44 OCEAN BIRDS. 



so very near that I felt quite uncomfortable in my rather ricketty position. But I was 

 to be spared as fish were their game, and each soon carried off a struggling beauty in 

 fine style. But on such a day anybody or anything could catch fish, which probably 

 accounted for my own success. Still, while on the subject of this sort of fishing, I would 

 say that I have always found these sea-fish takeable if you have a gut trace and plenty of 

 red in your bait, when they would not look at the ordinary ship's fishing-gear. Most 

 ocean fishing-tackle is too coarse, notably shark-hooks and harpoons. Bring your own on 

 board, of thin sharp steel, also plenty of hooks and lines of all sorts and sizes, and if fond 

 of fishing you will have many a good day's sport. 



In the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1864 there is a very graphic account 

 of TachyjH'tcs Pahucrstoni, which is only another name for Tachypetes aquilus. It is written 

 by Mr. Wodehouse, from Eaiatea, September 3rd, 1863 : — 



" ' Otaha,' or Man-of-War Hawk {Tachypetes Pahnerstoni), so called, you know, from its swift 

 and dashing habits. The Otaha does not alight on the surface of the sea, being neither able to swim 

 nor dive ; but it hovers over the ocean with unwearied assiduity. Sailors believe it sleeps on the wing. 

 Their flight is easy and graceful, and has the charm of variety. Sometimes the bird may be seen 

 balanced in mid-air, its wings spread apparently motionless, its long forked tail expanding and closing 

 with a quick alternate action, and its head inquisitively turned from side to side to inspect the ocean 

 beneath ; sometimes it wheels rapidly, or darts to the surface of the water, in pursuit of its prey, and 

 at others soars to such a great height that it is lost to sight among the clouds of heaven. When 

 the ocean is turbulent they fare well ; but when calm they live by plundering other birds, whose 

 ocean-food they compel them to disgorge by repeated blows, and, when ejected, the Otaha seizes it 

 with great dexterity before it fails into the sea. They are very numerous in these islands. The 

 Otaha builds its nest on the motus, or verdant islets near the reef, amongst the leaves of the ' wild 

 palm.' I believe the female lays no more than three eggs." 



In describing the genus Tachypetes, Gould says : — " No birds differ more than the 

 members of this genus, for some examples have white and others brown heads, and 

 moreover exhibit many other conflicting differences, both in colour and size." 



Mr. Osbert Salvin was kind enough to fully enter into this matter, and explain 

 these differences by showing me his own specimens. 



The male bird is all dark blackish-brown (from which the adjective aquilus), with 

 a scarlet gular pouch. It seldom exceeds seven feet from tip to tip of wing, and 

 certainly never approaches the fourteen feet one so often reads about. 



The female has a reddish brown throat and no pouch, a white breast, and light 

 brown-speckled edging along the upper wing-coverts, supposed to resemble the ports of 

 a ship, and from which the name "Frigate-bird"; all the rest blackish-brown. It is 

 rather smaller than the male. The legs in both are short, thin, and feathered to the 



