BIRDS OF KANSAS. 47 



the west side of the Rocky Mountains as early as the middle of 

 April; upon this side about a month later. They breed in com- 

 munities; their nests are a mere depression worked out in the 

 sand; Eggs usually two; a set collected April 27th, 1875, up- 

 on an island in Malhuer Lake, Oregon, and presented to me by 

 Capt. Chas. Bendire, measure: 3.40x2.28, 3.58x2.29; in color 

 pure white (when not stained), with a rough, chalky shell; in 

 form, oval to ovate. 



FAMILY FREGATID-32. MAN-O'-WAR BIRDS. 



"Bill longer than the head, thick, but broader than deep, the culmen gently 

 concave, and the terminal ungui strongly decurved; nostrils obliterated; gular 

 pouch naked, but rest of head scantily feathered except on top, where densely 

 clothed; wings and tail excessively elongated, the latter deeply forked; tarsi 

 excessively abreviated. wholly concealed by feathers; toes weak and slender, 

 the middle much longer than the outer, which again greatly exceeds the inner; 

 middle claw with its inner edge flattened and pectinated; webs occupying less 

 than half the space between the toes. A single genus only is known, which 

 includes two closely allied species, or perhaps, more properly, geographical races. 

 They inhabit the seacoasts of intertropical countries." 



GENUS FREGATA CUVIEB. 

 "Characters same as those of the family." 



Fregata aquila (Lixx.). 



MAN-O'-WAR BIRD. 

 PLATE HI. 



A stragler. Mr. Frank Lewis, of Downs, Kansas, reports to 

 me the capture of the bird, on the North Fork of the Solomon 

 River, in Osborne county, August 16th, 1880. It was killed 

 with a stone, while sitting on a tree. The specimen has passed 

 out of his hands; but he sends me a photograph of the bird, 

 taken after it was mounted. 



B. 619. R. 639. C. 761. G. , 19. U. 128. 



HABITAT. Tropical and subtropical seas, chiefly north of the 

 equator; north regularly to Florida, Texas and California, acci- 

 dental to Nova Scotia, Ohio and Kansas. 



SP. CHAR. "Adult male: Entirely black, the lanceolate feathers of the back 

 and scapulars glossed with dull bottle green and reddish purple; bill light 

 purplish blue, white in the middle, the curved tips dusky; inside of mouth 

 carmine; gular sac orange; bare space above the eye purplish blue; iris deep 



