-88 
STEGANOPODOUS BIRDS. 
nut trees, the frigate-birds would sally out on the successful fishers returning in 
the evening, and perpetrate a vigorous assault on them until they disgorged for 
their behoof at least a share of their supper, which they caught in mid-air as it 
fell. The swoop after the falling spoil was so elegant an evolution, that I always 
hoped that the poor noddy would give up as heavy a morsel as possible, in order 
to necessitate a corespondingly eager dive after it. Refractory gannets were often 
seized by the tail by the frigate-birds, and treated to a shake that rarely failed 
of successful results. Fierce foes as they were in the air, on terra jirma they 
roosted near each other like the best of friends. On the island of Fernando do 
Noronha Moseley describes the frigate - birds as building their nests on the 
verge of an inaccessible precipice; these being visible on looking down from 
the top, and each containing a single egg. On the other hand, in the unmolested 
Raine Island, these birds nest on the ground. 
The Tropic-Birds. 
Family P IIAETHONTIDJE. 
The tropic birds, or “ boatswains,” as they are commonly called by sailors, are 
represented by three species, and are somewhat inferior in size to the common 
English gull. In general appearance they are not unlike terns, from which they 
are, however, distinguished at a glance by the greatly elongated middle pair of 
feathers of the tail. In addition to this feature, they differ from the frigate-birds 
in their conical and pointed beak, near the base of which are situated the very 
large nostrils; by the longer and naked metatarsus, the completely webbed toes, 
and the absence of a bare space round the eye, and of a throat-sac. The best 
known and most widely distributed species is the red-beaked tropic-bird (Phaethon 
cethereus). ranging over the tropical regions of the three great oceans. In the 
adult the body plumage is white, with a reddish tinge, and black shaft-stripes to 
the feathers; the outer webs of the primaries are white, the hinder secondaries 
mingled black and white, and the two long tail-feathers white. The beak is coral- 
red, the eye brown, the leg yellow, and the web and toes black. In younger birds 
the feathers of the back have black bands at the tips; while in a still younger 
stage the middle tail - feathers are not elongated, and the beak is brown. The 
yellow-beaked tropic-bird (P. flavirostris ) is distinguished by its yellow beak, and 
the red middle tail-feathers. Tropic-birds often follow in the wake of vessels 
for long distances, and display great boldness. During the breeding-season they 
frequent the Bermuda and Pacific Islands in great numbers, generally breeding in 
companies, and making their nests in holes in the rocks. 
The writer once had the good fortune to see a living specimen of the white¬ 
tailed tropic-bird, which came on board the R.M.S. Magdalena, in the South Atlantic 
on September 5, 1893, during the night, in an apparently exhausted condition. 
After a night’s rest it recovered, and flew away on being liberated. The pearly 
lustre of the lovely grebe-like plumage of the head and neck was particularly 
striking; and the beauty of the two long tail-feathers of this child of the ocean 
excited the admiration of all the beholders. 
