52 THE NATURAL HISTORY 
_ two feet long. In Otaheite, (an ifland in the 
South Sea, vifited by Captain Cook) the people 
ufe thefe feathers to ornament their warriors ; 
and in the Caribee Iflands, of America, the favages 
- — put them through the griftle of the nofe, to make 
themfelves appear more handfome, or more - 
frightful, 
~My. Leguat fays, that in one of his voyages _ 
the Tropic Birds were exceedingly troublefome to _ 
the failors, and frequently flew away with their 
hats. They lay two eggs, and live upon fifh. ; 
Sometimes they fly to a prodigious height, and _ 
they are often feen with the Man of War Bird,’ 
and Boobies, purfuing the Flying-fith as they fe 
out of the water, to efcape from the Dolphins ~ 
and Bonitos. Sometimes they reft on the furface : 
ef the water; and when the weather has been’:— 
- calm, they have been feen perched on the back of! 
—. drowfy Tortoiles, as she} have been floating on = 
the fea. 
They breed in the cele on ae cae under 
trees. They have been found on the iflands of 
‘At Helena, and Afcenfion, in the Atlantic Ocean; * 
and of Mauritius, near Africa, and in New Hol- 
land, and many places in the South Seas. In 
| Palmerfton Ifland the trees were quite loaded with 
them; and they were fo tame, as to fuffer them- 
| felves 
