( 406 ) 



largest specimens jnst reachiuff tbe very smallest exceptional ones of/', aquila ; the 

 male has always a large white patch on each flank. The females and young of the 

 two forms do not seem to diliVr ennsiiicuousiy in colour. Tlie alleged distinctness 

 of havini; a white collar ((in'fl) or nut (aiju/lri), is not borne out by oar series. 



Mr. Beck writes : •' Fregata cujuila was just beginning to nest on Weuman on 

 Feb. 11th. About a dozen eggs were fouud, all perfectly fresh, and many nests in 

 vfirious stages of completion. Out of twenty-five or thirty nests on which birds 

 were, all but two or three were occupied by males. Tlie nests are occupied by the 

 birds before they are half completed. They were of twigs and grass stems, and 

 placed on the ground or in low bashes or weeds not higher than 2 ft. from the 

 ground. On Hood Island in 1897 the frigate-birds were nesting in October, the 

 nests being placed in bushes 3 to 5 ft. high. The nests are perfectly flat, and it 

 seems a wonder that the egg does not ndl off. On (Ailjiejijier and Wennian, in .July 

 1897, eggs and young birds were found in various stages, and on Tower in December." 



Pelecanus fuscus californicus Hidgw. 



Nov. ZcioL. VI, 1899, p. 176. 



Eggs collected by Green measure: 80x51, 76-8 x 51-5, 73-.') x 52-5, 83 x 52, 

 83'5 X 52, 75-0 x 51, 75 x 53, 73-5 x 53-5, 79 x 52 mm. 



Sula piscatrix websteri Uothsch. 



N.)V, ZcMiL. VI, 1899, p. 177. 



We have now received another series from Culpepper, Wenmau, and Bindloe 

 Islands. This series fully confirms our remarks with rej;ard to the distinctness of 

 S. JJ. websteri made in 1899. None of the adult white birds have any white in the 

 tail. Mr. Green marks the iris and feet of a young bird as brown. 



Stda piscatrix websteri was fouud nesting on Clarion Island in December, but 

 apparently not more than about one-fifth of the birds were nesting or j)reparing to 

 nest at the time of Mr. Beck's visit in Deeemlier. No young birds over about three 

 weeks old were found, and many fresh nests were observed. " On Wenman, during 

 the first days of February, nearly all tbe nests contained young in various stages 

 of growth, but a few nests with eggs and some fresh empty nests were also seen. 

 Perhajis a dozen out of three hundred birds seen on Wenman were in white 

 jdumage, but about thirty or forty of the greyish birds had tlie tertiaries or seajudars 

 white. On Clarion, on the other hand, only six out of about a thousand birds were 

 grey, thongh several had greyish feathers on back and rump, like the young of 

 Sula cyanops. One or two of the six grey birds on Clarion were nesting, and on 

 Wenman the nuijority of tlie nesting birds were of course grey. It seems remark- 

 able that no grey-plumaged young birds were seen on ('lariou, if they should wear 

 that plumage for any length of time. If (as suggested in Nov. ZooL. VI p. 178) 

 the grey birds would assume their white garment in a year or two, we surely ought 

 to have seen more white birds on Wenmau in 19()U than we did. It seems more 

 likely that Sula piscatrix websteri occurs in a grey and in a white phase, the 

 greyish birds always retaining their greyish jilumage." 



[Sula cyanops Sund. 



This species does not occur in the Galapagos Archipelago, where Sula variegata 

 takes its place. .S'. ci/anops was, however, met with in the north, in the latitudes 



