The RED-TAILED TROPIC BIRD (_Phaëton phœnicurus_) has, like the preceding species, white plumage tinged with rose-colour; a broad, black, transverse band, which commences in front of the eyes, is prolonged towards the back of the head into a point; the centre of the secondary quills, and the feathers on the sides are deep black; the shafts of the primary quills are black nearly to the tips. The middle tail-feathers are white towards their base, but elsewhere bright red with black shafts. The eye is blackish brown, beak scarlet, with a pale blue stripe at its base, and the tarsus faint blue; the feet are black. The length of this species is two feet four inches, breadth three feet; the longest tail-feathers are fifteen inches, and the rest five inches. The Red-tailed Tropic Bird is met with throughout the warm and temperate parts of the South Seas and Indian Ocean; during August and September it retires to breed upon the islands. The following description of the eggs and young was given to Mr. Gould by Macgillivray:-- "The eggs of the _P. Phœnicurus_ are blotched and speckled with brownish red on a pale reddish grey ground, and are two inches and three-eighths long, by one inch four-eighths and a half broad. The contents of the stomach consisted of the remnants of cuttle-fishes." [Illustration: THE WHITE-TAILED TROPIC BIRD (_Phaëton æthereus_). ONE-FOURTH NATURAL SIZE.] Latham states that these birds are found in great numbers in the Island of Mauritius, where they make their nests on the ground under trees. According to Bennett, "The nestlings have a singular appearance, resembling powder-puffs, being round as a ball and of a delicate snow-white colour; the plumage of the first year is white speckled with black, and they are deficient in the red shafts projecting from the tail, which do not make their appearance till the second year, when on the young bird moulting, the splendid and delicate roseate plumage is displayed." * * * * * The GANNETS (_Sula_) are larger but more slenderly built than the Tropic Birds. Their bill is longer than the head, and the upper mandible looks as though it were divided posteriorly into an upper and an under portion, so that the beak has the appearance of consisting of three parts. The tarsi are diminutive but strong; the wings unusually long, with the first quill the longest; the tail consists of twelve feathers, and terminates in a wedge-like point. The face and throat are naked.