FREGATID/E — THE FllIGATE PELICANS — FREGAT A. 



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lilt' i)urposc of compelling this bird to disgorge ; but the fishermen assured him that 

 this often happened. Dr. Chamberlaine states positively that when the various soa- 

 liirds have secured their prey, by watching tlie drawing of the fishermen's nets, they 

 are often pounced upon with violence by the Frigate-bird, and forced to yield their 

 iiard-earned booty to this formidable assailant, from whose rapacious attacks they 

 would otherwise have been entirely unable to escape. 



Tlie egg of this species, according to Colonel Grayson, measures 2.87 inches in 

 length by 2.00 in breadth, is of an elongate form, and lias a thick smooth sliell of a 

 greenish-white color. The young are fed by regurgitation, but grow slowly, and do 

 not leave their nests until able to fly. He describes this bird as being generally 

 silent, the only note to which it gives utterance being a rough croak. It devours the 

 young of the Brown Pelican when these are quite small, as well as the young of such 

 other birds as have nests which are flat, when these are exposed by the absence of 

 the parents. Audubon, however, questions the ability of the Frigate-bird to compel 

 eitlun- the Pelican or the Booby to disgorge or drop its prey. 



Dr. Bryant found a few birds of this species breeding at the Biminis (Bahamas). 

 Their nests were placed upon the mangroves, amidst those of the Brown I'elican 

 and tlu^ Florida Cormorant. On the central, and highest, part of Booby Key a colony 

 of about two hundred pairs was breeding. The nests were on the bare rock, and 

 closely grouped together; the whole not occupying a space more than fortj'- feet 

 square. There were no Boobies among them. The largest breeding-place visited by 

 I )v. Bryant was on one of the Bagged Island Keys, liaving an area of six acres. The 

 nests were on the tops of the prickly-pear, and were crowded very thi(;kly together. 

 r>y the (Sth of April the young in half the nests were hatched, the largest being about 

 one third grown. The other nests contained eggs more or less incubated, and out of 

 many hundreds which were procured only seven were fresh. He speaks of the breed- 

 ing-place as tlu? most interesting he had ever visited. The birds covered the whole 

 surface of the prickly-pears in thousands as they sat on their nests, or darkened 

 the air as they hovered over them, and were so tame that they would hardly move 

 when touched. On firing a gun the whole colony rose at once, and the noise made 

 by their long and powerful wings was almost deafening. Incvdxition was carried 

 on by both male and female. The young were fed at first by regurgitation. The 

 food was principally obtained by robbing the Boobies ; but why the latter, being by 

 fur the more powerful birds, should submit to this treatment, Dr. Bryant was unable 

 to explain. 



The young are at first nearly naked ; later they are covered with a wliite down ; 

 Mild by the time they are of the size of a Pigeon tliey have the bronzed-black scap- 

 ulars so develoiMul that they look, while sitting on their nests, erect on their tarsi, 

 as if they had on cloaks. He speaks of their eggs as being single, white in color, 

 large for the size of the bird, and uniform in shape. 



Eggs of this species in the Smithsojiian Collection (No. 1711), collected in the 

 i>ahamas by Dr. Bryant and others (No. IMIG), taken near Mazatlan, Mexico, by 

 Colonel Grayson, are all of a uniform chalky white color, oval in shape, and of a 

 nearly uniform size. They vary in length from 2.75 inches to 2.50, and in breailtli 

 iiiim 1.80 to 1.70. 



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