.VESTS AXD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



993 



together (very rarely singly), and built directly on tlic ground, of stalks 

 of grass and I pumnu, small twigs, &c. The average dimensions of eiieh 

 nest were about one foot in height by a little more in diameter, thoaigh 

 frequently tlie clusters of old nests, which were evidently used for a 

 succession of yeaK, fornied masses of very considerable size. As in 

 the case of the Gaunets and Cormorants, tlie hollow in the nests 

 was veiy slightly definedj and in each was deposited a single egg, 

 averaging 2 ;,\ x 1 i^ inches, pure white in colour, very thin-shelled 

 with only a very slight limy coating. A few of the eggs were newly 

 laid, and easily recognizable by their delicate and beautiful pink tinge ; 

 but the great majority were very ' hard set,' and there were a gi-eat 

 many young birds in the nests. These, when just out of the .sIilII, were 

 quite naked, like the young Gaimets, which they then gi-eatly resembled ; 

 when more advanced they were covered with a scanty white down, and 

 had a conspicuous saddle-shaped band of dark-grey feathers across the 

 back and scapular region. Nearly all the brooding birds were females, 

 some of them in quite immature dress ; but among them wtro many 

 fine old cocks, conspicuous by their deep, grccn-glossed, black plumage 

 and scarlet throat-pouches. A few stray Gannets, usually of the white 

 species (S. ciinmrps) had taken up their quarters for incubation among 

 the Frigate Birds, but were evidently regarded with but little favour 

 by the legitimate occupants of the ground. 



"The tameness, or rather indifi'ereuce, of these birds, especially of 

 the females, was most sm-prising. As one walked among the nests, the 

 sitting birds nearest at hand merely stretched out their necks, snapped 

 their long, slender, hooked bills, and uttered a croak like that of the 

 White Gannet, but very much more feeble ; while to obtain the egg 

 it was necessary to push the bird off the nest, when it took wing without 

 apparent difficulty. 



" The birds on the adjoining nests, little more than ann's length 

 distant, meanwhile took absolutely no notice of the intnider. The 

 young birds, when of any size, were much more vicious than their 

 parents, and energetically resisted any attempt to take them off, 

 croaking and snapping fiercely with their bills." 



Mr. Walker's party gathered a large number of the Frigate Birds' 

 eggs, which, w^hen boiled hard, were by no means bad eating ; the white, 

 as is usually the case with sea birds' eggs, remained quite transparent 

 and jelly-like, while the flavour was not in the -least degi'ee rank or 

 disagreeable. 



During his visit to Lacepede Islands, August, 1877, to inspect the 

 guano deposits there, Mr. L. H. Cogswell, of Messrs. Grice, Sumner & Co., 

 obs-^rved, amongst other sea birds, a Frigate Bird breeding there. It 

 was most probably referable to the species at present under consideration. 



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