THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Flying young. Head nearly all white, with a few red feathers remaining ; 
upper-breast dark rusty red ; brown on sides of body ; 
abdomen white ; vent black. 
Immature. The patch of dark rusty red on the upper-chest vanishes and 
the dark colour goes from sides, but immediately black 
feathers begin to be seen on the abdomen. 
These notes are taken from a series in the Rothschild Museum collected 
by Schauinsland at Laysan. From other localities intervening stages can be 
seen. The adult male is wholly black, with lanceolate breeding-plumes on the 
back showing strong metallic gloss. The adult female has the breast white, 
the throat not fully black and no breeding-plumes, though a metallic sheen 
is noticeable on some of the back feathers ; she is larger and has no gular 
pouch. Immature males show this coloration, but are distinguishable by the 
possession of an orange gular pouch and the presence of lanceolate metallic 
breeding-plumes. It is also certain that the immature of both sexes breed 
when in the white-headed stage noted above, but then the male has only 
a partially developed pouch and scarcely differs from the female save in size. 
This description is of the bird commonly known as Fregata aquila, but 
which must now be known as Fregata minor. 
The following observations show that well-marked subspecies can be 
recognised, and moreover have elucidated the fact that this bird is no 
WANDERER, but is very local, rarely going far from its breeding-ground. 
Consequently, when this fact is fully grasped and long series are procured, 
very many subspecies wiU be determined. 
In this place I cannot define many, as series are not available, but the 
facts prove that the Galapagos Archipelago, as indicated but not proved by 
Ridgway, harbour two perfectly distinct subspecies. Moreover, these two 
subspecies are easily separable from the bird breeding at Laysan, geographi- 
cally the nearest breeding locality. 
It may be as well to deal with these first, as they appear to be the 
most interesting. My notes were talcen at the Rothschild Museum before I 
had seen either Ridgway's account of the Galapagos birds or Rothschild and 
Harterfs criticism. 
It is important to emphasize this statement, as I confirm absolutely 
Ridgway’s conclusions from examination of the material upon which 
Rothschild and Hartert based their criticism, which I find to be incorrect. 
Galapagos Archipelago, Barrington Island <J. AU black, narrow lanceolate 
breeding-plumes on back showing purple sheen ; wing-coverts show 
this sheen also. Culmen 109 mm., wing 649, tail 510, middle toe 51. 
256 
