NATATORES. 



359 



2. Tachypetes Palmerstoni {Gmelin). — The Frigate Pelican 



of the Pacific. 



Pdecanus Palmerstoni, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, p. 573 (1788). 



Form. — Generally similar to Tachypetes aquila, but rather smaller, and 

 with the quills and feathers of the tail comparatively narrow. 

 Gular pouch in males very large, pendant ; bill long, hooked ab- 

 ruptly at the end, wide at base, somewhat depressed. Wings long, 

 first primaries longest; tail long, deeply forked; feet and legs short, 

 weak; anterior toes united at base; tarsi very short; front feathers 

 of the tibia long. Feathers of the neck behind and back long, 

 lanceolate. 



Dimensions. — Male. Total length (of skin), about thirty-seven 

 inches ; wing, twenty-one and a half inches ; tail, fifteen and a half 

 inches ; bill, from corner of mouth directly to tip of upper man- 

 dible, four and a half inches. 



Colors. — Adult male. Entire plumage black, with green, blue, and 

 purple metallic lustre on the upper parts, especially observable on the 

 back. Under parts paler, and without lustre. Quills black, tinged 

 with ashy on their inner webs ; feathers of the tail black, slightly 

 tinged above with ashy, paler beneath; shafts of tail-feathers and of 

 quills above and below, white at base. Bill (in dried skin), dark 

 horn-color, tip yellowish-white. Gular pouch "blood-red" (Peale). 



Female. With a bare space on the throat, but without the gular 

 pouch. Breast white. Other parts of plumage as in the male. 

 Slightly larger than the male? 



Young. Head and neck white, strongly tinged with fulvous, espe- 

 cially on the neck in front above the breast. Abdomen white ; breast 

 black. Entire upper plumage of the body, the wings, and tail, black. 

 Shoulders and some of the coverts of the wings paler and edged with 

 ashy white. 



This species, which we have no hesitation in concluding to be that 

 indicated by Gmelin and Latham, as above cited, appears to be ex- 

 clusively an inhabitant of the Pacific Ocean and its islands. In the 

 collection of the Expedition, there are numerous specimens according 



