I -ii 



128 



TOTIPALMATB SWIMMERS — STEGANOPODES. 



ill 

 iJ, 





1;! 



Fregata aquila. 



THE FRIGATE ?EUCAH; KAN-O'-WAB HAWK. 



Pelecaniis aquilus, Linn. S. N. ed. 10, I. 1758, 133 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 216. 



Tachypetes aquitus, Vieill. Gal. Ois. 1825, pi. 274. — Bonai-. Consj). II. 1855, 166. — Nutt. Mnii. 



II. 1834, 491.— AUD. Orn. Biog. HI. 1835, 495; V. 1839, 634 ; Synop. 1839, 307; B. Am. 



VII. 1844, 10, pi. 421. — Lawk, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 873. 

 Tachypetes aquila, Baikd, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, uo. 619, — Coues, Key, 1872, 306 ; Chnck List, 1873, 



no. 537 ; 2d ed. 1882, no. 761. 

 Attagen aquila, Gray, Gemnu B. III. 1845. 

 Fregata aquila, Reich. Syst. Av. 1852, p. vi. 



Hab. Coasts of tropical and subtropical America, north, casually, to Long Island, regularly to 

 Florida, Te.xas, and California. 



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 about the eye pur- 

 plish blue; iris deep brown; feet light carmine above, orange beneath" (Audubon). Adult 

 female: Dull black, the central area of the lesser wing-covert region light grayish brown ; back 

 and scapulars only faintly glossed, the feathers not Linceoliite. Breast with a large white patch, 

 extending downward along each side nearly or quite to the Hanks, and upward on the sides of the 



Young. 



jugulum (sometimes extending round the hind neck). " Iris dark brown ; orbits and gular skin 

 dark plumbeous, with a tinge of violaceus ; feet carmine " (Sumichrast, MS.). Young (secoml 

 year ?) : Upper parts as in the adult female. Head, neck, breast, and abdomen white. " Iris dull 

 dark blue; bill horn-color, darker at base; legs and feet pale pinkish blue" ((Jreene Siinii, 

 MS.). Nestling: Covered with very fluffy white cottony down. 



Total length, about 41 inches; wing, 22.00-27.10 (24.90); tail, 14.25-10.25 (17.73); culmen, 

 4.25-5.15 (4.62); longest toe, 1.95-2.20 (2.08). [Eleven .specimens measured.] 



Some specimens in the young (white-headed) plumage have the jugulum and foreneck strongly 

 tinged with light cinnamon. The stage described above as the young seems not to be that of tlic 

 youngest individuals, since two nestlings of the South Pacific race (F. miiwr) show (juite well- 

 developed scapular feathers which are uniform grayish brown. 



The F. minor • differs, so far as we can see, only in smaller size, and seems to be merely a snudl 



1 Fregata minor, 



Pclecanus minor, Omei,. S. N. I. 1788, 572 (Fregata minor, Biiiss. Orn. VI. 1760, 509, sp. 7). 

 Tachypetes minor, .Streets, Bull. U. S. Nat. M\is. no. 7, 1877, 25 (Christnius Islands). 

 Pelccanus Palmersloni, Gmel. t. c. 673. 



Attagen ariel, "Gould," Gray & Mrrcu. Genera of Birds, III. 1845, pi. 185. — Gould, B. 

 Austr. VII. 1848, t. 72. 



