GREATER FRIGATE BIRD. 
Found nesting on Culpepper and Wenman in December, and on Tower in 
June.” 
NicoU, in the Ihis 1906, p. 673, from South Trinidad, Atlantic Ocean, 
admitted Fregata aquila, writing : “ The Great Frigate bird is very common 
on South Trinidad, but was not breeding at the time of our visit (January).” 
On p. 691 he added Glorioso, Indian Ocean, as a habitat of Fregata aquila 
Linnseus, commenting : “ The Large Frigate bird is subject to much variation 
in size in different parts of the tropical Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, 
especially as regards the dimensions of the bill. I can, however, see no other 
difference.” 
In Rothschild’s Avifauna of Laysan no discussion was given, as no 
specimens were at hand, and Fischer in the Bull. U.8. Fish. Comm., Vol. 
XXIII., pt. m., 1903, made no comment on the same faunal specimens. 
In the Ibis 1909, p. 326, Dr. P. R. Lowe gave the following interesting 
account of birds breeding on the Los Hermanos Islands, off Venezuela : 
“The commonest form of plumage which we noticed was that in which the 
head, neck, nape, and back were all black, relieved by a beautiful greenish- 
purple sheen, the throat and thorax being white. Next came a form in which 
the head, neck, nape, and breast were entirely white, while infinitely the 
rarest variety was that in which the head and neck were black, but the throat 
exhibited the conspicuous and remarkable red gular pouch. The first stage 
consists apparently of both young males and females, the next of older females, 
and the last of old males. I saw all three varieties incubating. So far as I 
have been able to observe, it is only the fully adult male that exhibits the 
extraordinary balloon-shaped pouch, which it can distend at will. I, however, 
noticed some birds, apparently not /^^%-adult males, with orange gular-sacs, 
and some, apparently still younger males, with the white throat and breast 
mottled and streaked with black, in a stage antecedent to the perfectly fuUy- 
adult male. These appeared to have no distensible gular-sac, or at any 
rate it was not apparent. The fully-adult males were very shy, and I ^ould 
not get near enough to take photographs of the few I found sitting on nests. 
As we reached the top of the island (650 ft.) some of these old males were 
soaring against the strong trade-wind just above our heads. The vivid red, 
almost translucent and distended pouch, waggled about in the breeze in a 
somewhat ludicrous way. It appears to have a constricted and elongated 
neck which allows it to ‘ flop about ’ in an apparently purposeless manner.” 
Study of the preceding will show that no effort has been made to fix 
subspecies in any way, and when Ridgway indicated differences these were 
inaccurately minimised by Rothschild and Hartert. Further, the discriminak- 
tion of the Linnean and Gmelinian names is not easy, and somewhat arbitrary 
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