440 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



but there is no question that they are the same. Just what the 

 status of this form is cannot be determined until a thorough revision 

 is made of the whole group, which is in a very confused state. 



I found these birds very common at sea off the delta of the Rio 

 Grande de Terraba. They breed on the rocky islets off the coast a 

 little farther north. 



Family FREGATID^. 



117. Fregata aquila (Linnaeus). 



Ptlicanus aquilus LlNN/EUS, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, I, 1758, 133. 



Tachypetes aquila Frantzius, Jour, fiir Orn., 1869, 379 (C. R.). — Nutting, 



Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. , V, 1882, 405 (La Palma de Nicoya, abundant on 



shores of Gulf). 

 Fregata aquila Cherrie, Expl. Zool. en C, R., 1891-2, 1893, 57 (along shore 



off Rio Grande de Terraba). — Ogilvje-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXVI, 



1898, 443. — Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, III, 1901, 139 



(Nutting's record cited). 



I often saw them flying along the Pacific coast between Puntarenas 

 and the Rio Grande de Terraba, as well as on the Caribbean coast in 

 the vicinity of Limon and to the southward. 



Family PHAETHONTID^E. 

 118. Phaethon aethereus Linnaeus. 



Phaethon ether em Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, I, 1758, 134. ■ — Zeledon, Ann. 



Mus. Nac. de C. R., I, 1887, 132 (C. R.). 

 Phaethon flavirostris Salvin, Ibis, 1870, 1 16 (Gulf of Nicoya [Arce] ). — Ogilvie- 



Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXVI, 1898, 457 (Nicoya, March [Arce]). 



— Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, III, 1901, 138 (Gulf of 



Nicoya [Arce]). 



The only authentic record we have for the taking of either species 

 of Phaethon within the limits of Costa Rica is the immature specimen 

 collected by Arce in the Gulf of Nicoya and recorded by Salvin in the 

 Ibis, 1870, as an addition to Mr. Lawrence's Catalogue. This bird 

 was recorded as P. flavirostris (equal americana^), but upon later 

 examination by Mr. Ogilvie-Grant it proved to be an immature P. 

 cethereus, which would naturally be expected to occur there rather than 

 americanus. P. americanus may very likely visit the Caribbean shores, 

 but it has never been collected or recorded there. 



