490 FRIGATE PELICAN. 



thought over the trees whose tops are blasted ; their purpose appears as 

 if accomplished by magic. I know only two other birds that perform the 

 same action : one of them is the Forked-tailed Hawk, the other our swift 

 or Chimney Swallow ; but neither of them is so expert as the Frigate 

 Pelican. It sometimes happens that this bird accidentally drops a stick 

 while travelling towards its nest, when, if this should happen over the 

 water, it plunges after it and seizes it with its bill before it has reached 

 the waves. 



The nests are usually placed on the south side of the keys, and on 

 such trees as hang over the water, some low, others high, several in a 

 single tree, or only one, according to the size of the mangrove, but in 

 some cases lining the whole side of the island. They are composed of 

 sticks crossing each other to the height of about two inches, and are 

 flattish but not very large. When the birds are incubating, their long 

 wings and tail are seen extending beyond the nest for more than a foot. 

 The eggs are two or three, more frequently the latter number, measure 

 two inches and seven-eighths in length, two in breadth, being thus of a 

 rather elongated form, and have a thick smooth shell, of a greenish-white 

 colour, frequently soiled by the filth of the nests. The young are covered 

 with yellowish-white down, and look at first as if they had no feet. They 

 are fed by regurgitation, but grow tardily, and do not leave the nest until 

 they are able to follow their parents on wing. 



At that period the plumage of the young females is marbled with grey 

 and brown, with the exception of the head and the lower parts, which are 

 white. The tail is about half the length it attains at the first moult, and 

 is brownish-black, as are the primaries. After the first change of plu- 

 mage, the wings become longer, and their flight is almost as elegant and 

 firm as that of older bii'ds. 



The second spring plumage of this sex is brownish-black on the up- 

 per parts, that colour extending over the head and around the neck in 

 irregular patches of brown, continued in a sharp angle towards the breast, 

 but separated on its sides by the white that ascends on either side of the 

 neck towards the head. The lower tail-coverts are brownish-black, as 

 are the lower parts of the belly and flanks ; the shoulders alone remain- 

 ing as at first. The tail and wings are perfect. 



The third spring, the upper parts of the head and neck are of a purer 

 brownish-black, which extends down to the extremity of the angle, as are 

 the feathers of the belly and the lower tail-coverts, the dark colour reach- 



