152 Mr. J. H. Gurney's List of Birds from Ibadan. 



dozen at a shot ; but shooting would have been an absurdity, for 

 I could have obtained any number with a stick. The difficulty 

 was to get them off their nests. Shouting had little or no 

 effect ; and even the report of a gun would only rouse a few, who 

 would frequently settle again on the bushes. I threw some 

 stones among them, without producing much result, and even 

 tried to poke them off their seats with my gun ; but they merely 

 snapped their beaks at me in retaliation. All this time there 

 were thousands of other birds soaring in the air a little way 

 over our heads. 



I observed that the Frigate-birds were of three different 

 plumages. As there were birds of all three sorts sitting toge- 

 ther, and with their nests in the same bushes, I concluded that 

 they were of one and the same species — males, females, and im- 

 mature birds. Some have the head and neck white, the beak 

 white, the feet and legs bluish white, the belly white, and the 

 wing-coverts greyish brown. Others have the legs and feet 

 black, and are black all over, with a greenish metallic tinge on 

 the back. These have a bright scarlet pouch, which they inflate 

 to the size of an ostrich's egg while on the wing. The boat- 

 men informed me that these were the male birds. Others, pro- 

 bably immature birds, had the head black, the throat white, and 

 the legs and feet pink. All had long, black, forked tails. I 

 obtained a specimen of each, but did not preserve them, as I 

 had much to do ; and, besides, they are stinking birds to handle, 

 as bad as, or worse than, the Turkey-Buzzard {Cathartes). The 

 Pelicans have also a breeding-place in Fonseca Bay, but it is in 

 an island at some distance from the one in possession of the 

 Frigate-birds. 



Baltimore, U.S.A., 

 Jan. 1st, 1859. 



XV. — List of Birds received from Ibadan, in Western Africa. 

 By John Henry Gurney, Esq., M.P. 



The Rev. David Hinderer and Mrs. Hinderer, of Ibadan, in 

 Western Africa, have kindly forwarded to me a small collection 

 of birds from that locality ; and I beg to send a list of them for 



