10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.77 



Family FREGATIDAE 



MAN- 0'- WAR BIRDS 

 13. FREGATA ARIEL ARIEL (Gray) 



Atagen arie<l Gbat, Genera Birds, vol. 3, 1845, p. 669 (Raine Island, N. 

 Australia) . 



One male and two females, Pulo Samama, April 22. 



There is not enough material in the United States National Mu- 

 seum to correctly determine the forms of this species. A male from 

 Celebes previously reported upon"* is quite different from the Bornean 

 male. The Celebes specimen is bluish green on the mantle with 

 purplish reflections in certain lights and bronzy green on the lesser 

 wing coverts, while the Samama bird is a dull black with a band of 

 violet across the middle of the feathers of the mantle, the lesser 

 wing coverts just dull black with a very faint bronzy tinge, hardly 

 noticeable. The Celebes bird is in fresher, less worn plumage. 



The two females are in quite distinct plumages. One with the 

 head dusky black, the crown with a rusty tinge; the throat hair 

 brown with some rusty feathers on the lower border; the chest and 

 upper breast white ; lower breast and belly dusky black ; a light col- 

 lar around hind neck. The other female from Samama has the head 

 and throat white, with a few rusty feathers here and there ; the chest 

 hair brown, shading off into dusky black on the upper breast; the 

 lower breast and belly white. The white-headed bird is in more 

 worn plumage than the black-headed one. There is a difference in 

 the color of the bills between the two also. The black-headed speci- 

 men has the base of the bill a dull pompeian red, only the nail at the 

 tip horn color ; while in the white-headed bird the bill is clay color, 

 only the tip horn color. 



The bills measure as follows: Male, 89; black-headed female, 88; 

 white-headed female, 82; the male from Celebes, 90. 



Family FALCONIDAE 



HAWKS, EAGLES, ETC. 

 14. CUNCUMA LEUCOGASTER (Gmelin) 



Falco leucogaster Gmelin, Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 1, 1788, p. 257 (unknown; fixed 

 by Mathews as New South Wales). 



One adult male, Pulo Bilang Bilangan, May 30. Wing, 535; tail, 

 230; culmen from cere, 41. The measurement of the wing is much 

 smaller than that given by Swann.^^ It may be that the species 

 breaks up into several forms, but the material available is not suffi- 

 cient to go into the matter. Mathews ^^ gives three races for the 

 area covered by his book alone. 



wProc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 64 art 16, 1924, p. 36. 



^ Syn. Accipitres, pt. 3, 1922, p. 143. 



^ Sys. Av. Austral., pt. 1, 1927, pp. 254-255. 



