they ofteu capture flying-fishes, cuttle-fishes, crabs, or even young 

 turtles. 



1524. Fregata aquila. The Frigate-bird or Man-of-war Bird. 



Pelecanus aquilus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 216 (1766). 

 Attagen aquilus, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 853. 



Fregata aquila, Hume, Cat.no. 1000; Lcgge, Birds Ceyl. p. 1204; 

 Oates, B. B. ii, p. 227. 



Coloration. Male black throughout, richly glossed with metallic 

 purple and green on the head, nfck, back, and scapulars, less 

 richly on the wings and tail. 



Females have the whole breast white, this colour extending back 

 laterally on to the flanks, the back brownish black, and all the 

 smaller wing-coverts and the inner median coverts with pale 

 brown or whitish edges. 



Young birds have *-he head, neck, breast, and middle of abdomen 

 white, the head and neck often tinged with ferruginous, and the 

 lower breast sometimes blackish brown ; wing-coverts as in the 

 adult female. In worn plumage the back and quills are brown. 



Bill bluish grey ; irides red (sometimes black) ; gular skin, legs, 

 and feet red. 



Length about 40; tail 15-19; wing 22-25; bill from gape 

 4-5-5-25. 



Distribution. All tropical seas and oceans. This bird has 

 been occasionally obtained on the coast of India. Jerdon mentions 

 receiving a specimen that had been shot near Mangalore, and there 

 is a skin from Ceylon in the British Museum. 



1525. Fregata ariel. The Smaller Frigate-bird. 



Attagen ariel, Gould, Gray, Gen. B. iii, p. 669 (1845) (descr. nulla) ; 

 Gould, Biids Australia, vii, pi. 72 (1848) ; Layard, A. M. A 7 . H. 

 (2) xiv, p. 271. 



Attagen minor, apud Holds/worth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 482; nee -Pele- 

 canus minor, Gm. 



Fregata minor, apud Hume, S. F. vii, p. 447 ; id. Cat. no. 1000 bis; 

 Leffye, Birds Ceyl. p. 1203 ; Hume, S. F. ix, p. 119 ; Oates, B. B. 

 ii/p.228. 



Coloration similar to that of F. aquila, except that the adult 

 male has a large white patch on each tiank, and the female a white 

 or whitish collar round the base of the neck. This species is, how- 

 ever, much smaller, with a shorter and more slender bill. Young 

 birds have the breast blackish brown, and only the head, neck, 

 and abdomen white. 



Bill grey ; irides red ; gular skin red ; eyelids, legs, and feet 

 black in males; red in females. In the your.g the irides are 

 black; bill and feet blackish white ('Challenger' Keports). 

 Tail about 13 ; wing 20 ; bill from gape 3*5-4. 

 Distribution. Tropical parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans as 

 far east as the Society Islands. This Frigate-bird appears not to 

 be rare on the coast of Ceylon, where several examples have been 

 obtained. 



