186 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 



pursue Gulls and Terns, and, forcing them to disgorge their prey, catch 

 it in midair. As a rule they are gregarious at all seasons, and nest and 

 roost on bushes near the shore. The feet are exceedingly small and of 

 little use except in perching. The single young is born naked but ia 

 quickly clothed in long white down. The black scapulars appear at a 

 very early age. 



128. Fregata aquila (Linn.). MAN-O'- WAR-BIRD. (Figs. 19, 31.) Ad. <?. 

 Entire plumage black, more glossy above ; dilatable gular pouch in breed- 

 ing season orange-red or carmine. 9. Similar, but browner; lesser wing- 

 coverts grayish brown; breast and upper belly white. Im. Similar to 

 the 9 but whole head and neck white. L., 40'00; W., 25'00; T., 17'00; 

 B., 4'50. 



Range. Tropical and subtropical coasts; in Am. n. to s. Calif., Tex., 

 La., and Fla., and casually to Calif. (Humboldt Bay), Kans., Iowa, Wise., 

 Ohio, and N. S. 



Long Island, one record, Aug. 



Nest, of sticks, in colonies, on bushes or rocks. Egg, 1, chalky white s 

 2 '65 x 1'75. Date, Atwood Key, Bahamas, Feb. 9. 



This species is found at all seasons in Florida, but I know of no 

 authentic record of its nesting there. It becomes more common in 

 late spring after its breeding season in the Bahamas. 



1908. CHAPMAN, F. M., Camps and Cruises, 217-221 (nesting). 



V. ORDER ANSERES. LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS 



15. FAMILY ANATID^E. DUCKS, GEESE AND SWANS. (Figs. 33, 34.) 



The two hundred species included in this family are distributed 

 throughout the world. One-fourth of this number occur in North 

 America, and are grouped by the A. O. U. Check-List in the five sub- 

 families, Mergince, or Mergansers, Anatince, or River Ducks, Fuligulince, 

 or Sea Ducks, Anserince, or Geese, and Cygnince, or Swans. The Ana- 

 tidcz in common with other diving birds whose natatorial powers give 

 them a secondary means of locomotion, lose all their wing-quills 

 simultaneously during the annual postnuptial molt, and at this time 

 cannot fly. Evidently to make them less conspicuous during this 

 period, the males of many species acquire by molt a plumage more or 

 less closely resembling that of the female. This 'eclipse plumage,' as 

 it is called, is worn only until the wing-quills are regained, when it 

 is lost and the distinctive male costume reacquired. This phenomenon 

 is well illustrated in the preceding plate of the Wood Duck showing 

 an adult male in 'breeding' as well as in ' eclipse' plumage. Inci- 

 dently it may be remarked that the assumption of this concealing 

 plumage at a time of comparative helplessness, is an indication 

 that the breeding plumage is conspicuous. (See Stone, Pr. Acad. 

 Nat. Sci., Phila., 1889, p. 467; Chapman, Bull. Am. Mus, Nat. Hist., 

 1899, p. 219.) 



