The Red-billed Tropic-bird 



General Range. — Seas and coasts of tropical America. Breeds in Lesser 

 Antilles and from coast of Peru north to about Latitude 28°; ranges north regularly to 

 Cape Colnett, Lower California; accidental in California and on Newfoundland Banks. 



Range in California. — Accidental in channel between Long Beach and Santa 

 Catalina Island; one record: by Capt. W. H. Graves, August, 1916. 



Authorities. — W. E. Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 2, vol. ii., 1889, p. 86 

 (a skull said to have been found on the coast of Marin Co.); Grinnell, Pac. Coast Avi- 

 fauna, no. 11, 1915, p. 176 (in "Hypothetical List," birds of Calif.) ; Law, Condor, vol. 

 xxi., 1919, p. 88 (between Long Beach and Catalina Id., Aug., 1916, one spec.) ; Bent, 

 U. S. Nat. Mus., Bull. no. 121, 1922, p. 187, pis. (life hist.; desc. nest and eggs, etc.). 



ALL THINGS come to him who waits; and the watchers by the sea 

 are those especially favored by rare sights. The shore-line is nature's most 

 ancient highway; and sooner or later every speed-king of the northern 

 Tropics may be expected to take a turn up that enticing highway, at 

 least as far as San Pedro. Witness the northern wanderings of the Elegant 

 Tern and the Man-o'-war-bird ; and now the Red-billed Tropic-bird. This 

 last occurrence had been freely predicted by Anthony 1 and Grinnell, 2 for 

 a previous record of farthest north had been made from Cape Colnett, 

 Baja California, only 200 miles away. The circumstance of the capture 

 of a specimen in August, 1916, by Captain W. H. Graves, of Long Beach, 

 have been detailed by J. Eugene Law. 8 A solitary bird, perhaps the very 

 one seen a day or so before, was shot, as it sailed overhead, from a pleasure 

 launch in the channel about midway between Long Beach and Catalina 

 Island. This was eventually made into a "stuffed" specimen, and graces 

 (or did at last accounts) a south window of the Long Beach Chamber 

 of Commerce. We mention "south" with invidious intent; because 

 continued exposure to the sun bleaches dark plumage to a ghastly isabel- 

 line hue. 



The Tropic-birds are, as their name implies, chiefly confined to the 

 Tropic zone. They are more or less gregarious, especially at the breeding 

 season. In appearance not unlike an exaggerated tern, they differ in 

 having the central pair of tail-feathers excessively elongated — hence, the 

 name "Marlin-spike" or "Bo's'n-bird." In their quest for food, which they 

 obtain by plunging from the air, tern-fashion, the birds fare far out to sea, 

 sometimes hundreds of miles. Their flight is powerful, but it has the 

 appearance of being labored, because the wings are continually flapped, 

 never held rigid for soaring and for rest, as in the case of that passed 

 master of flight, the Man-o'-war-bird. This necessitates occasional rest 

 upon the surface of the ocean; but if this is roughened by a storm, the 

 buffeted birds are glad to take refuge on the masts or taffrails of passing 



1 Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., r 2nd ser.. II., p. 86. 



2 Pac. Coast Avifauna. No. II, 1915. pp. 176, 177. 

 1 Condor, Vol. XXI., March, 1919, p. 88. 



1934 



