GREATER FRIGATE BIRD. 
Edwards’ figure represented an adult female, but it could be just as well 
an immature male, and from the Aldabra series would just as certainly 
occur in the West Indies as in the East Indies. The only conclusion I 
can foresee is that Mr. Rothschild has produced no evidence to prove a 
fundamental error in my selection of Jamaica, but rather that he himself 
has erred in too quickly assuming my inaccuracy. 
My second error I will quickly plead guilty to. I will at once 
recognise magnijicma as a distinct species, hut it is cx)nfln€d to the Galapagos 
Group as far as is yet known. Here, again, my critic has been rather 
superficial, for he has only casually examined his own series and not 
thoroughly reviewed it. Had he done so he might have withheld most of 
his criticism, for he states that the Galapagos rmgnificens does not differ 
from the West Indian birds. He specially mentions that his three males do 
not differ at all from birds killed by Dr. Ernst Hartert in the West Indies. 
The measurements I took of these birds read: 
Galapagos Culmen 106-113, wing 646-660, tail 470-510, middle toe 51-53 mm. 
The very largest bird from the West Indies measures : 
Culmen 104 wing 647 tail 430 middle toe 50 mm. 
A male procured by Dr. Ernst Hartert at Aruba (the only one I 
have note of) measured : 
(S' Culmen 110 wing 592 tail 410 middle toe 53 mm. 
There is a distinct discrepancy in these measurements which might be (most 
incorrectly) minimised, but the very long tail of magnificens is characteristic, 
and in addition the coloration of the back plumes is different. When Ridgway 
pointed this out, Messrs. Rothschild and Hartert said they could not recognise 
it, and now Mr. Rothschild is doing the same thing. The West Indian birds 
have a bronze-purple gloss and not a purple-blue like magnificens. 
It will be observed that Mr. Rothschild has given his reasons for 
assigning magnificens specific rank, as “ the ^ has entirely black wing-coverts 
and the $ a black throat and fore-neck.” He then makes “ aldabrensfs ” a 
subspecies of minor, the males having a “ wing-band very dark brown.” 
It is so dark as to be scarcely appreciated in an adult male preserved in 
the Rothschild Museum. Of the female “ aldabrensis ” he writes : “ throat 
and fore-neck greyish-white,” though he has a specimen showing a black 
throat, which would therefore come under magnificens. When more material 
becomes available and again a study is made, I foresee my conclusions being 
confirmed and F. magnificens restricted to the Galapagos Islands. 
Mr. Rothschild’s notes are very interesting, as they afford confirmation 
of the majority of my conclusions, a result I had not anticipated so 
quickly. Where Mr. Rothschild differs I consider he has not convinced me. 
279 
