124 



Bird - Lore 



Key, Tortugas, a distance of 850 statute 

 miles." 



In the course of a winter's voyage on 

 the U. S. S. "Albatross" in the South Seas, 

 the writer found among the natives of the 

 Low Archipelago many tame Frigate 

 Birds. The latter were observed on hori- 

 zontal perches near the houses, and were 

 supposed to be merely the pets of the chil- 

 dren who fed them. 



They were entirely tame, having been 

 reared in captivity from the nest. As our 

 acquaintance with the people developed, 

 we discovered that the birds were used by 

 them after the manner of homing "Pig- 

 eons" to carry messages among the islands. 



The numerous islands of Low Archi- 

 pelago extend for more than a thousand 

 miles in a northwest and southeast direc- 

 tion, and it appears that the birds return 

 promptly when liberated from quite distant 

 islands. They are distributed by being 

 put aboard small vessels trading among 

 the islands. The birds are liberated when- 

 ever there is news to be carried, returning 

 to their perches sometimes in an hour or 

 less, from islands just below the horizon 

 and out of sight of the home base. Gener- 

 ally they are in no great hurry. As the 

 food of the Frigate Bird may be picked 

 up almost anywhere at sea, there is no 

 means of ascertaining how much time the 

 bird loses in feeding or trying to feed en 

 route. It may also linger to enjoy its liberty 

 with other Frigate Birds. 



I did not observe tame Frigate Birds 

 elsewhere in Polynesia, but Mr. Louis 

 Becke, who is familiar with most of the 

 South Sea islands, says they were used as 

 letter carriers on the Samoan islands 

 when he was there in 1882, carrying mes- 

 sages between islands sixty to eighty miles 

 apart. When he lived on Nanomaga, one 

 of these islands, he exchanged two tame 

 Frigate Birds with a trader living on Nui- 

 tao, sixty miles distant, for a pair tame 

 reared on that island. 



The four birds, at liberty, frequently 

 passed from one island to the other on 

 their own account, all going together on 

 visits to each other's homes, where they 

 were fed by the natives on their old perches. 



Mr. Becke's pair usually returned to him 

 within twenty-four to thirty-six hours. 

 He tested the speed of the 'Frigate' by 

 sending one of his birds by vessel to Nui- 

 tao, where it was liberated with a message 

 at half-past four in the afternoon. Before 

 six o'clock of the same day the bird was back 

 on its own perch at Nanomaga, accompan- 

 ied by two of the Nuitao birds, which, not 

 being at their perch on that island when 

 it was liberated, it had evidently picked 

 up en route. Sixty miles in an hour and a 

 half is probably easy enough for the Fri- 

 gate Bird, as in Malayo-Polynesia it is 

 said to have frequently returned a dis- 

 tance of sixty miles in one hour. 



It becomes entirely tame and familiar 

 when raised from the nest, and if given 

 liberty returns regularly to its home perch 

 at night. 



The largest rookery of Frigate Birds I 

 have seen is at Tekokoto, in the Low 

 Archipelago. 



Frigate Birds inhabit tropical and sub- 

 tropical seas. The spread of wing is phe- 

 nomenal for the size of the bird, being 

 about eight feet, giving a wing power per- 

 haps unequaled; although Walt Whitman 

 has somewhat exaggerated its power of 

 flight in the lines: 



''Thou who has slept all night upon the 

 storm, 



Waking renewed on thy prodigious pin- 

 ions, 



Thou born to match the storm (thou art 

 all wings), 



At dusk thou look'st on Senegal, at morn 

 America. " 



Judging from my South Sea experience, 

 the 'Frigate' goes to roost at night, like 

 many other sea-fowls. — Charles H. 

 Townsend, New York City. 



Mortality Among Birds 



Any observer who has visited large 

 breeding colonies of birds is aware that 

 there is a heavy death rate among the 

 young birds, and that many eggs also are 

 destroyed by causes over which man has 

 but small control. For example, in Heron 



