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Updated: May 23, 2025
Tropic-birds, white only when mature. Tropics, freshwater fishes of the. Trout, proportion of the sexes in; male, pugnacity of the. Trox sabulosus, stridulation of. Truth, not rare between members of the same tribe; more highly appreciated by certain tribes. Tulloch, Major, on the immunity of the negro from certain fevers. Tumbler, almond, change of plumage in the. Turdus merula, young of.
During the following days a large number of birds, such as gannets, sea-swallows, and tropic-birds, flew around the caravels. Columbus turned their presence to account as a means of reassuring his companions, who were beginning to be terribly frightened at not meeting with land after six weeks of sailing.
"Hurrah!" cried Mudge, "we have here food enough to supply all our wants; and, what's better, such as I hope we may be able to preserve for our voyage." A large number of the birds were sitting on their eggs, and so tame were they that we had to push them over to get at the said eggs. Among them were numerous beautiful tropic-birds, sooty terns, and gannets.
The tropic-birds were the tamest, or I should rather say the least aware of the harm we might do them, and allowed us to put our hands under them and carry off their eggs without showing the slightest fear. We had to hurry back, as the tide was rising, and our retreat might be cut off. On reaching the bay where we were cast ashore, we found that Tillard had made some progress with his forge.
Each day he watched the compasses with attention, and it is to him we owe the discovery of the magnetic variation, of which he took account in his calculations. The pilots, however, were much disturbed on seeing the compasses all "north-westers," as they expressed it. On the 14th of September the sailors saw a swallow and some tropic-birds.
They saw a bird called "'Rabihorcado, which never alights at sea, nor goes twenty leagues from land," wrote the confident Columbus; "Nothing is wanting but the singing of the nightingale," he says. Sunday, the thirtieth, brought "tropic-birds" again, "a very clear sign of land." Monday the journal shows them seven hundred and seven leagues from Ferro. Tuesday a white gull was the only visitor.
Besides, in my opinion, it should here rather set to the west than south; being open to the narrow sea that divides New Holland from the range of islands before mentioned. The 27th we found that in the last 24 hours we had gone 9 miles less south than the log gave: so that it is probable we were then out of the southern current which we felt so much before. We saw many tropic-birds about us.
The air resounded with the cries of the tropic-birds, petrels, frigate-birds, and innumerable other sea-fowl, which notwithstanding the obscurity of the atmosphere, were seen coming from every point of the horizon, to seek for shelter in the island.
As the ship sailed on, the sea-gulls of the northern ocean were succeeded by the high towering tropic-birds, several of which were seen; appearing at first like mere specks in the blue sky, where, with the wonderful balloon apparatus with which they are furnished, they floated calmly at their ease, then suddenly descending like bolts from the skies, they pounced down upon the nether world, to seize some hapless fish swimming unconscious of danger near the surface of the ocean.
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