THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
save in the case of F. rmgnificens being a distinct species, but then I do 
not agree with him as to its distribution. 
Mr. Rothschild has used 'palmerstoni for the Pacific forms, including 
the Laysan series under that name. This may be done, but the more 
accurate method would be to use for the Laysan birds the name certainly 
applicable to them, especially in view of the facts now known and admitted. 
Mr. Rothschild notes that “ Beck’s photographs (California Academy) 
show both species breeding on Hood Island (Galapagos).” I have not seen 
these photographs, which I presume have been published, though Mr. 
Rothschild does not say so, and, if so, the letterpress should be of interest, 
as until my investigation no writer, save Ridgway, appears to have 
recognised two forms from the Archipelago, and according to my notes no 
birds at all are available from Hood Island. 
The preceding will show that Mr. Rothschild’s criticisms are valuable, 
inasmuch as they show how another worker views a question, but they 
cannot be accepted without further material. I am therefore retaining 
F. minor listeri in this place, and still continuing my usage of F. minor 
minor for the West Indian bird. I would, however, reject the identity of 
the West Indian and Galapagos birds, if the type locality of Gmelin’s 
P. minor be changed to the East Indies, and would therefore propose that the 
West Indian form I have described previously be called 
Fregata minor rothschildi, subsp. n. 
and cite Aruba as the type locality. 
This form differs from F. magnificens in its smaller size, conspicuously shorter 
tail, and different coloration of the breeding-plumes and also of the wing-coverts. 
I find I did not make a note about the Gambia bird and the Cape 
Verde bird Mr. Rothschild mentions, though I examined them and concluded 
that the Cape Verde specimen was the representative of a race which 
breeds on that group, while the Gambia one could not be classed in view 
of the West Indian variation. 
The forms then to be recognised would read : 
F. aquila (Linne), Ascension Island. 
F. magnificens Mathews, Galapagos Islands. 
F. andrewsi Mathews, Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. 
F. minor minor (Gmelin), West Indies. 
F. minor nicolli Mathews, South Atlantic Ocean. 
F. minor aldabrensis Mathews, Western Indian Ocean. 
F. minor listeri Mathews, Eastern Indian Ocean and North Australia. 
F. minor ^palmerstoni (Gmelin), South Pacific Ocean. 
F. minor ridgwayi Mathews, Galapagos Islands. 
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