NATATORES. 



361 



standing the great similarity of appearance in those of the two great 

 oceans, we think there is some diflference in their habits." 



" On the east coast of America, the Frigate Pelican or Man-of-War 

 Hawk, is a common scavenger in almost every harbor. It frequents 

 the landing-places near the markets, and is most numerous near the 

 haunts of man ; while in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, we observed 

 it most plentiful on uninhabited islands. 



At Honden or Dog Island, one of the Dangerous Archipelago, the 

 numbers of birds of various kinds found breeding on the 20th of 

 August, were so great, that our readers would doubt the enumeration, 

 were it attempted. The nests were on the trees, bushes, ground, and 

 even amongst the masses of broken coral thrown up by the sea. The 

 birds were so unsuspicious, that in some instances we had to lift them 

 off their nests with our hands, in order to examine the eggs ; the con- 

 fusion of sounds made the place a perfect Babel. The most conspi- 

 cuous were Frigate Birds, the nests of which, constructed of a few 

 sticks only, covered many of the trees by their numbers. The hoarse 

 croaking and screaming as we disturbed them, were incessant. Both 

 males and females were observed sitting on their single egg, which is 

 of a bluish-white color. The largest egg selected measures two and 

 eight-tenths inches long, by one and eight-tenths inches in diameter ; 

 the smallest two and four-tenths inches long, by one and seven-tenths 

 inches in diameter. The males inflated their gular pouches to the size 

 of a child's head, and flew with it inflated and pendent from their 

 necks, presenting a most singular appearance, the pouch being of a 

 blood-red color ; the voice is guttural, loud, and hoarse. The old 

 males are of a uniform dark plumage, and can always be distinguished 

 by the long pointed and iridescent plumage of their backs. The females 

 have a white breast. The young have, in addition to the white breast 

 of the mother, a white head, which is usually tinged with ferruginous 

 yellow; those in the nests are covered with a fine snow-white down, 

 sometimes stained yellowish about the bill ; the young feathers as they 

 shoot through the down on their backs, being large and dark-colored, 

 present a singular contrast to the white down. 



" Both sexes are very noisy when their nest is approached, yet at 

 Honden Island, they suffered us to take them off the branches of the 

 trees with our hands. From the weakness of their small feet and 

 legs, when sitting on a branch, they are obliged to balance their bodies 

 in a horizontal position. 



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