72 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



tained young. The eggs are dull white, with chalky shells, more 

 or less nest-stained. The two sets measure 71.3 by 49.8 and 67.4 

 by 47.5; 72.3 by 48.7 and 65.5 by 49.2 mm. On May 11, 1927, in 

 this colony Wetmore recorded twenty occupied nests containing 

 well-grown young, some nearly able to fly. The nests were grouped 

 closely in several small trees at the summit of the islet, fifty feet 

 above the water. Adults soared silently overhead watching as two 

 men landed on a rock shelf from a launch and climbed up the steep 

 slopes through the matted vegetation. The nests were composed of 

 fair-sized twigs formed into a loose platform. One young bird that 

 was brought away as a specimen is covered with white down except 

 for the bare throat, and has the brown tertials and interscapulars 

 well developed, while the primaries and secondaries are barely break- 

 ing the growing sheaths. The early growth of the feathers of the 

 back is a highly practical adaptation to the needs of the bird since 

 these feathers serve to protect the body from both sun and rain, a 

 matter of importance as the nests are wholly exposed. This young 

 bird had the usual habit of clattering the bill loudly and biting 

 when approached. It was able to break the skin on the back of 

 a man's hand with the sharp hook at the end of the bill. 



From this colony the adult birds range over all of Samana Bay. 

 Christy speaks of them as seen several times, and Verrill mentions 

 them. Wetmore saw them at the mouth of the Arroyo Barrancota, 

 and once along the beach east of Sanchez. Peters mentions them as 

 seen occasionally along the north coast of the Dominican Republic 

 between February 6 and April 11, 1916, but says that they were by 

 no means common. Abbott reported them as common on Saona 

 Island from September 12 to 18, 1919, and says that when he first 

 visited Samana Bay in 1883 he found the birds in thousands so that 

 their numbers have greatly decreased. Danforth in 1927 found them 

 off Saona Island, June 14, Santo Domingo City, June 14, San Pedro 

 de Macoris, July 1, and Boca Chica, July 4. 



The frigate bird is regular in occurrence on the coasts of Haiti but 

 has been little recorded. Oexmelin in 1775 describes their habit of 

 pursuing boobies to make them disgorge food, which the frigate then 

 seizes, and says that this is the most diverting thing to be seen in 

 America! Saint-Mery reports them near Port-de-Paix. Cory re- 

 marks that his party saw and shot several but gives no localities. 

 Doctor Bartsch reports the species near Jeremie from April 11 to 16, 

 near the Trou des Roseaux April 13 and 14, and near Port-au-Prince 

 April 19, 1917. At the Etang Miragoane on the north coast of the 

 southern peninsula, on April 1, 1927, Wetmore observed half a dozen 

 circling high overhead and finalty passing over toward the sea at 

 an altitude where they were barely visible from the earth. Their 

 presence at this point was strange as the lake has sweet water. He 



