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Genus — F E E G A T A . 
Fregata Daudin, in Hist. Nat. (Buffon) ed. Didot Quadr., 
Vol. XIV., p. 317, 1802 Type 
(Lacepede, Tableau Oiseaux, p. 15, 1799, n.n.) 
Also spelt — 
Fregatta Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., Vol. XIII., pt. i., p. 119, 1826. 
T achy petes Vieillot, Analyse nouv. Ornith., p. 63, 1816 . . Type 
Also spelt — 
Tachypleiis Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., Vol. Xni., pt. i., p. 119, 1826. 
Atagen Gray, List Genera Birds, 2nd ed., p. 101, 1841 . . Type 
Also spelt — 
Attagen (nee Kaup.) Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. XXVI., p. 442, 1895. 
F. minor. 
F. minor. 
F. minor. 
Large birds with long hooked bills, very long wings, very long forked tails, 
slender bodies, and very small legs and feet, the toes semi-pahnate, but the 
hind toe connected with a web. The bill is very long, much longer than the 
head ; it is very strongly hooked, both mandible tips being downward bent ; 
the upper mandible is composed of separate pieces recalling that of a 
procellarian bird ; the culminicorn is broad and flattened, a groove extending 
its length separating it from the laterals, which are also broad and flattened ; 
the edges of the mandible are complete, no serration being present. The 
rami of the lower mandible are straight and deep and enclose an unfeathered 
tract which develops in the male into a huge gular pouch. The length of 
the chord of the cuhnen is about twice the length of the middle toe. The 
nostrils are linear slits placed near the base of the culmen. The wings are 
very long and pointed, the first primary much the longest. 
The tail is very long and very deeply forked : it is more than half the 
length of the wing. 
The metatarsus is very short and feathered. 
The toes are comparatively long and thin, and are toti-palmate, but the 
webs are so deeply incised that semi-palmate would better describe them ; 
the toes are obscurely scutellate, the middle toe about twice the length of the 
metatarsus and half the length of the chord of the culmen ; the hind toe is 
long, not much shorter than the inner, the middle toe being longest, the outer 
longer than the inner ; the claw of the middle toe is very long and serrated. 
Though this genus covers the family Fregaiidce, which is placed in the 
Order Pelecaniformes, mainly on account of the toti-palmate character of the 
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