Genus FEEGATA. 



Bill longer, broader, and more hooked than in Phalacrocorax. The culmen flattened, and 

 the lateral grooves pronounced and continued to the tip ; margins of both mandibles coinciding ; 

 tip of the lower decurved and produced. Wings very long and pointed ; the 1st quill considerably 

 exceeding the 2nd. Tail long and deeply forked, of 12 feathers. Tarsus extremely short, not 

 exceeding the hind toe ; middle toe lengthened, and the outer longer than the inner ; anterior 

 toes connected by a deeply incised web ; claws long, curved, and with the inner edge of the 

 middle pectinated. 



Of large size ; aerial habit. The feathers of the head elongated. Plumage illumined with 

 metallic reflections. 



FEEGATA MINOE. 



(THE LESSER FRIGATE-BIRD.) 



Pelecanus minor, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 572 (1788). 



Attagen ariel, G. E. Gray, Gen. B. iii. p. 669 (1845, ex Gould, MS.) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. 



Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 271. 

 Attagen minor (Gm.), Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 482. 

 Fregata minor (Gm.), Buller, B. of New Zealand, p. 342 (1873); Salvadori, TJccelli di 



Borneo, p. 364(1874); Sclater & Salvin, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 650; Hume, Str. Feath. 



1879, p. 116 (ListB. of Ind.). 

 Petite Fregate, Buffon, Hist. Nat. ; Lesser Frigate, Lath. ; Man-of- War Bird, sailors ; Frigate 



Pelican of some. 



Adult (Australia ; Brit. Mus.). Wing 20-7 to 21-5 inches ; tail 13-0 to 14-5, depth of fork 6-0 to 7-5; tarsus 0-7 : 

 middle toe 1-85, claw (straight) 075; hill to gape (straight) 3 - 9 ; length of culrnen, exclusive of hooked tip, 2'8. 

 — Males (Raine Island; 'Challenger' coll.). Wing 205 to 21'0 ; tail 13 - 5; bill to gape (straight) 4-1, width 

 at gape 0-93. — Female (Ceylon ; Poole coll.). Wing 20-2. 



Male. Iris red (" black ?" in Admiralty-Island specimen, P. Z. S. 1877, p. 555) ; bill grey ; skin of throat red ; eyelid 

 black ; legs and feet black. 



Female. " Iris red ; eyelid, legs, and feet red ; skin of throat not so red as in the male." (J. Murray.) 



Male (N.W. coast of Australia). Plumage black, the feathers of the back long and lanceolate, glossed near the tips 

 with lively green, above which the webs are illumined with an amethystine hue, but not bronzed as in the next 

 species ; wing-coverts the same ; tertials passing into brown at the tips ; beneath brownish black, glossed with green 

 and purplish ; on the lower flanks a patch of white. 



Female (Raine Island). Head and neck black, the feathers glossed with green ; back blackish brown, the feathers 

 pointed as in the male ; chest, upper breast, and flanks white, passing round upon the hind neck ; lower wing- 

 coverts broadly margined with greyish white ; pouch not so large as in the male. 



The example in the Poole Collection corresponds with these in all respects. 



Obs. All examples (so sexed) of females which I have examined have these white markings on the under surface : 

 but I am of opinion that when old they attain the dark plumage, owing to the light coloration being the immature 

 characteristic. 



7p 



