FREGATID^ — THE FRIGATE PELICANS — FREGATA. 131 



the purpose of compelling this bird to disgorge ; but the fishermen assured him that 

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

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

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

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

 Avould otherwise have been entirely unable to escape. 



The 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 has a thick smooth shell 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 

 yovmg 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 

 either 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 Pelican 

 and the 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 forty feet 

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

 Dr. Bryant was on one of the Ragged Island Keys, having an area of six acres. The 

 nests were on the tops of the prickly-pear, and were crowded very thickly together. 

 By the 8th 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 the 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. Incubation 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 

 far 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 white down ; 

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

 ulars so developed that they look, Avhile 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 Smithsonian Collection (ISTo. 1711), collected in the 

 Bahamas by Dr. Bryant and others (No. 15516), 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 breadth 

 from 1.80 to 1.70. 



