128 



TOTIPALMATE SWIMMERS — STEGANOPODES. 



Fregata aquila. 



THE FRIGATE PELICAN; MAN-O'-WAR HAWK. 



PeUcaniis aquilus, Linn. S. N. ed. 10, 1. 1758, 133 ; ed. 12, I. 1766, 216. 



Tachypetes aquilus, Vieill. Gal. Ois. 1825, pi. 274. — Bonap. Cousp. II. 1855, 166. — Nutt. Man. 



II. 1834, 491. —AuD. Orn. Biog. III. 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, Baird, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, no. 619. — Coues, Key, 1872, 306 ; Check List, 1873, 



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

 Attagen aquila, Gray, Genera 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, Texas, 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 lanceolate. Breast with a large white patch, 

 extending downward along each side nearly or quite to the flanks, 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 (second 

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

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

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



Total length, about 41 inches; wing, 22.00-27.10 (24.90) ; tail, 14.25-19.25 (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 the 

 youngest individuals, since two nestlings of the South Pacific race (F. minor) show quite 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 small 



1 Fregata minor. 



Pelecanus minor, Gmel. S. N. I. 1788, 572 {Fregata minor, Briss. Orn. VI. 1760, 509, sp. 7). 

 Tachypetes minor. Streets, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mas. no. 7, 1877, 25 (Christmas Islands). 

 Pelecanus Palmerstoni, Gmel. t. c. 573. 



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

 Austr. VII. 1848, t. 72, 



