PHAETON, in ornithology, a genus of birds belonging to the order of anseres; the characters of which are: The bill is sharp, straight, and pointed; the nostrils are oblong, and the hinder toe is turned forward. There are two species, viz.
1. The demersus, or penguin, has a thick, arched, and bill; the head, hind-part of the neck, and the back, of a dusky purplish hue, and breast and belly white; brown wings, with the tips of the feathers white; and of a tail, a few black bristles; and red legs. It is found on Penguin isle, near the Cape of Good Hope.
2. The etherus, or tropic bird, is about the size of a partridge, and has very long wings. The bill is red, with an angle under the lower mandible. The eyes are encircled with black, which ends in a point towards the back of the head. Three or four of the larger quill-feathers, towards their ends, are black, tipped with white. All the rest of the bird is white, except the back, which is variegated with curved lines of black. The legs and feet are of a vermilion red. The toes are webbed. The tail consists of two long straight narrow feathers, of equal breadth from their quills to their points. See Plate CCCXXI. These birds are rarely seen between the tropics, at the remotest distance from the equator. Their name seems to imply the limits of their range; and although they are seldom seen but a few degrees north or south of either tropic, yet one of their breeding-places is almost nine degrees from the northern tropic, viz. at Bermudas. They breed also in great numbers on some little islands at the east end of Porto Rico.