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NATURAL HISTORY. 



some large Accipitres, and a single Booby (Sula Jitsca), which had its nest on a low tree in company 

 with the Frigate Birds. The whole island was appropriated by the latter. Nearly every tree and 

 bash, both high and low, was covered with birds and their nests. The latter were mostly composed of 

 a few sticks laid crossways, hardly as much in quantity as in the nest of the Ring Dove (Columba 

 palumbus). Each nest contained a single egg, about the size of a hen's egg, and of a chalky whiteness. 

 We brought away nearly a hundred of them. Some were quite fresh, and others had been sat upon 

 some days. Although the nests were upon low bushes, still they were placed just too high for one to 

 reach the eggs without climbing. Many of the nests were on the mangrove bushes which were growing 

 just above high-water mark, so that we could see into them when standing on the bank of the island, 



FKIGATE BIRD. 



which was at a higher level. Some of the birds were sitting on their nests, and others were perched 

 upon the branches. By firing into the mass I might have killed a dozen at a shot, but shooting would 

 have been an absurdity, for I could have obtained any number with a stick. The difficulty was to get 

 them off their nests. Shouting had little or no effect ; and even the report of a gun would only raise 

 a few, who would frequently settle again on the bushes. I threw some stones among them, without produc- 

 ing much result, and even tried to poke them off their nests with my gun ; but they merely snapped their 

 beaks at me in retaliation. All this time there were thousands of other birds soaring in the air a little 

 way over our heads. I observed that the Frigate Birds were of three different plumages. As there 

 were birds of all three sorts sitting together, and with their nests in the same bushes, I concluded that 

 they were of one and the same species males, females, and immature birds. Some have the head and 

 neck white, the beak white, the feet and legs bluish-white, the belly white, and the wing-coverts 

 greyish-brown. Others have the legs and feet black, and are black all over, with a greenish metallic 

 tinge on the black. These have a bright scarlet pouch, which they inflate to the size of an Ostrich's egg 



