THE VOYAGE. 



11 



among them a beautiful tropic bird with a yellow beak, white plu- 

 mage with black wing patches, and long white plumes in its tail, 

 sooty and noddy terns, flocks of boobies, the adults brown above and 

 white below, the young uniform plain brown with bluish green faces 

 and beaks. These attempted several times to settle on the rigging 



YELLOW-BILLED TROnC BIRD (PHAETHON FLAVIROSTRls). 



of the vessel. Late in the afternoon we saw a tremendous school of 

 porpoises — all small ones not over four feet long, but there were 

 at least three hundred of them. 



The weather was pleasant ; there were a few showers, but the 

 trade wind was constant, and we did not feel the heat. 



