FREGATA. 207 
“Adult female——Feathers of head less elongate than in the male and 
with little or no gloss; upper back and scapulars slightly elongate and 
almost devoid of metallic gloss; back of head dark brown; fore neck, 
chest. breast, and sides of belly pure white; lesser and median wing-coverts 
brown, with paler margins and dark middles; rest of plumage like that of 
adult male. Iris dark brown; bill bluish horn-color; orbits and gular 
skin dark plumbeous, with a tinge of violet; feet carmine. Length, 582 
to 678; tail, 373 to 483; tarsus, 25. 
“Male and female immature.—Head, neck, upper part of chest, and 
middle of lower breast and belly, white; sides and upper breast dark 
sooty brown; rest of plumage like adult female. Iris dull dark blue; 
naked skin on throat lavender, bill horn-color, darker at base; feet pale 
pinkish blue.” — ( Grant.) 
“The eggs of the great frigate bird measure from 59 to 72 mm. in 
length and from 42 to 51 in breadth.” (Oates.) The eggs are white 
and covered with more or less chalk-like substance. 
The frigate pelicans are preéminently soaring birds of wonderful 
power. In these Islands they are rarely seen, and far more rarely killed, 
as they usually fly at great heights. During the nesting season they 
are fearless and may be observed near at hand. The larger species, at 
least, may nest on some of the more remote and rocky islands of this 
Archipelago. 
171. FREGATA ARIEL (Gould). 
LESSER MAN-0’-WAR BIRD. 
Attagen ariel GOULD, in Gray’s Genera Birds (1845), 3, 669. 
Fregata ariel GRANT, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 447; BLANFoRD, 
Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 338, fig. 77 (head); SHARPE, Hand- 
List (1899), 1, 237; Oaves, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1902), 2, 213; Mc- 
GREGOR and WorcESTER, Hand-List (1906), 40. 
Fregata minor (not Pelecanus minor GMELIN) SHARPE, Ibis (1888), 204; 
GRANT, Ibis (1896), 128. 
Con-pi-sao’, Bantayan. 
Bantayan (McGregor) ; Cagayancillo (McGregor) ; Luzon (Whitehead) ; Min- 
danao (Bourns & Worcester); Negros (Bourns & Worcester); Palawan (White- 
head). Tropical and subtropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. 
“Adult male.—General color black, inclining to sooty black on under 
parts; feathers of head, upper back, and scapulars elongate and pointed, 
the former with a dull oil-green gloss, the latter dark metallic-green in 
freshly molted specimens, but becoming bronze or purple with wear; a 
large white patch on each flank. Tail composed of 12 feathers. Iris 
black; naked skin round eye and gular pouch red; bill gray; feet black. 
Length, about 760; culmen from feathers on forehead, 58 to 89; wing, 
487 to 533; tail, 279 to 338; tarsus, 19. 
“Adult female—Head like that of the male, but feathers of the back 
and scapulars less elongate and of a brownish black color with scarcely 
