siLA. 353 



<,'reeii colour of the shell. Many, too, ha\'e brown or yellowish-brown nest stains. Two small 

 eggs measure : — Length (A) 2-26 x i-6 inches: (B) 2'27 x 1-51 inches; two medium sized 

 eggs measure : — Length (A) 2-46 x 1-62 inches; (B) 2-55 x 171 inches; three elongated 

 specimens measure : — Length (A) 27 x 17 inches: (B) 2-65 x i-jS inches; (C) 2-62 x 1-47 

 inches. 



A set of two eggs taken by Dr. \V. Macgillivray on the 27th October, 1910, on .-Vshmore 

 Bank, No. 3, measures : — Length (A) 2-38 x i-68 inches; (B) 2-48 x i-68 inches. .Another 

 set of two eggs taken by him on the 30th October, iijio, on Raine Islet, from a nest consisting 

 of a depression in the sand surrounded by shells, sticks and other debris, and from which the 

 bird was flushed, measures: — Length (A) 2-43 x i-68 inches; (B) 2^38 x i-Gi inches. 



OIT the North-western Australian coast tenanted nests were found on Bedout Island in April, 

 and on Adelt Island in May. On Raine Islet, oft the Xorth-eastern Australian coast, Dr. \V. 

 Macgillivray found eggs and young at the end of Oi'tober. 



Family FREGATID^. 

 Fregata ariel. 



LESSEK FRIGATE-BIRD. 



Attagen ariel, Goakl, in Gviiy's Gen. Bds., Vol. Til., p. G(j9 (184.")); id., Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. 

 VIL, pi. 72 (IS-IS). 



Tachi/pe/rs minor, Gould, Ilandbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. IL, p. -tDil (18C.')). 



Fregnta ariel, Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mu.s , Vol. XXVL, p. 477 (189S) ; Sliarpe, Hand-I. 

 Bds., Vol. L, p. 2:37 (1899). 



Adult M.\lk. — " Entire plumage hroivnish-hliti:k, the fentlieri of the, head glossed icith green, 

 and the le.ugtheneii plumes of the back wi/h purple and green refle:rio}is : orbits an.d gidar pouch 

 deep red ; bill bluish liorn colour : iris black ; feet dark reddish-broivn " (Gould.)* 



Disti'ihntion. — Seas of Northern, North-eastern and North-western Australia. 



/ "|{^ 1 1 L Lesser Fritiate-bird is found ranging o\er tlie seas washing the shores of the northern 

 -I- half of the Australian continent, but extends lower down on the western than the 

 eastern side, Mr. \V. R. Ogilvie-Grant recording its full habitat in the " Catalogue of Birds in 

 the British Museuni "I as the "tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, ranging west 

 to Madagascar and east to the Society Islands. Among its breeding haunts in .Australian waters 

 are Raine Islet, where it was obtained by the late Commander Ince, R.N., of H.M.S. "Fly ;" 

 also by the members of the expedition of H.M.S. " Challenger," Adelc Island on the North- 

 western Australian Coast, where it was found breeding by Mr. James Walker, R.N., of H.M.S. 

 " Penguin," and Bedout Island, where Mr. J. T. Tunney, a collector of the Western Australian 

 Museum, secured both birds and eggs in April, lyoi. 



Gould remarks: — \ "The late Commander Ince, R.N., who, during the surveying voyage 

 of H.M.S. ' Fly ' was for some time stationed on fiaine Islet, superintending the erection of a 

 beacon, informed me that on landing on this small island, which is situate in lat. 12' S., at about 

 seventy miles from the north-east coast of the .Australian continent, and surrounded by a part of 

 the Great Barrier Reef, he 'found this bird breeding m colonies at its south-western corner, the 



Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. 500 (1865). f Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 440 (1S98) 



J Handbk. Bds. Austr . Vol. II , p. 500 (1865). 



