

Vol. I. No. I. 



AIvAMEDA, CAL., SEPTEMBER, 1893. 



(One Dollar 

 I Per Year. 



A ROOKERY OF MAN-O'-WAR BIRDS. 



BY WALTER E. BRYANT. 



Upon the mangroves bordering a small 

 lagoon on the eastern side of Santa Marga- 

 rita Island, one of the islands forming the 

 spacious harbor of Magdalena Bay, Baja 

 California, there is, or was when I visited 

 the region early 

 in I 888 an d 

 again in 1889, an 

 extensive nest- 

 ing colony of 

 the Man-o'-war 

 Birds {Fregata 

 A qu i I a). A 

 scene which I 

 witnessed dur- 

 ing a number of 

 days sojourn up- 

 on the island 

 was one never to 

 be forgotten, and 

 the photographs 

 taken at the 

 time may convey 

 to others some- 

 th'ing of the 

 character of the rookery and the slight nest 

 constructed by this species upon the outer 

 branches of a growing mangrove swamp. 

 If the imagination can picture twice and 

 three times the number of birds which ap- 

 pear in the cut it will form but a partial 

 conception of the number ol individuals 

 congregated about the lagoon — a tidal body 

 of water a few hundred yards in length 

 and not more than eighty wide. The illus- 



Nest and Egg of Man-o'-War Bird. 



tration was taken from one side towards 

 the most populous portion of the rookery. 

 A narrow strip of elevated sand separates 

 the lagoon from the bay. 



The eggs are laid early in January, only 

 a single one to each nest, and both parents 

 take part in the incubation. The eggs are 

 dull, immaculate white in color, shaped 



somewhat like a 

 Gull's ^^z^ and 

 averaging 68.7 x 

 46.9 millimetres 

 in size. 



Upon the 

 slight platform 

 of dry twigs 

 composing the 

 nest, and not 

 larger in size 

 than a dinner 

 plate, it is sur- 

 prising that the 

 0.%^ will remain, 

 but most of the 

 nests have more 

 or less project- 

 ing bits of twigs, 

 which keep the 

 ^%% in place. The nest shown in the illus- 

 tration had probably been used once or 

 twice, as it i'' heavily incrusted with guano 

 of young birds and is of more than average 

 thickness, from nesting material added each 

 time it was used. Smooth as it appears I 

 nevertheless obtained an &%% from it on 

 February 13th, 1888. 



The Man-o'-War Birds, known also as 

 Frigate Pelicans, are called by the Mexi- 



