382 
RED-KILLED TROPIC BIRD. 
mild zone of the tropics, and adverti.ses the mariner with un- 
erring certainty of his entrance within the torrid climes. Yet 
though generally confined to these more favored solar realms, 
which it widely explores to their utmost hounds, it sometimes 
strays beyond the favorite limit, and hence we have given it 
a place among the oceanic birds which stray in summer to the 
coasts of the warmer States. 
'I'he flight of the 'JYopic Bird is often conducted to a pro- 
digious height, at which in every season it can obtain a tem- 
perature of the most delightful kind. At other times, affected 
by the ordinary wants of nature, it descends from its lofty 
station, and accompanied by an ignoble throng of Frigates, 
Pelicans, and Boobies, it attends the appearance of the flying- 
fish as they emerge from the water, pursued by their enemies 
of the deep. These birds are sometimes observed to rest on 
the surface of the sea, and have been seen in calm weather 
upon the backs of the drowsy tortoises supinely floating, so that 
they have been easily taken by allowing the approach of a 
boat. On shore they will perch on trees, and are said to breed 
on the ground beneath the shade of the adjoining woods. 
They are met with on the islands of St. Helena, Ascension, 
Mauritius, New Holland, and in various parts of the South 
Seas, but in no place are they so numerous as at Palmerston 
Island, where, along with the Frigates, they have been seen in 
such plenty that the trees were absolutely loaded with them, 
and so tame or listless that they suffered themselves to be taken 
from the boughs by hand. In the Sandwich and Friendly 
Islands, where they also abound, the natives set a high value 
on the long tail-feathers, made use of by way of ornament, and 
in Otaheite they form a conspicuous part of the ostentatious 
garment worn by mourners. The flesh, though often eaten by 
mariners, cannot be accounted good. 
This cannot be considered more than an accidental straggler to 
Northern waters, though examples have been taken as far north as 
the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
Note. — The Yellow-rilled Tropic Bird {P. fiavirostris) 
has been taken in Western New York. 
