QQO XESTS AA'D EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



Eijys. — Clutch, one ; varies in form from a, roimd to a long oval, 

 more compressed at one end ; texture of shell somewhat coarse and thin ; 

 colom', white, slightly coated with lime, imparting to the eggs a chalky 

 appearance. Dimensions in inches (long oval): 282 x 186 ; round 

 oval: 2-65 X 1-94. 



Ohservafiom. — The Frigate Bird, or Man-of-War Hawk as it is some- 

 times called, enjoys a world-encircling habitat as far as tropical seas are 

 concerned, therefore it is to be found off Northern Australia. However, 

 a few sti-agglers get into more temjoerate waters. A specimen was 

 captured at Brighton, Port Phillip, and is now in the National Museum, 

 Melbourne. I am not sui'e whether the bird has been taken off the 

 New South Wales coast, but Sir Walter Bidler mentio'us an example 

 was captm'ed alive on the ea.st coast of New Zealand in Febniary, 1863. 



The Frigate Bird is well known in books to almost every school-boy 

 by its long, slender, hooked bill, lengthened wings giving wonderful 

 power of flight, and by its plundering other sea birds, chiefly Boobies, 

 of the fish they capture, requiring them to disgorge their meals in mid- 

 air, which the clever Frigate Bird by its marvellous and graceful flight 

 catches ere the food reaches the water. 



The Frigate Bird is fiuiiished with a capacious pouch in which it can 

 store phuider not required for immediate wants — hence the name, some- 

 times, Frigat« PeHcan. 



Audubon, the American ornithologist, who found these birds breed- 

 ing in large numbers in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Florida Quays, 

 has given the following interesting remarks concerning them ; — " About 

 the middle of May (a period which to me appeared veiy late for birds 

 found in so warm a climate as that of the Florida Keys), the Frigate 

 Pelicans assemble in flocks of from fifty to five hundred pairs or more. 

 They are seen flying at a. great height over the islands on which they 

 have bred many previous seasons, coui'ting for houi's together; after 

 which they retiuTi towards the mangi'oves, alight on them, and at once 

 begin to repair the old nests or constinict new ones. They pillage each 

 other's nests of their materials, and make excursions for more to the 

 nearest quays. They break the diy twigs of trees with ease, passing 

 swiftly on wing, and snapping them off by a single grasp of tlieir 

 powerful bill. It is indeed ai beautiful sight to see them when thus 

 occupied, especially when several are engaged passing and re-passing 

 with the swiftness of thought over the trees whose tops are blasted ; 

 their piu'pose appears as if accomplished by magic. It sometimes 

 happens that the bird accidentally drops a stick while travelling towards 

 its nest, when, if this should happen over the water, it pliuiges after it 

 and seizes it with its bill before it has reached the waves." 



Some years ago, I believe, the large .species of Frigate Bird used to 

 breed on Maiden Island, laying in June and again in December. Two 

 fine eggs belonging to this species, from Maiden Island, grace my collec- 

 tion, and were nearly lost in a gi-eat huiTicane. Captain Murdock, for- 

 merly of Messrs. Grice, Sumner & Co., was recruiting labour at Nui (one 

 of the neighbouring islands) for the Maiden Island Guano Depot, in 1883. 



