118 THE AUSTRAL AVIAN RECORD [Vol. IT. 



Linne's bird was from Ascension Island collected by 

 Osbeck. In the British Museum there is a series from 

 that locality and the male and female are all black with 

 the immature, even in the downy stage, with a white 

 head showing no rust colour. 



This peculiar bird is confined to Ascension Island 

 and no subspecies are known to me. The Hon. Walter 

 Rothschild generously allowed me to examine his fine 

 collection of these birds in the Tring Museum and I have 

 confirmed my results by means of his material. The 

 common widely-spread species known as Fregata aquila 

 must then bear the name Fregata minor Gmelin. 

 This is very mifortunate, but there is no other conclusion 

 possible. 



Gmelin (Syst. Nat., p. 572, 1789) described Pelecanus 

 TYiinor, and all the references are derived from the Man- 

 of-War Bird of Edwards' Gleaning, pi. 309. The figure 

 is a good one of a female and Edwards states this may 

 be so as he has heard the males are all black. No locality 

 is given nor is any determinable from the context. 

 After due consideration I therefore designate Jamaica 

 as the type locality of Gmelin's species. 



A series from South Trinidad Island show that the 

 bird resident there has a longer bill but a shorter 

 wing measurement. Differences in coloration, though 

 apparent, cannot be definitely fixed at the present time. 

 The largest female (females are larger than males) gives 

 culmen 128 mm., wmg 624 mm., while the largest 

 measurements from anywhere in the West Indies, 

 Caribbean Seas, etc., are in the female, culmen 120 mm., 

 with the wing 650 mm. 



I name this form 



Fregata minor nicolli, subsp. n. 



From the Seychelles, Aldabra, Gloriosa, etc., the 

 islands comprising the Mascarenes another subspecies 

 'can be recognised, the largest measurements of a female 

 b)euig culmen 116 mm., and wing 621 mm. These birds, 

 vary somewhat among themselves so that it may be 



