410 THE PELICANS. 
this country about May and departsin September. An adult bird in summer 
plumage has the tip of the head and nape of the neck jet-black, the upper 
part of the body ashen grey, the under surface white, and the legs, feet, and 
bill coral-red, the bill deepening into black at the tip. Tle length of the 
Tern rather exceeds fourteen 
inches; much of it is due to 
the long forked feathers of the 
tail. 
WE now arrive at the last 
family of birds, the PELICANS, 
a group which includes many 
species, all remarkable for some 
peculiarity, and many of them 
really fine and handsome birds. 
As its name implies, the TRo- 
PIC BIRD is seldom to be seen 
outside the tropics unless driven 
by storms. It is wonderfully 
TERN. —(Sverna hivunu.) powerful on the wing, being 
able to soar for a considerable 
period, and passing whole days in the air without needing to settle. 
As a general fact they do not fly to very great distances from land, three 
hundred miles being about the usual limit ; but Dr. Bennett observed them on 
one occasion when the nearest land was about one thousand miles distant. The 
long tail-shafts of the Tropic 
Bird are much valued in 
many lands, the natives 
wearing them as ornaments, 
or weaving them into various 
implements, 
The Tropic Bird breeds in 
the Mauritius. The total 
= length of this bird is about 
two feet six inches, of 
= which the tail-feathers oc- 
cupy about fifteen inches. 
THE GANNFET, SOLAN 
GOOSE, or SPECTACLED 
‘ GOOSE, is a_ well-known 
resident on our coasts, its 
chief home being the Bass 
Rock in the Frith of Forth, 
on which it congregates in 
vast numbers. 
The Gannet is a large 
bird, nearly three feet long; and being powerful on the wing, and possessed 
of a large appetite, it makes great havoc among the fish which it devours. 
Herrings, pilchards, sprats, and similar fish are the favourite food of 
the Gannet, and as soon as the shoals of herrings approach the coast the 
Gannets assemble in flocks and indicate to the fishermen the presence and 
position of the fish. 
The nest of the Gannet is a heap of grass, seaweed, and similar sub- 
stances, on which is laid one very pale blue egg, which, however, does not 
long retain its purity. The young are clothed with white puffy down. which 
after a while changes to nearly black feathers, the white plumage not being 
sy 
TROPIC BIRD.—(Phacton athercus.) 
