THE FRIGATE BIRDS. 195 



albillus) is also one of the Merganser group, and has much the same habits and range as the before- 

 mentioned species, ranging, like them, into India in winter, and passing the summer in the northern 

 parts of the Old and the New Worlds. The genus Merganetta also belongs to the group, and 

 contains three species of beautiful coloration, confined to the Andes of Chili and Peru and the high 

 ranges of Ecuador. 



The last group of the Wild-fowl contains the STIFF-TAILED DUCKS, which are recognisable by their 

 extremely rigid tail-feathers, which are narrow and pointed, and are not covered at the base by 

 the upper tail-coverts. The tail-feathers in some species attain to the number of twenty-four. The 

 hind toe is lobed. As a rule these Ducks are not so much inhabitants of the northern portions 

 of the globe as were the preceding members of the sub-family, but are found in the more temperate 

 and warmer climates, especially in the southern regions of the world ; they are also more strictly 

 inhabitants of lakes. One species, ths White-headed Duck (Erisrnatura leucoce^hala), occurs in 

 South-Eastern Europe and Northern. Africa, and is stated to be an expert diver, seldom taking to 

 its wings, and when flying appearing more like a Diver than a Duck, the wings producing a very 

 audible whirring sound as they progress through the air. Perhaps the most remarkable of all the 

 Diving Ducks is the great Biziura lobcita of Australia, the male of which has a large lobe of skin 

 hanging down under the chin, the female being of only half the bulk of the male. 



THE NINTH ORDER OF BIRDS. THE PELICANS (STEGANOPODES). 

 Under the heading of the Pelicans not only the- latter birds are included, but also all the 

 Cormorants, Frigate Birds, and Tropic Birds. They form three families, and are all of them 

 distinctly recognisable by the form of the feet, all the toes being united by a web, which joins the 

 hind tos as well as tli3 three front ones. In this respect they differ from the Ducks, and Gulls, 

 and other swimming birds. 



THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE STEGANOPODES. THE FRIGATE BIRDS (Fregatidce). 



The Frigate Birds, or Man-of-War Birds, as they are also called, are inhabitants of the tropical 

 ocean, ranging far soiith, but not occurring in northern latitudes. The tail is veiy long and forked, 

 the bill powerful and hooked, so that by some ornithologists they have been considered to be not dis- 

 tantly related to the birds of prey. Their flight is most aiiy and buoyant, and the rapidity with which 

 they fly is extraordinary. They are robbers in every sense of the word, following up the more pacific 

 Terns and Gannets, and forcing them to disgorge the fish they have captured with so much patience, 

 pursuing them in mid-air, and dexterously catching the fish as the frightened quarry .lets it fall. 

 Audubon states that he believes the Frigate Bird to be possessed of the most powerful flight of any 

 known bird, and he relates having seen one of them pursue a Cayenne Tern and force the latter to let 

 go of a fish it had captured. The latter was about eight inches in length, and had been seized by the 

 robber in a manner inconvenient to swallow. It therefore mounted about a hundred yards, let the fish 

 fall and caught it again, biit then not satisfactorily, and it again dropped it, reclaiming it, however, 

 before it had fallen many yards, when he at last managed to catch it conveniently, head foremost, and 

 gulped it down. The Frigate Birds apparently always build in rookeries on trees, and Mr. G. Cavendish 

 Taylor has published an account of his visit to one of these breeding-places off the coast of Honduras : 



"On the 1st of January, 1858, we went off in a boat, with four rowers, to visit an island some four 

 or five miles from Tigre Island, in the Bay of Fonseca, on the Pacific coast of Honduras. It is called 

 Bird Island, and is not more than an acre in extent, and of an oblong shape. At one end the beach is 

 sandy, and at low water one can walk across to another island close adjoining. At the other end the 

 shore is rocky, and it is much the same at the sides, the beach being strewn with large volcanic stones. 

 The surface of the island is some thirty or forty feet above the sea level. It is covered with long 

 grass, and there are also a few trees and low shrubs mangroves (Rhizophora mangle, Linn?eus) growing 

 in places, especially about high- water mark. At a distance the most conspicuous object was a numerous 

 flight of Frigate Birds soaring over the island. As we approached, large white patches, caused by the 

 droppings of the birds, became visible. We landed on the flat sandy beach, and in a few minutes I 

 had shot a pair of Tiger- Bitterns (Tigrisoma tigrinuni), which allowed me to approach without any 

 difficulty. Besides these and the Frigate Birds we saw no birds on the island, except a few Pelicans, 



