Note 96-2 — JOURNAL OF THE FIRST VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS
Reading edition
Rabo de junco, literally, reedtail, is the tropic bird or Phaethon. The name “boatswain-bird” is applied to some other kinds of birds, besides the tropic bird. Cf. Alfred Newton, Dictionary of Birds (London, 1896). Ferdinand Columbus says: rabo di giunco, “a bird so called because it has a long feather in its tail,” p. 63.