BIRDS OF LAYSAN AND THE LEEWARD ISLANDS. 
795 
At Bird Island the petrels were abundant. They flew aboard, attracted by deck lights. These 
birds had been feeding on fish eggs? and ctenophores or comb-jelly. During the day many were seen 
skimming rapidly over the water. 
This species ranges over the temperate North Atlantic and temperate North Pacific oceans 
(Salvin). 
Oceanodroma fuliginosa. Sooty Petrel. 
Procettaria fuliginosa Gmelin, Syst. Nat., I, 1788, p. 562. 
Under this name I include two petrels, one of which was obtained on Laysan and the other at 
Bird Island. The Laysan bird was found hurt or sickly near the lagoon, where I saw upward of a 
dozen dead and dried-up individuals. The Bird Island specimen flew aboard, attracted by deck 
lights. Both birds are immature, retaining a trace of the down. They agree essentially in respect to 
size and color with the description by Mr. Ridgway, published in the Catalogue of Birds of the British 
Museum, with the exception that the wings are shorter, which is accounted for by the immaturity of 
the specimens. The bird from Laysan has remarkably short wings. 
The following are the measurements of the two specimens in millimeters: 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
Date. 
Wing. 
Tail. 
Fork 
of tail. 
Oil- 
men. 
Depth of bill 
just in front 
of nostrils. 
Tar- 
sus. 
43 
c? im. 
? im. 
La san 
May 18 
June 1 
150 
94 
30 
16 
4.5 
29 
168 
Bird Island 
196 
110 
37 
18 
5 
29 
On Laysan, according to Mr. Schlemmer, this species breeds in February, and nests in burrows 
under scattered bowlders of old coral rock on the southwest side of the island. There was a small 
colony of Puffinus cuneatus in this place when we visited the island, so that the same burrows are 
occupied during the year by two species. 
The sooty petrel may be said to be hardly common. 
PHAETHONTIDtE. 
Ph.aeth.on rubricauda. Red-twiled Tropic Bird. 
Phaeton rubricauda Boddaert, Tabl. PI. Enl., 1783, p. 57. 
The red-tailed tropic bird is fairly common on Laysan, where it nests under the shelter of bushes 
and not infrequently several will congregate beneath colonies of Fregata aquila , occupying the ground 
floor as it were. The bird has a vicious temper, and if one attempts to disturb or to take it from the 
egg, it sets up a horrible and discordant screaming, which soon grows unbearable. The sharp beak 
with serrated edges is not to be despised and the enraged bird will sometimes use it to good advantage. 
The bow’ s’ n birds keep up their strident cries so . long as one meddles with them, but if left undis- 
turbed will soon quiet down. Whenever we inadvertently passed near one hidden under a cheno- 
podium bush, we soon became aware of its presence by its cry of defiance. (Figs. 31, 32. ) 
To see these birds at their best one must watch them flying about in the bright sunshine, when 
their pale, salmon-pink plumage shines as though burnished, and the satiny feathers stand out like 
scales. The two long, red tail-feathers are possessed by both sexes, and the female is only a trifle less 
pink than the male. Usually when flying about they were quiet, and progressed by short, nervous 
wing-beats, never attempting to sail. Occasionally, however, they swooped about our heads and made 
the neighborhood lively. 
The nest is merely a hollow in the sand, with a few grass straws and leaves gathered in the 
bottom. The single egg is brooded by both parents, each of which sits upon it with the wings slightly 
opened. The egg is particularly handsome, being thickly sprinkled with specks, spots, and even 
blotches of reddish brown (liver brown), in most of the specimens rather evenly distributed over the 
egg, but with an irregular dark area at the larger pole in some specimens. The ground color is a 
dirty white, almost obscured by the fine marks. Some examples have few spots, only fine sprinkling, 
so that the general tone of the egg at a distance is vinaceous. One specimen is almost white, while 
two others are very heavily washed at the blunt end with deep reddish chocolate. The eggs are ovate, 
