been described under the name lepturus. Subsequently, 

 through the kindness of Director Brigham, an opportunity was 

 had to examine all the specimens of tropic birds in the Bishop 

 Museum, when it appeared that but two species were represented, 

 viz : lepturus and rubricauda. In other words it became at once 

 apparent that the bird which had been recorded from the coast of 

 the several islands by various observers as P. cethereus was, in all 

 probability, the present species. 



Mr. Rothschild independently reached the same conclusion from 

 the examination of the material in the Tring Museum, and the 

 matter is duly set forth' in part iii, Avifauna of Laysan, p. 296. 



The error of identification dates 'back as far as 1869 when Mr. 

 Dole, in Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. p. 308, gives P. (Ethereus as a 

 resident of the islands without reference or comment. There can 



