PELECANINiE. TACHYPETES. 
307 
short dorsal line decurved, the sides erect at the base, con- 
vex in the rest of their extent, the edges sharp, much in- 
flected, irregularly jagged, at the tip narrow and decurved. 
Nostrils basal, linear, inconspicuous. Head of moderate 
size, oblong ; neck of moderate length, stout ; body rather 
slender. Feet very short, stout; tibia very short; tarsus 
extremely short, feathered ; toes all placed in the same plane, 
and connected by short deeply emarginate webs, which run 
out narrow along the sides, scutellate above, first small, 
second shorter than fourth, third much longer. Claws 
strong, compressed, curved, acute, that of the third toe long, 
with the inner edge pectinate. Plumage compact, glossy ; 
feathers of the head, neck, and back lanceolate. Wings ex- 
tremely long, pointed, the first quill longest ; the rest rapidly 
diminishing ; secondaries very short, the inner long and 
tapering. Tail very long, deeply forked, of twelve feathers. 
Tongue exceedingly small, fleshy, flattened; oesophagus 
very wide ; proventricular glands forming a complete belt ; 
stomach very small, roundish, its muscular coat thin, the 
inner soft and corrugated ; no pyloric lobe ; intestine of 
moderate length ; coeca extremely small ; cloaca globular. 
422. 1. Tachypetes Aquilus, Linn. Frigate-Bird. — Man-of- 
war Bird. 
Plate CCLXXI. Male. 
Male with the bill light purplish-blue, white in the middle, the gular 
sac orange ; bare skin around the eye blue ; feet light carmine above, 
orange beneath ; general colour of plumage brownish-black, the head, 
neck, back, breast, and sides, splendent with green and purple, the 
former predominating on the head, the latter on the back ; wings 
tinged with green ; inner secondaries and tail with brown, the shafts 
of the former black, of the latter brown. Female with a broad white 
space on the breast, that colour extending forwards along the sides of 
the neck, and encircling it about the middle ; feathers of the back less 
elongated, and glossy ; the dark parts more tinged with brown. 
Young at first covered with yellowish soft down. 
Adult, 41, 86. 
Resides constantly on and about the Florida Keys, where it breeds 
