Part 12

Their note is a weak twittering “keet-keet.”

LEACH PETREL 106. Oceanodroma leucorhoa. 8 in.

Tail forked; tail coverts white, not tipped with black; legs much shorter than those of Wilson Petrel, which is the only other common species on our eastern coasts. Leach Petrel is a very abundant breeding bird on Maine islands and northward. Some of the soft peaty banks of islands are honeycombed with entrances to their burrows, which extend back, near the surface of the ground, for two or three feet, and terminate in an enlarged chamber. Here one of the birds is always found during the period of incubation, and sometimes both birds, but one is usually at sea feeding during the daytime, returning at night to relieve its mate. All petrels and their eggs have a peculiar, characteristic and oppressive odor.

Notes.—A weak clucking.

Nest.—Single egg at end of burrow; white with a very faint ring of brown dots around the large end.

Range.—Breeds northward from Maine; winters to Virginia.

TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS—Order Steganopodes TROPIC BIRD—Family Phæthontidæ

YELLOW-BILLED TROPIC BIRD 112. Phæthon americanus. 30 to 34 in.

Form tern-like, but with the central tail feathers much lengthened (about 18 in.); legs short and not very strong; all four toes connected by webs.

These beautiful creatures fly with the ease and grace of a tern, but with more rapid beating of the wings. They are strong and capable of protracted flight, often being found hundreds of miles from land. They feed upon small fish which they capture by diving upon from a height above the water, and upon snails, etc., that they get from the beaches and ledges. They are very buoyant, and sit high in the water with their tails elevated to keep them from getting wet.

Nest.—A mass of weeds and seaweed placed upon rocky ledges. The single egg that they lay is creamy, so thickly sprinkled and dotted with purplish brown as to obscure the ground color (2.10 × 1.45).

Range.—Breeds north to the Bahamas and Bermudas.

GANNETS—Family Sulidæ

BLUE-FACED BOOBY 114. Sula cyanops. 28 in.

Bill, face and naked throat pouch, slaty-blue; eye yellow; feet reddish. Plumage white except the primaries, secondaries and other tail feathers, which are black. Young birds are streaked above with gray and brownish, and are dull white below. Boobies are birds of wide distribution in the Tropics, this species being rarely seen in southern Florida, but quite abundant on some of the West Indian islands. Owing to the numerous air cells beneath their skin, they are very buoyant and can ride the waves with ease during severe storms. They secure their prey, which is chiefly fish, by plunging after it.

Nest.—Their one or two eggs are laid usually upon the bare ground on low islands, or sometimes in weed-lined hollows. The eggs are pure white, covered with a thick chalky deposit (2.50 × 1.70).

Range.—Breeds north to the Bahamas and the Gulf of California; sometimes strays to Florida.

BOOBY 115. Sula leucogastra. 30 in.

This species, commonly called the Brown Booby, is brownish black with the exception of a white breast and underparts. Young birds are entirely brownish black; bill and feet greenish yellow; eye white. They are one of the most abundant breeding birds upon many of the Bahaman and West Indian Islands. They have great powers of flight and dart about with the speed of arrows, carrying their long bill and neck at full length before them. They are awkward walkers, and, owing to their buoyancy, it is difficult for them to swim under water, but they are unerring in securing their prey by plunging upon it from a height.

Nest.—They breed in colonies of thousands, laying their two eggs upon the bare sand or rocks. The eggs are chalky white, more or less nest stained (2.40 × 1.60).

Range.—Breeds in the Bahamas and West Indies; wanders north casually to the Carolinas.

GANNET 117. Sula bassana. 35 in.

Primaries black; rest of plumage white; back of head tinged with straw color; bill and feet bluish black. Young grayish or brownish black, mottled above and streaked below. This species is the largest and most northerly distributed of the gannet family. Thousands upon thousands of them breed upon high rocky islets off the British coast. The only known nesting places used by them in this country are Bird Rock and Bonaventure Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; in these places they nest by thousands, their rough piles of seaweed touching each other in long rows on the narrow ledges.

Notes.—A harsh “gor-r-r-rok.” (Chapman).

Range.—North Atlantic, breeding, on the American side, only on islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Winters along the whole United States coast, floating in large flocks out at sea, and rarely coming on land.

DARTERS—Family Anhingdæ

ANHINGA; SNAKE BIRD 118. Anhinga anhinga. 35 in.

Adult male with a glossy greenish-black head, neck and underparts, the neck being covered behind, in breeding season, with numerous filamentous, whitish plumes. Female and young with neck and breast fawn color in front. Eyes red, face greenish and gular pouch orange. Middle tail feathers curiously crimped. These peculiar birds spend their lives within the recesses of swamps, the more dismal and impenetrable, the better. They perch on limbs overhanging the water and dive after fish, frogs, lizards, etc., that pass beneath, from which they get one of their names, American Darter. They swim with the body submerged, with only their serpent-like head and neck visible; hence they are called Snake-birds.