516 BIRDS FROM SEYCHELLES AND VICINITY— BIDGWAY. vol. xvm. 



12. BUBULCUS BUBULCUS (Savigny). 



lies Alpbouse, Des Koclies, Poivre, St. Josepli, and D'Airos ; no 

 specimens. 



Family rELEOANID.^. 



13. PELECANUS RUFESCENS. Gmelin. 



One specimen; lie St. Joseph, August 29. 



"A small colony — perhaps one hundred individuals" — said by Dr. 

 Abbott to inhabit lie St. Joseph, and noteworthy "as being the only 

 colony of pelicans in these seas." 



Family SULID^. 



14. SULA PISCATOR (Linnaeus). 



One specimen ; lie St. Joseph, August 29. Also found on lie D'Arros. 

 (Abbott, MS.) 



15. SULA LEUCOGASTRA (Boddaert). 



Three specimens; Lie D'Arros, August 30. Also found on lie Poivre 

 and St. Joseph. 



"Creole name, ^ Capucin.^ Only a few pairs live in Aldabra. Breeds 

 in considerable number in Gloriosa; also in the Amirantes." (Abbott, 

 MS.) 



It seems that Dr. Abbott confounded this species with the gray phase 

 of S. piscdtor ; at least the only specimens which he sent of S. leucogaster 

 are the three from Isle D'Arros, Amirantes, mentioned above. 



Family FKEGATID.E. 

 16. FREGATA ARIEL (Gould). 



One si)ecimen ; lie St. Joseph, August 29. 



The name ariel, Gould, having been quite generally cited as a syno- 

 nym of minor, Gmelin, it is proper that 1 state here my reasons for 

 reinstating it as a specific name: 



A reference to Gmelin's diagnosis and the descriptions and figures 

 upon which it is based proves beyond (piestiou that the name minor be- 

 longs to the small intertropical form ofF. aqnila. The bird uuder consid- 

 eration is un(iuestionably a distinct species from F. aquild, being readily 

 distinguished from the small form to which the name minor belongs by 

 several very positive characters, involving not only differences of color- 

 ation, but of form and dimensions also. That the name F. ariel{ Gould) 

 belongs to this distinct si>ecies 1 have been able to determine positively 

 by the assistance of Mr. Witmer Stone, conservator of the ornitholog- 

 ical section of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, who, at 

 my request, kindly examined Gould's types in the collection of that 

 institution. The characters of F. ariel are as follows: 



8l)ecijic characters. — Much smaller than F. aquila minora with very 



