Allele hlund, X.]F. Australia. 259 



birds had beea noticed while wc were wading over the flats, 

 soaring high above all the other Sea- fowl, many of them, 

 indeed, reduced to mere black specks against the blue sky. 

 Extending for more than half a mile along the middle of the 

 island was a narrow strip of open land, almost free from the 

 usual high grass, and covered chiefly with the Ipomoga. 

 Here the nests of the Frigate-birds were to be seen in 

 clusters or bunches of from five or six to as many as twenty 

 together (very rarely singly), and built directly on the 

 ground of stalks of grass and Ipomma, small twigs, &c. The 

 average dimensions of each nest were about a foot in height 

 by a little more in diameter^ though frequently the clusters 

 of old nests, which were evidently used for a succession of 

 years, formed masses of very considerable size. As in the 

 case of the Gannets and Cormorants, the hollow in the nests 

 was very slightly defined, and in each was deposited a 

 single egg (never more that I could observe), averaging 2^ 

 by 1 ^^ inch, pure white in colour, very thin-shelled, with only 

 a very slight limy coating. A few of the eggs were new- 

 laid, and easily recognizable by their delicate and beautiful 

 pink tinge ; but the great majority were very " hard-set,^^ and 

 there were a great many young birds in the nests. These, 

 when just out of the egg, were quite naked like the young 

 Gannets, which they then greatly resembled; when more 

 advanced they were covered with a scanty white down, and 

 had a conspicuous saddle-shaped band of dark grey feathers 

 across the back and scapular region. Nearly all the brood- 

 ing birds were females, some of them in quite immature 

 dress ; but among them were many fine old cocks, conspicu- 

 ous by their deep green-glossed black plumage and scarlet 

 throat-pouches. A few stray Gannets, usually of the white 

 species, had taken up their quarters for incubation among 

 the Frigate-birds, but were evidently regarded with but little 

 favour by the legitimate occupants of the ground. 



The tameness, or rather the indifl"crence, of these birds, 

 especially of the females, was most surprising. As one 

 walked among the nests, the sitting birds nearest at hand 

 merely stretched out their necks, snapped their long slender 



s2 



