98 N'EW zi;\i. wn lunn-^. 



TACHrPETES. T'ieill. 



Bill, longer than Ihc licad, hookt-cl at the tip ; wings, voi\y long and narrow ; tail, long, 

 ibiked ; tarsi, very slioit. half-covered with feathers; membrane between the toes, decplv 

 indented. 



165. Tachypetes aquilus. /.. 



FuiGATE-BIHIi. 



Above, dark-brown; head and neck, white; tlirotil, tinged with reddigh-hnft' ; breast, 

 flanks, and vent, dark-brown ; abdomen, white. 

 L., 36 ; W., 23-5 ; B., 5 : T., •«. 



"So far as I am a^va^e, tliere is only one recorded iu.staiiee of the 

 occurrence of tliis ' Vulture of tlie sea/ as it has been appropriately 

 termed, on the New Zealand coast. In February, 1863, a fine s])eci- 

 raen was taken alive at Castle Point, on the east coast of tlie Welling- 

 ton Pro^'ince, and forwarded to Mr. Geoi'j<e Moore, M'ho very gene- 

 rously presented it to me ; and tliis unitjue example, of which a 

 description is given above, is now, with the rest of my collection, in 

 the Colonial Museum 



"Till a comjjaratively recent date the only knowledge we pos- 

 sessed of the Frigate-bird was that afforded by those who had voyaged 

 in the tro])ical seas and studied the bird in its distant haunts ; but in 

 the early part of 1871 a pair of live ones, the gift of Captain Dow, 

 were received at the Zoological Society^s Gardens ; and Home natural- 

 ists had tlius an opi)ortunity of studying this remarkable form in a 

 living state. But Avhen I first looked on these captives, moping 

 gloomily on their perch, with a mere dish of water beneath them, and 

 tlicir noble wings folded up in languid misery, 1 could not ludp pity- 

 ing from my vo'y heart these captives from the ocean, whose fate 

 seemed almost harder than that of the ' lord of the plains ' on the 

 opposite side of the Gardens, condemned to pass his life Avithin an 

 iron railing only ten feet square. From observing the Frigate-bird 

 under such circumstances it is impossible to form any adequate idea 

 of what it is in a state of nature, where its avIioIc individuality 

 depends on its wonderful speed, its long powers of endui-ance, and the 

 graceful aerial cvolutior-s it is able to perform. Audubon, "who Avas 

 familiar with it in its native element, gave a spii'ited draAving of it 

 dashing headlong through the air in pur.suit of its quarry. In the 

 Field of September 23, 1871, there is an e(jually characteristic figure 

 of the same bird as it is to be seen in the Ganlcns (accompanied by 

 an excellent description) — resting moodily on its feet, Avith the Avings 

 drooping, and the head draAAii closely in upon the shoulders. 



" It Avould seem that this species frequents all the seas of the 

 warmer parts of the glo])e, and especially the tropics, assembling in 

 large flocks during the breeding-season, and dispersing OAcr the Avide 



