152 Mr. J. H. Gurney’s List of Birds from Ibadan. 
dozen at a shot; but shooting would have been an absurdity, for 
I could have obtained any number with a stick. The difficulty 
was to get them off their nests. Shouting had little or no 
effect; and even the report of a gun would only rouse a few, who 
would frequently settle again on the bushes. I threw some 
stones among them, without producing much result, and even 
tried to poke them off their seats with my gun ; but they merely 
snapped their beaks at me in retaliation. All this time there 
were thousands of other birds soaring in the air a little way 
over our heads. 
I observed that the Frigate-birds were of three different 
plumages. As there were birds of all three sorts sitting toge¬ 
ther, and with their nests in the same bushes, I concluded that 
they were of one and the same species—males, females, and im¬ 
mature birds. Some have the head and neck white, the beak 
white, the feet and legs bluish white, the belly white, and the 
wing-coverts greyish brown. Others have the legs and feet 
black, and are black all over, with a greenish metallic tinge on 
the back. These have a bright scarlet pouch, which they inflate 
to the size of an ostrich’s egg while on the wing. The boat¬ 
men informed me that these were the male birds. Others, pro¬ 
bably immature birds, had the head black, the throat white, and 
the legs and feet pink. All had long, black, forked tails. I 
obtained a specimen of each, but did not preserve them, as I 
had much to do; and, besides, they are stinking birds to handle, 
as bad as, or worse than, the Turkey-Buzzard [Cathartes) . The 
Pelicans have also a breeding-place in Fonseca Bay, but it is in 
an island at some distance from the one in possession of the 
Frigate-birds. 
Baltimore, U.S.A., 
Jan. 1st, 1859. 
XV.— List of Birds received from Ibadan } in Western Africa. 
By John Henry Gurney, Esq., M.P. 
The Rev. David Hinderer and Mrs. Hinderer, of Ibadan, in 
Western Africa, have kindly forwarded to me a small collection 
of birds from that locality; and I beg to send a list of them for 
