6i6 T R O P I C B I R D .
"Place and
M anners.
the back, rump, and fcapulars, are white, crofled with curved
ftreaks of black : the leffer wing coverts white, fome of them
tranfverfely marked with black: greater quills black, margined
with white : fides over the thighs black, or dulky and white
mixed: the tail confifts of fourteen feathers, twelve of which are
of a moderate length, the longeft of them about five inches and
a half long, and lhorter as they proceed outwards; hence the
■ fhape is cuneiform; the two middle ones meafure above twenty
inches, and finilh in a point; the colour of all of them is white,
except the long ones, which are black for one fourth of the way
from the bafe : the legs are of a dulky yellow : daws black.
The name Tropic Bird, given to t\ns genus, arifes from its being
chiefly found within the tropic circles; but we are not to conclude
that they never ftray voluntarily, or are driven beyond them; for
we have met with a few inftances to prove the contrary *. It is
however fo generally found within the tropical limits, that the
fight of this bird alone is fuificient to inform the mariner of a
very near approach to, -if not his entrance therein. It has alfo
been thought to portend the contiguity of land f ; but this has
often proved fallacious, as it is not unfrequently found at very
* Dr. Forjtcr obferves, that they are never Teen beyond 28 deg. of latitude ;
but others talk of their fpreading far beyond it.—-In lat. 32. 45. Ell. Narr. ii.
p. 64.-----53■ to. N. - Cook's laft Voy. iii. p. 178.------ 38. 34. S. Park. Voy.
p. 132.----- 38. 29. S„ Hanakef. Voy. iii. p, 77. This is mentioned as not being
common ; but Kaim fay;; he met with thefe in 40 deg. N. See Trass, i. p. 22.
— And a friend of mine allured me that he faw one in lat. 47£ N , ; -but at 'the
fame time obferved that it was the firlt inilance he had ever known of fuch a.
circumdance.
f Ulloa's Voy. ii. p. 301.— He obferves, that they feldom are met with above
eight or ten leagues from land.
great
T R O P I C B I R D .
great diftances therefrom. The flight of this bird is often to a
prodigious height; but at other times feen, along with the Frigate
Pelican, Booby, and other birds, attending the Flying Fijhes
at their rife from the water, driven from their native element
into the air by their watery enemies, the Shark**, Porpoife'’, Al-
,bicore % Bonito 4, and Dolphin which purfue them beneath, and
prey upon them. Thefe birds are fometimes obferved to reft on
the furface of the water ; and have been now and then feen, in
calm weather, upon the backs of the drowfy Tortoijes, fupinely
floating in the fea, fo that they have been eafily taken by the
long boat manned f . On Ihore they will perch on trees; and
are faid to breed in the woods, on the ground beneath them.
They have been met with in plenty on the iflands of St. Helena,
Afcenjion, Mauritius, New Holland, and various places in the
South Seas-, but in no place fo numerous as at Palmerfton IJland,
where thefe birds, as well as the Frigates, were in fuch plenty, that
the trees were abfolutely loaded with them, and fo tame that
they fuffered themfelves to be taken off the boughs with the
hand J. A t Otaheite, and in the Friendly IJles, the natives give
them the names of Haingoo, and Tffolaiee.
As the Tropic Bird fheds the long tail feathers every year, the
inhabitants of fuch ifles as they frequent, collecft and make ufe of
• i Squalus canduflor, b Delphinns Phocxna, Scomber Thynnui, 4 Scornier Per
lamis, ' Delphinus Coryphana.— See Phil. Tran/, vol. lxviii. p. 800. It is there
obferved, that the Flying Fi/h is able to fly fixty or more yards at ene ftretch,
and repeat it a fecond or even a third time, only the llightell momentary touch
of the furface that can be conceived intervening ; and it is common in thefe
flights for them to fly again!!Jhips, or fall on the deck.
f Fryer's Tram. p. 219. t Ellis Narr. p. 53.
V o l . III. 4 K them
'1 I
j: