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

See Examples For:

tropic bird

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 Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez

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 Charles Waterton

The tropic bird is a species of gull, about the size of a partridge.

From A Voyage round the World A book for boys by William Henry Giles Kingston

The women had decorated the Captain's neck and broad breast with wreaths—two girls were seated a little farther off, binding into his hat the tail-feathers of the tropic bird.

From A Modern Buccaneer by Rolf Boldrewood

Let your love rest upon me, O my parents, who have thrust me forth, Who have left me in the cavernous cliff, Who have heartlessly placed me in the Cliff frequented by the tropic bird!

From Hawaiian Folk Tales A Collection of Native Legends by Thomas G. (Thomas George) Thrum