262 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



water they beat their wings helplessly and were with great 

 difficulty able to rise. In a few cases a bird would miss 

 getting on the wing by coming in contact with another and 

 fall helplessly amongst the branches from which they were 

 scarcely able to extricate themselves. They seemed be- 

 wildered by my presence, and did not attempt any resist- 

 ance. Those which were taken alive were not given an 

 opportunity to use their beaks if they had been so disposed. 



There was a strong wind blowing at the time I first visited 

 the rookery, and standing twenty to thirty yards to wind- 

 ward, I had a magnificent view of the birds as they rose 

 from the mangroves and nests. Those on the wing poising 

 themselves upon the breeze, now rising and falling and 

 sweeping in and out of the crowded flock, not clamorous as 

 I expected, but surprisingly quiet, for although hundreds 

 were on the wing, not half the number in sight, they were 

 not what I should call noisy, even for sea-birds. They were 

 not filthy like some sea-birds when on the wing, so that I 

 escaped almost unmarked from their excrement. When 

 standing to leeward, a hundred yards from the rookery a 

 smell of guano was very noticeable, which became stronger 

 in April, by which time many of the nests that had not been 

 molested, contained young. The report of a gun in the 

 vicinit}^ would start hundreds more upon the wing, but I 

 believe not those which were sitting. At the same time 

 there would be a louder outery lasting but a short time. 

 The most noticeable sound and the loudest was from those 

 birds which I supposed were sitting; it resembled some- 

 what the squawking of a chicken when caught, but more 

 guttural. Another sound was a clear rattle like the clacking 

 of hard wood " bones; " it is made by the quick snapping of 

 the bill. A third note was a prolonged guttural squawk or 

 croak. 



The nest constructed by the frigate pelican is small, 

 many of them smaller than a medium sized dinner plate. 



At a short distance from the rookery the nests were not 



