  Tropic Birds are Tern-like birds, having all the toes connected by a web, and having the two central tail feathers very much lengthened. Yellow-billed Tropic Bird. 112. Yellow-billed Tropic Bird. PhÆthon americanus. Range.--Tropical regions, breeding in the Bahamas, West Indies and the Bermudas, casual in Florida and along the South Atlantic coast. Dull purplish. The Tropic Birds are the most strikingly beautiful of all the sea birds; they are about 30 inches in length, of which their long slender tail takes about 20 inches. They fly with the ease and grace of a Tern, but with quicker wing beats. They feed on small fish, which they capture by darting down upon, and upon snails which they get from the beach and ledges. They build their nests in the crevices and along the ledges of the rocky cliffs. While gregarious to a certain extent they are not nearly as much so as the Terns. The nest is made of a mass of seaweed and weeds; but one egg is laid, this being of a creamy or pale purplish ground color, dotted and sprinkled with chestnut, so thickly as to often obscure the ground color. Size 2.10 × 1.45. Data.--Coney Is., Bermudas, May 1, 1901. Nest made of moss and seaweed in a crevice on ledge of cliff. Collector, A. H. Verrill. |
| Page | 113. Red-billed Tropic Bird. PhÆthon Æthereus. Range.--Tropical seas, chiefly in the Pacific Ocean; north to southern California. Pale purplish. They breed on several islands in the Gulf of California. This species differs from the preceding in having a red bill, and the back being barred with black. Their plumage has a peculiar satiny appearance and is quite dazzling when viewed in the sunlight. They are strong fliers and are met with, hundreds of miles from land. They often rest upon the water, elevating their long tails to keep them from getting wet. They nest, as do the preceding species, on rocky islands and are said to also build their nests in trees or upon the ground. The single egg that they lay has a creamy ground and is minutely dotted with chestnut. Size 2.40 × 1.55. Data.--Daphone Is., Galapagos Is., South Pacific, March 6, 1901. Egg laid in hole of a sea cliff. The eggs are easily told from those of the yellow-billed by their much larger size. Collector, R. H. Beck. Pale purplish ground color. 113.1 Red-tailed Tropic Bird. PhÆthon rubricaudus. Range.--Tropical regions of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, accidental off the coast of Lower California. This is a singularly beautiful species resembling the latter except that the central tail feathers are bright red, with the extreme tips white. During August and September they breed in large colonies on small islands in the South Seas. On Mauritius Island they build their nests either in the trees or place them on the ground; the nest is made of seaweed, sticks and weeds; numbers of them nest on Laysan Is., of the Hawaiian group, concealing their nests on the ground under overhanging brush. The single egg has a pale purplish ground speckled with brown. |
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