Manners. 



&t6 TROPIC BIRD. 



the back, rump, and fcapulars, are white, croffed with curved 

 ftreaks of black : the leffer wing coverts white, fome of them 

 tranfverfely marked with black : greater quills black, margined 

 with white : fides over the thighs black, or dufky and white 

 mixed : ihe tail confifts of fourteen feathers, twelve of which are 

 of a moderate length, the longeft of them about five inches and 

 a half long, and fhorter as they proceed outwards ; hence the 

 fhape is cuneiform ; the two middle ones meafure above twenty 

 inches, and finifh in a point; the colour of all of them is white, 

 except the long ones, which are black for one fourth of the way 

 from the bafe : the legs are of a dufky yellow : claws black. 



The name Tropic Bird, given to xh\s genus, arifes from its being 

 chieflyfound within the tropic circles ; but we are not to conclude 

 that they never ftray voluntarily, or are driven beyond them; for 

 we have met with a few inftances to prove the contrary *. It is 

 however fo generally found within the tropical limits, that the 

 fight of this bird alone is fufficient to inform the mariner of a 

 very near approach to, if not his entrance therein. It has alfo 

 been thought to portend the contiguity of land f; but this has 

 often proved fallacious, as it is not unfrequently found at very 



'* Dr. Fotficr obferves, that they are never feen beyond 28 deg. of latitude ; 

 but others talk of their fpreading far beyond it. — -In lat. 32. 45. Ell. Narr. ii. 



p. 64. 33. 10. N. Cook's lajl Voy. iii. p. 178. 38. 34. S. Park. Voy. 



p. 132. 38. 29. S. Hawkef. Voy. iii. p. 77. This is mentioned as not being 



common ; but Kalm fays he met with thefe in 40 deg. N. See Trav. i. p. 22. 

 —And a friend of mine aifured me that he faw one in lat. 475- N. ; but at the 

 fame time obferved that it was the firil inftance he had ever known of fuch a 

 circumftance. 



i Ulloa's Voy. ii. p. 301. — He obferves, that they feldom are met with above 

 eight or ten leagues from land. 



great 



