COMMON FRIGATE-BIRD. 



121 



Fregatta avis. Raii Syn. 153. 192. 



La Fregate. Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 8. 381 . Bnff, PI. Enl. 961 . 



Cuv. Reg, Anim. 1. 525. 

 Petite Fregate. Buff. Hist. Nat. Ois. 8. 390. 

 Man of War, or Frigate Bird. Sloan. Journ. 1 . 30. Alb. Birds, 



3. pi. 80. Edw. Glean, pi 309. 

 Lesser Frigate Pelican. Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 590. Lath. Gen. 



Hist. X. 412. 



Frigate Pelican. Lath. Gen. Syn. 6. 587. Wood's Zoogr. 1. 

 557. Lath. Gen. Hist. x. 410. 



The usual length of this bird is three feet, from 

 the tip of the beak to that of the tail : the prevailing 

 colour of the plumage of the male is black, glossed 

 with green on the back ; of the female dusky, with 

 the abdomen and nearly the whole of the head white : 

 the eye and parts immediately surrounding it are 

 black : the beak is of a dirty yellowish white : the 

 feet of the male are black ; those of the female of a 

 bluish-white : the male is also distinguished from the 

 female by a large fleshy bag or sac placed under the 

 throat, of a bright red colour, and in its flaccid state 

 putting on a granulated appearance : when distended 

 it is smooth, and enlarges to the size of a hen's egg. 



A very interesting account of this singular bird is 

 given by Mr. Burton in the thirteenth volume of the 

 Linnean Transactions, to which, on account of its 

 length and the limited space to which I find that 

 my remarks are confined, I must refer my readers ; 

 stating, however, that it resides in abundance in the 

 Island of Ascension, and is also found on many of 

 the coasts of the islands and continents of the south : 

 its food consists chiefly of fish, and generally of the 

 Ea^ocetus voUtans : the female lays one egg of a white 



