THE WAYS OF FRIGATE-BIRDS. 



Ill 



is it for him, if during his fall, his neck does not sKde into 

 soine fork ; for the great weight of his body and his long 

 bill make strangulation tinder these circumstances a 

 certainty. As a matter of fact, even if he arrives safely on 

 the ground, his troubles are not over ; for it is very nearly 

 impossible for him to fly back through the dense canopy 

 of branches above him ; and we can conceive that his only 

 way of escape lies in quietly walking through the brush 

 to the edge of the island, where he would find no hindrance 

 to the use of his wings. During subsequent visits to this 

 frigate-bird rookery, in climbing up to their nests we so 

 frightened several birds that they actually did fall through 

 the branches to the ground ; and so apparently helpless 

 did they seem there, that unless we had caught them and 

 carried them out to the open, there seemed every 

 possibility tha,t they could never have been able to 

 extricate themselves. 



I do not think it is generally known that frigate-birds 

 are extremely fond of young turtles when they have 

 first taken to the water and are unable to dive. Such, 

 however, is the fact, and Mr. A. told me that these birds 

 do such damage in this way to his turtle fishery, that he 

 is obhged to have a yearly battue in order to keep the 

 numbers of the frigate-birds under reasonable control. 



It was also a distinct surprise to me to see one day a 

 band of these birds drinking at a pond of fresh water ; 

 for that I can only think is what they were doing. I 

 watched them for some time hovering over this pond, and 

 every now and then gracefully dipping down and 

 apparently scooping up some water with their bills. 

 Imagining that they might be feeding on some spawn 

 or something in the shape of aquatic larvae, I carefully 

 examined the water, but could discover nothing, either 

 on the surface or beneath it. Dr. A., the son of the owner, 

 assured me that he had often seen frigate-birds doing this, 

 and he was convinced that they were simply drinking. 



Too much stress, I think, is often laid on the fact that 

 frigate-birds live by chasing gannets, and making them 



