FRIGATE BIRD. 5& 



Adult female. Head and neck all round and all upper -parts dark ; throat ashy ; 

 lower neck, breast, and sides of body pure white ; middle of lower-breast, abdomen, 

 and flanks black ; the feathers of the head are shorter than in the male and are 

 comparatively dull ; brown collar on back of neck ; the feathers of the back are 

 not conspicuously elongated and lack the brilliant sheen of the lanceolate plumes 

 of the male ; innermost secondaries brownish ; the lesser and median coverts are 

 brownish with paler margins, forming a somewhat conspicuous bar parallel to the 

 shoulder. Culmen 107 mm., wing 599, tail 410, middle toe 54. 



Immature male. Head and neck all round white, pouch showing ; breast with 

 rusty patch ; lower-breast black as are sides of body ; centre of abdomen, lower 

 flanks, and vent white ; under tail -co verts black with small white tips ; rest of 

 upper -parts dusky-brown and black according to wear ; median wing-coverts brown- 

 ish forming a narrow bar. Coloration of iris, bill, and feet unrecorded. Culmen 

 92 mm., wing 570, tail 350, middle toe 49. (New Zealand.) (Another collected by 

 J. Macgillivray at Oomaga Island, Torres Straits, agrees but is slightly larger.) 



Nestling. Pure white down. 



Next stage. Scapulars and mantle of brown feathers with subterminal bars ; 

 round the eyes, over fore-head and chin naked. 



Next. Red down comes on the naked part of the head but not on the chin ; 

 secondaries commence as black feathers. 



Next. Larger, and tail-feathers begin black. 



Next. The red extends over the top of the head and on to the face ; the 

 scapulars are fully developed and the feathers of the back growing : these are dark 

 brown with lighter tips. The tail has rapidly lengthened, being 150 mm. long and 

 showing slight but decided fork, their feathers being black with a blue sheen ; the 

 wing-coverts are more or less greyish -white throughout, the primaries and secondaries 

 long and black with a metallic sheen ; the breast feathers just beginning to show. 



Next. Larger and similar to preceding ; the tail, more forked, measures 214 mm.r 

 the head is darker and the dark breast -feathers show more prominently, but 

 otherwise the under parts are still covered with down. 



Flying young. Head nearly all white, with a few red feathers remaining ; 

 upper-breast dark rusty -red ; brown on sides of body ; abdomen white ; vent black. 



Immature. The patch of dark rusty -red on the upper chest vanishes and 

 the dark colour goes from sides, but immediately black feathers begin to be seen 

 on the abdomen. 



These notes are taken from a series in the Rothschild Museum collected by 

 Schauinsland at Laysan. From other localities intervening stages can be seen. 

 The adult male is wholly black, with lanceolate breeding plumes on the back showing 

 strong metallic gloss. The adult female has the breast white, the throat not fully 

 black and no breeding plumes, though a metallic sheen is noticeable on some of the 

 back feathers ; she is larger and has no gular pouch. Immature males show this 

 coloration, but are distinguishable by the possession of an orange gular pouch and 

 the presence of lanceolate metallic breeding plumes. It is also certain that the 

 immature of both sexes breed when in the white-headed stage noted above, but 

 then the male has only a partially developed pouch and scarcely differs from the 

 female save in size. 



Nest. Placed in trees or on the ground ; rather bulky, composed of sticks. 



Eggs. Clutch one, white ; covered with creamy lime ; axis 66 to 68 mm., 

 diameter 45 to 46. 



Distribution and forms. Throughout the tropical oceans, and the criticism of 

 Rothschild, Oberholser, etc., tends to accept the novel arrangement proposed by 

 Mathews in 1915 whereby four species were discriminated from the previously 

 accepted one only, and of the present species many subspecies, as follows : F. m. minor 

 Gmelin from the West Indies ; F. m. nicolli Mathews, from the South Atlantic Ocean 



