in fabulous history, was the son of the Sun, or Phœbus and Clymene, one of the Oceanides. He was son of Cephalus and Aurora, according to Hesiod and Pausanias; or of Tithonus and Aurora, according to Apollodorus. He is, however, more generally acknowledged to be the son of Phœbus and Clymene. He was naturally of a lively disposition, and a handsome figure. Venus became enamoured of him, and entrusted him with the care of one of her temples. This distinguishing favour of the goddess rendered him vain and aspiring; and when Epaphus, the son of Io, had told him, to check his pride, that he was not the son of Phœbus, Phaeton resolved to know his true origin, and at the instigation of his mother he visited the palace of the sun. He begged Phœbus, that if he really were his father he would give him incontrovertible proofs of his paternal tenderness, and convince the world of his legitimacy. Phœbus received him with great tenderness, and swore by Styx to grant whatever he requested as a proof of his acknowledging him for his son. The youth boldly asked the direction of the chariot of the sun for one day. His father, grieved and surprised at this demand, used all his arguments to dissuade him from the rash attempt; but all was in vain: and being by his oath reduced to submit to his obstinacy, entrusted him with the reins, after he had directed him how to use them. The young adventurer was however soon sensible of his madness. He was unable to guide the fiery steeds; and loosing the reins, Jupiter, to prevent his confusing the heavens and earth, struck him with a thunderbolt, and hurled him from his seat into the river Eridanus or Po. His sisters Phaethusa, Lambetia, and Phoebe, lamenting his loss upon its banks, were changed by the gods into black poplar trees; and Cycnus king of Liguria, also grieving at his fate, was transformed into a swan.
The poets say, that while Phaeton was driving the chariot of his father, the blood of the Ethiopians was dried up; and their skin became black; a colour which is still preserved among the greatest part of the inhabitants of the torrid zone. The territories of Libya were also, they tell us, parched up, on account of their too great vicinity to the sun; and ever since, Africa, unable to recover her original verdure and fruitfulness, has exhibited a sandy country and uncultivated waste. According to those who explain this poetical fable, Phaeton was a Ligurian prince, who studied astronomy, and in whole age the neighbourhood of the Po was visited with uncommon heats.
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 demerfus, or red-footed pinguin, has a thick, arched, red 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; instead of a tail, a few black bristles; and red legs. It is found on Pinguin island, near the Cape of Good Hope, is common all over the South Seas, and is about the size of a goose.
2. The ethereus, 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 encompassed with black, which ends in a point towards wards 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, almost of equal breadth from their quills to their points. See Plate CCCLXXXIX.
"The name tropic bird (says Latham), given to this genus, arises from its being chiefly found within the tropic circles; but we are not to conclude, that they never stray voluntarily, or are driven beyond them; for we have met with a few instances to prove the contrary (a). It is, however, so generally found within the tropical limits, that the sight of this bird alone is sufficient to inform the mariner of a very near approach to if not his entrance therein. It has also been thought to portend the contiguity of land (b); but this has often proved fallacious, as it is not unfrequently found at very great distances therefrom. The flight of this bird is often to a prodigious height; but at other times it is seen, along with the frigate pelican, booby, and other birds, attending the flying fishes at their rise from the water, driven from their native element into the air by their watery enemies, the shark (c), porpoise, albicore, bonito, and dolphin, which pursue them beneath, and prey upon them. These birds are sometimes observed to rest on the surface of the water, and have been now and then seen in calm weather upon the backs of the drowsy tortoises, supinely floating in the sea, so that they have been easily taken by the long boat manned. On shore they will perch on trees; and are said to breed in the woods, on the ground beneath them. They have been met with in plenty on the islands of St Helena, Ascension, Mauritius, New Holland, and various places in the South Seas; but in no place so numerous as at Palmerston Island, where these birds, as well as the frigates, were in such plenty, that the trees were absolutely loaded with them, and so tame, that they suffered themselves to be taken off the boughs with the hand. At Otaheite, and in the Friendly isles, the natives give them the names of haingoo and toolaioe.
"As the tropic bird sheds the long tail feathers every year, the inhabitants of such isles as they frequent, collect and make use of them by way of ornament in various manners; they are worn in the caps of the Sandwich islanders, being in great plenty at Taharoa, as also in various parts of their dress; but in none more conspicuous than in the mourning garment of Ota-
(A) "Dr Forster observes, that they are never seen beyond 28 degrees of latitude; but others talk of their spreading far beyond it. In lat. 32° 45', Ell. Narr. ii. p. 64.—33° 10'. N. Cook's last Voy. iii. p. 178.—38° 34'. S. Park. Voy. p. 132.—38° 29'. S. Hawke's Voy. iii. p. 77. This is mentioned as not being common; but Kalm says he met with these in 40 degrees north. See Trav. i. p. 22.—A friend of mine assured me, that he saw one in latitude 47° 4' north; but at the same time observed, that it was the first instance he had ever known of such a circumstance.
(b) "Ulloa's Voy. ii. p. 301. He observes, that they seldom are met with above eight or ten leagues from land.
(c) "Squalus conductor, delphinus phocaena, scomber thynnus, scomber pelamis, delphinus coryphaena. See Phil. Trans. vol. lxviii. p. 800. It is there observed, that the flying fish is able to fly 60 or more yards at one stretch, and repeat it a second or even a third time, only the slightest momentary touch of the surface that can be conceived intervening; and it is common in these flights for them to fly against ships, or fall on the deck." spots. The same author gives an account of the introduction of paradise grackles into the island of Bourbon, from whence they spread into that of Mauritius; at first intended for the very useful purpose of destroying the locusts and grasshoppers, which swarmed there to a great degree: the result of their prodigious increase, and the unlooked for consequence of it, he has likewise mentioned. These birds, we are told, are great enemies to the tropic birds, ocular demonstration of which was had by M. de Querhoent; for, being seated beneath a tree in which were perched a number of the grackles, he observed a tropic bird come to its hole, in order to go to the nest; but the grackles attacked the bird all at once, and obliged it to fly off; it then returned with its comfort in company, but without effect, as they were both driven away, as the single one had been before; when the grackles returned to their tree, and the spectator left them in that situation.
"This species of tropic bird has been met with in several places of the South Seas; very common at Palmerston and Turtle islands; at Hervey's island in the greatest plenty, and of which considerable numbers were killed for provisions; and here also they make the nests in the same manner as at Mauritius. The name it is known by at Otaheite and the Friendly isles is tawagge and totto." See Diomedea and Pinguin.
PHAGÆNA, in medicine, denotes a corroding ulcer.