tropic bird

American  

Or tropicbird

noun

1. any of several web-footed seabirds of the family Phaethontidae, chiefly of tropical seas, having white plumage with black markings and a pair of greatly elongated central tail feathers.

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Etymology

Origin of tropic bird

First recorded in 1675–85

Example Sentences

Until 1909, the inhabitants consisted of the Laysan albatross, black-footed albatross, sooty tern, gray-backed tern, noddy tern, Hawaiian tern, white tern, Bonin petrel, two shearwaters, the red-tailed tropic bird, two boobies and the man-of-war bird.

From Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation by Hornaday, William Temple

The name “boatswain-bird” is applied to some other kinds of birds, besides the tropic bird.

From The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 by Olson, Julius E.

Sometimes the large bird called the frigate pelican soars majestically over the vessel, and the tropic bird comes near enough to let you have a fair view of the long feathers in his tail.

From Wanderings in South America by Waterton, Charles

And she, to whom warmth and colour were a very part of her nature, was an exotic, a lost tropic bird, in these icy mountains.

From The Life of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson by Sanchez, Nellie Van de Grift

Or flights of the tropic bird, known among seamen as the "boatswain," wheeled round and round us, whistling shrilly as they flew.

From Omoo by Melville, Herman