The Pacific Man-o '-war- bird 



breast sooty. Length of adult about 965.2 (38.00); wing 640.1 (25.20); tail 450.9 

 (17.75); bill 108 (4.25); tarsus 25.4 (1.00). 



Recognition Marks. — Gull size as to body; masterly flight, with plumage 

 black or chiefly black and deeply forked tail, distinctive. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in California. Nest: In colonies; a frail platform 

 of sticks or twigs, laid in low bushes, cactus patches, or on the ground. Egg: 1, 

 less commonly 2; chalky white or pale yellow, smooth or roughened by calcareous 

 overlay. Av. size 69.5 x 47.4 (2.74 x 1.366). Season: Feb.-March. 



Range of Fregata minor. — Tropical portions of the Pacific and Indian oceans. 



Range of F. m. palmerstoni. — North central Pacific Ocean, breeding upon the 

 Galapagos Islands, islands off the coast of Mexico, and in the mid-Pacific, Laysan, 

 Marcus Island, etc. 



Occurrence in California. — An occasional wanderer to our coasts at any 

 season; many records. 



Authorities. — Newberry (Tachypetes aquilus), Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. vi., 

 1857. p. 106 (coast of Calif.); W. K. Fisher, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., vol. xxiii., pt. 3, 

 1906, p. 769 (desc. of breeding colony on Laysan Id.) ; Willett, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 

 7. 1912, p. 21 (status in s. Calif.); Oberholser, Auk, vol. xxxiv., 191 7, p. 468 (syst., 

 nomencl.). 



INASMUCH as the recorded appearances of the Man-o'-war-bird 

 along the coast of California number less than a score, the observer is 

 likely to boast his good fortune for a twelvemonth, and regard the honor 

 as a sort of decoration pro meritu ornithologica, to be worn on state 

 occasions ever after. The author won his (quite undeserved) "Order 

 of the Frigate-bird" near Santa Barbara on the 12th of August, 1912, 

 and took his second degree on the 24th day of the same month, in com- 

 pany with that bird-lover par excellence, Bradford Torrey, of sainted 

 memory. On each occasion one got only a quick sense of regal power and 

 ease before the vision vanished, lost in the eye of the gale. These north- 

 ern wanderers appear to be for the most part two-year-old birds, showing 

 a maximum of white in the plumage, and having, because of their im- 

 maturity, no part in the fierce domestic doings of the tropics. 



Without doubt, the Man-o'-war-bird is the Master Wild Thing 

 a-wing. While its expanse of wing may not be so impressive as that of 

 the Albatross, and its speed possibly not equal to that of some of our 

 Swifts, its grace and ease and mastery of the tumultuous air currents are 

 without close parallel. Not only does it soar at times at such sublime 

 heights as to appear a mere speck against the tropic sky, or to pass from 

 sight altogether, but it can launch itself from an almost incredible eleva- 

 tion to snatch a flying-fish in midair, or to seize some object just below 

 the surface of the water. And so nicely is this feat calculated, that 

 observers testify it is accomplished without causing an appreciable 

 ripple on the water's surface. In like manner, the bird's thirst is quenched 



1983 



