OF ORNITHOLOGY 127 



be mistaken for any other species. The characterization of 

 the Genus Taohypetes, by Vieillot, as given by Professor Baird, 

 is so apt that we quote it entire : 



" Bill long, broad at the base, the culmen concave, the un- 

 guis much hooked and very acute, the sides grooved and com- 

 pressed ; nostrils basal, liuear, and hardly visible ; wings very 

 long and pointed, first two primaries longest ; tail lengthened 

 and deeply forked ; tarsi very short, strong, compressed, and 

 feathered for half their length ; toes long and all united by 

 webs ; claws curved and rather small ; gular sac extending 

 nearly to the end of the lower mandible and admitting of 

 considerable expansion." 



Thus, in a word, the general appearance is of an immense 

 kite-like bird with long, narrow, pointed wings ; long, forked 

 tail ; rather long bill and neck ; short legs ; and a lean, atten- 

 uated body. They are tropical birds and lonely wanderers 

 about the ocean, far from land and high in air. Their power 

 of wing — of flight — is scarcely surpassed by any other bird 

 known. They breed, as do the Tropic Birds, in large num- 

 bers together, on or near the ground along the coast. They 

 are poor swimmers and divers and walk badly, but wing the 

 strongest tempests far to sea and high in air. It might well 

 be called the Water Eagle or Robber. There is one species. 



Genus, Tachypetes, The Frigate Pelican, The Man-of-War Bird. 

 Has been classed as Pelecanus, [also Fregata and Attageii\. 



FAMILY LVII PHAETONIDAE THE 

 TROPIC BIRD 



Greek phelhon, — See the legend of Phaethon in Mythology. 

 This is the last of these " Freaks of Nature," as one might 

 almost call them, for which the Order Steganopodes is so 

 noted. It is associated with the Man-of-War Bird, and very 

 much resembles it in many particulars. Their habits are much 

 the same, as are also their habitats : yet the one represents the 

 Lion Bird-King and the other the Dove-Lamb. The one 

 the fierce, untamed, powerful- and skillful-winged scorner and 



