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." (Gates.) The eggs are white 

 and covered with more or less chalk-like substance. 



The frigate pelicans are preeminently 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). 



LESSEE MAN-O'-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) ; SHABPE, Hand- 

 List (1899), 1, 237; GATES, 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 farmer 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 



