ORNITHOLOGY. 
37 
“ These birds came within arm’s length of the men on deck.” 
The specimens examined were shot off Salas Island. They were observed off Bow Island, and 
also off Ducie’s Island, but “ soaring at a considerable height, and not approaching the ship.” 
Fam. LARIDzE. 
Phaeton aithereus. Linn., Syst. Nat. vol. 1. p. 219. sp. 1. 
Phaeton phaenicurus. Lath., Ind. Orn. p. 894. sp. 3. 
Common Tropic Bird. Id., Gen. Hist. vol. 10. p. 443. sp. 1. 
Red-tailed Tropic Bird. Id., Ib. p. 447. sp. 3. pi. 183. 
Grand Paille-en-queue. Buff., PI. Enl. 998. 
Paille-en-queue de l’lsle de France. Id., Ib. 979. 
This species, of which several specimens were brought home, was met with abundantly at Bow 
Island, according to Mr. Lay, who has made the following observations on them : — 
“ The chief object which interested us here was the number of Tropic Birds which were found 
either fostering their young ones, or brooding upon their eggs. These are about two inches long, and 
one in diameter ; sprinkled and mottled with a reddish-brown. They are laid in a hollow of the 
sand, under the covert of a shrub of the Tournefortia or Pemphis. The birds generally betray the 
place of their concealment by loud angry cries, defending their eggs or young with great obstinacy, 
and inflicting no despicable wounds with tlieir bills. 
“The young ones, when full fledged, are handsomely spotted with black, with black bills. 
When attempted to be captured, they gave proofs of having inherited the fierce disposition of their 
parents.” 
They' were also met with at Matilda Island, as noted in Mr. Collie’s Journal of the date of 
February 4, 1826, from which the following details are extracted: — 
“ We were surprised in passing through or near the coppices, to hear at our feet the screeching 
of birds, and on turning round to see them with wide opened bills, ready to inflict a sharp and no 
trifling wound with their inverted serratures upon the hand that would dare to seize them. They 
were in the act of incubation, and could not be made to quit tlieir egg, for each had only one, unless 
pushed off by force. Their nest was nothing more than a slight excavation in the sand. The eggs 
are of the same form as those of the domestic Hen, but larger than those of a Duck. They are of a 
brownish marbled appearance, some being lighter than others. The birds which were ^tting 
appeared to have a deeper tinge of red in their white plumage than the others which were flying 
around us. These did not soar to so great a height as we had previously seen others at sea, but 
approached within gunshot. 
“ The irides are black, and a black space surrounds the eye. The beak of the adult bird is red- 
dish, the legs lead colour, and the toes and webs black. The breadth is 3 feet 9^ inches: length, 
from tip of bill to the extremity of the tail (the two middle feathers, which extend a foot further, 
excepted), 1 foot 8 inches. The feathers of the young, in their first plumage, are white striped with 
black. At this period the bill is of a greyish black, the feet of a leaden colour. One young one 
measured in breadth only three feet, and did not seem capable of flying. The unfledged young were 
covered with a light greyish-brown, and had the black bill of the feathered ones. 
“ On dissecting the bird, I found the liver large and clay-coloured. The stomach is a cylindri- 
cal muscular sac, extending into the pelvis, and held in its situation by a muscular connexion pro- 
ceeding from the left side of the sac, where it is lost among the fibres of the stomach itself, to the 
branch of the pubis of the same side. The pancreas lies over and in the space formed by the descend- 
