206 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRDS. 



and it probably finds nesting places on some of the more isolated rocks. 

 Gannets lay their chalky white eggs in the sand or construct flat nests of 

 sticks which they place in bushes or trees. One or two eggs are deposited 

 in a nest. 



Family FREGATIDJE. 



Bill long and strongly hooked, both mandibles decurved at tip ; lateral 

 grooves deep; nostrils situated in the grooves and practically closed; a 

 large naked and brightly colored gular pouch; wings pointed and ex- 

 tremely long; first primary longest; tail long and very deeply forked; 

 feet absurdly small and weak for so large a bird; claw of middle toe 

 pectinate; tarsus very short; plumage black with beautiful green and 

 purple gloss. 



Genus FREGATA Lacepede, 1799. 



Characters same as those given for the Family. 



Species. 

 a 1 . Breast and sides black ( males ) . 



b\ Larger; culmen, 92 to 112 mm.; wing, 520 to 655; no white patch on flank. 



aqnila (p. 206) 



6 2 . Smaller; culmen, 58 to 89 mm.; wing, 488 to 533; a white patch on each flank. 



ariel (p. 207) 

 a 2 . Breast and sides white ( females ) . 



6 1 . Larger; culmen, 109 to 132 mm.; wing, 612 to 678; no white collar round 



back of neck aqnila (p. 206) 



6 2 . Smaller; culmen, 81 to 91 mm.; wing, 510 to 528; a white collar round back 



of neck arid (p. 207) 



170. FREGATA AQUILA (Linnaeus). 



GREATER MAN-O'-WAR BIRD. 



Pelecanus aquilus LINNAEUS, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 133. 



Fregata aquila GRANT, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1898), 26, 543; SHABPE, 



Hand-List (1899), 1, 237; GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1902), 2, 212; 



MCGREGOR and WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 40. 



Sa-la- gun-ting', Manila; lang-y-san', Cagayancillo. 



Cagayancillo ( McGregor). Tropical and subtropical oceans of both hemispheres. 



Adult male. General color black, becoming sooty below; feathers of 

 head, upper back, and scapulars elongate and pointed; head with slight 

 oil-green gloss; scapulars strongly glossed with bronze-green, this color 

 changing to purple when specimen is held away from the light; a trace 

 of green and purple gloss on breast and sides. Iris brown; bill black 

 except the tip which is horn-gray; gular pouch dark crimson; feet 

 blackish brown, flesh-colored below; webs bluish below; nails brown. 

 Extent of wings, 1,830; length of bird, 914; wing, 600; tail, 410; depth 

 of fork, 240 ; culmen from base, 105 ; tarsus, 20. Grant gives the follow- 

 ing measurements : Length, about 1,016 ; culmen, from feathers on fore- 

 head, 91 to 112; wing, 521 to 655; tail, 355 to 376; tarsus, 18." 



