186 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 
pursue Gulls and Terns, and, forcing them to disgorge their prey, catch 
it in midair. As a rule they are gregarious at all seasons, and nest and 
roost on bushes near the shore. The feet are exceedingly small and of 
little use except in perching. The single young is born naked but is 
quickly clothed in long white down. The black ‘scapulars appear at a 
very early age. 
128. Fregata aquila (Linn.). Man-o’-war-Birp. (Figs. 19, 31.) Ad. a 
—Entire plumage black, more glossy above; dilatable gular pouch in breed- 
ing season orange-red or carmine. 9.—Similar, but browner; lesser wing- 
coverts grayish brown; breast and upper belly white. Im.—Similar to 
the 9°, but whole head and neck white. L., 40°00; W., 25°00; T., 17°00; 
B., 4°50. ; 
Range.—Tropical and subtropical coasts; in Am. n. to s. Calif., Tex., 
La., and Fla., and casually to Calif. (Humboldt Bay), Kans., Iowa, Wisc., 
Ohio, and N. §. 
Long Island, one record, Aug. F 
_ Nest, of sticks, in colonies, on bushgs or rocks. Egg, 1, chalky white, 
2°65 x 1°75. Date, Atwood Key, Bahamas, Feb. 9. ‘ 
This species is found at all seasons in Florida, but I know of no 
authentic record of its nesting there. It becomes more common in 
late spring after its breeding season in the Bahamas. 
1908. CHapman, F. M., Camps and Cruises, 217-221 (nesting). 
V. ORDER ANSERES. LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS 
15. Famiry Anatom. Ducks, Gress anp Swans. (Figs. 33, 34.) 
The two hundred species included in this family are distributed 
throughout the world. One-fourth of this number occur in North 
America, and are grouped by the A. O. U. Check-List in the five sub- 
families, Merging, or Mergansers, Anatine, or River Ducks, Fuliguline, 
or Sea Ducks, Anserine, or Geese, and Cygnine, or Swans. The Ana- 
tide in common with other diving birds whose natatorial powers give 
them a secondary means of locomotion, lose all their wing-quills 
simultaneously during the annual postnuptial molt, and at this time 
cannot fly. Evidently to make them less conspicuous during this 
period, the males of many species acquire by molt a plumage more or 
less closely resembling that of the female. This ‘eclipse plumage,’ as 
it is called, is worn only until the wing-quills are regained, when it 
is lost and the distinctive male costume reacquired. This phenomenon 
is well illustrated in the preceding plate of the Wood Duck showing 
an adult male in ‘breeding’ as well as in ‘eclipse’ plumage. Inci- 
dently it may be remarked that the assumption of this coneealing 
plumage at a time of comparative helplessness, is an indication 
that the breeding plumage is conspicuous. (See Stone, Pr. Acad. 
Nat. Sci., Phila., 1889, p. 467; Chapman, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 
1899, p. 219.) 
