THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
I here reprint what appeared in the Austral Avian Record, Vol. II., No. 6 
(pp. 117-121), Dec. 19, 1914, so that the reader can contrast it with the 
detailed account given above. 
“ ON THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF THE GENUS FREGATA, 
By G. M. Mathews. 
Two species of Fregata are admitted in the Catalogue of Birds in the British 
Museum, Vol. XXVI., under the names Fregata aquila and Fregata ariel. No 
subspecies are recognised, but the most superficial examination showed that 
such could be determined. Criticism of the British Museum material in order 
to fix the correct names to be used for the birds occurring in Australia has 
brought to light much of more than local interest. Details will be given in 
full in my Birds of Australia, and this preliminary synopsis is here given 
for the purpose of protecting my work, the first work on the subject for over 
ten years. 
The most interesting discovery was that the widely-used name Fregata 
aquila was inapplicable. This was based on Pelecanus aquilus Linne {Syst. 
Nat, Ed. X., p. 133, 1758). 
Linne’s bird was from Ascension Island collected by Osbeck. In the 
British Museum there is a series from that locality and the male and female are 
all black with the immature, even in the downy stage, with a white head 
showing no rust colour. 
This peculiar bird is confined to Ascension Island and no subspecies are 
known to me. The Hon. Walter Rothschild generously allowed me to examine 
his fine collection of these birds in the Tring Museum and I have confirmed 
my results by means of his material. The common widely-spread species 
known as Fregata aquila must then bear the name Fregata minor Gmelin* 
This is very unfortunate, but there is no other conclusion possible. 
Gmelin (Syst. Nat., p. 572, 1789) described Pelecanus minor, and all the 
references are derived from the Man-of-War Bird of Edwards’ Gleanings, pi. 309. 
The figure is a good one of a female and Edwards states this may be so as he 
has heard the males are all black. No locality is given nor is any determinable 
from the context. After due consideration I therefore designate Jamaica 
as the type locality of Gmelin’ s species. 
A series from South Trinidad Island show that the bird resident there has 
a longer bill but a shorter wing measurement. Differences in coloration, 
though apparent, cannot be definitely fixed at the present time. The largest 
female (females are larger than males) gives culmen 128 mm., wing 
624 mm., while the largest measurements from anywhere in the West Indies, 
272 
