. Bird lore . wing is alsotess, as that of the males is, about thirty-eight inches. I frequently saw one ofthe pair enter the nest on which his mate brooded, and after the two had beenthere a few minutes the relieved bird would depart for recreation or food. A native who was caretaker of a large island and its close neighbors inCastle Harbor very generously showed me many varied nest locations. Accord-ing to his observations, and they are not to be doubted, some of the birds atleast return to their original nestsyear after year. A wire ringfastened to a birds leg provedthis to be a fact. The b
. Bird lore . wing is alsotess, as that of the males is, about thirty-eight inches. I frequently saw one ofthe pair enter the nest on which his mate brooded, and after the two had beenthere a few minutes the relieved bird would depart for recreation or food. A native who was caretaker of a large island and its close neighbors inCastle Harbor very generously showed me many varied nest locations. Accord-ing to his observations, and they are not to be doubted, some of the birds atleast return to their original nestsyear after year. A wire ringfastened to a birds leg provedthis to be a fact. The breedingseason extends from April toAugust, as in the latter monthnewly hatched young and birdsready to fly are seen. The firstfeathers of the young Tropic-birdare quite differently marked fromthe adult. The color is white, withnumerous curved black bars onhead, nape, back and wings. Theblack areas on the wings are welldefined, and the two central tail-feathers are a trifle longer than tropic-bird ten days old. The Old Maid Gull 349 the others. The bill is yellow with a dusky tip. The favorite food of theTropic-bird is small fish and squids, which are afterwards regurgitated forfood for the young. This is also a favorite bait used by fishermen, and forthis reason the abundant Long-tail is not especially popular. I also found a few nests of the Audubons Shearwater, which is extremelyrare here and not often seen. In the many visits I made to the nests at all hoursof the day, I never saw the old birds. Most of the nests contained a large,downy young bird, and an egg which usually was cracked and spoiled. Theywere placed in crevices of the limestone rocks, and the Tropic-birds had nestsclose about them. The young Shearwater is of a pretty maltese gray, withwhite underparts and black-and-white feet. One of the noticeable features of the Tropic-bird is its inability to walkupright or to stand up on its legs; a fact which is not generally under-stood by taxidermists, who usually mount
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectorn
