TROPIC BIRD. 44o 



the surface of water; and to be now and then seen, in calm weather, 

 upon the backs of the drowsy tortoises, supinely floating in the sea, 

 so as to be taken by the long boat manned. On the shore they will 

 often perch on trees ; are said to breed in the woods, on the ground 

 beneath them*. Have been met with in plenty on the Islands of 

 St. Helena, Ascension, Mauritius, New-Holland, and various places 

 in the South Seas, but no where more numerous than at Palmerston 

 Island, where these birds, as well as the frigates, were in such 

 plenty, that the trees were absolutely loaded with them, and so 

 tame, as to suffer themselves to be taken off the boughs with the 

 hand.f At Otaheite and in the Friendly Isles the natives call them 

 by the names of Haingo and Toolaiee. 



As the Tropic Bird sheds the long tail feathers every year, the 

 inhabitants collect and make use of them in various manners as 

 ornaments. They are worn in the caps and other parts of the dress 

 of the Sandwich Islanders, being in great plenty at Taboora,J but 

 they appear no where more conspicuous than in the mourning gar- 

 ments of Otaheite, where great numbers are picked up in the moun- 

 tainous parts, and where the bird also breeds. || The flesh is certainly 

 not good, but was found sufficiently acceptable to sailors who had 

 long been confined to salt provisions. 



A. — Lepturus candidus, Bris. vi. 485. t. 42. f. 2. 7rf.8vo.ii. 487. Ind. Orn. ii. 



894. j8. 

 Paille-en-Queue de L'Isle d'Ascension, Buf. viii. 355. PL enl. 369. 

 Tropic Bird, Gen. Syn. vi. 1. A. Gates. Car. App. pi. 14. Brown, Jam. 482. Edw. 



pL 149. f, 2. 



This is less than the last. Bill cinereous at the base, the rest 

 of the length yellowish; plumage in general silvery white; round 



* Breed in the crevices of the elevated rocks, near the shores of the Cape Verd Islands. 

 Turkey's Narrative, p. 82. f Ellis's Narr. p. 53. 



X Cook's Last Voyage, ii, 232. Id. iii, 172. |.| Forst. Voy. ii. p. 92. 



