_Pelecanus minor_ Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 572. (No
type locality = Christmas Island, Indian Ocean.)
_Pelecanus aquila?_ Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. "Uranie," Zool., 1824,
p. 154 (Carolines).
_Pelecanus aquilus?_ Lesson, Man. d'Ornith., 2, 1828, p. 354
(Carolines).
_Atagen aquilus_ Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859,
p. 61 (Ladrone or Marian Islands).
_Tachypetes aquila_ Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 577
(Ruk); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 11 (Ruk); Prowazek, Die
deutschen Marianen, 1913, p. 100 (Marianen).
_Tachypetes aquilus_ Finsch, Ibis, 1880, p. 333 (Taluit); _idem_,
Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, pp. 296, 310 (Ponapé, Kuschai); _idem_,
Ibis, 1881, pp. 109, 115 (Kuschai, Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause,
Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, pp. 299, 353 (Mortlock, Ruk).
_Fregata aquila_ Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 403
(Carolines, Marshalls); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus.
Dresden, no. 6, (1890-1891), p. 71 (Ruk, Luganor, Ponapé, Ualan,
Marshalls); Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds British Mus., 26, 1898, p.
443 (Carolines, Marshalls); Finsch, Deut. Ver. zum Schultze der
Vogelwelt, 25, 1900, p. 452 (Ponapé, Kuschai, Marshalls); Seale,
Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 24 (Guam);
Safford, The Plant World, 7, 1904, p. 267 (Guam); Schnee, Zool.
Jahrbücher, 20, 1904, p. 390 (Marschall Inseln); Safford, Contr.
U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 80 (Guam); Cox, Island of Guam,
1917, p. 22 (Guam).
_Fregata aquila palmerstoni_ Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 35 (Carolines, Marshalls).
_Fregata minor peninsulae_ Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum,
1, 1927, p. 233 (Carolines, Marshalls); Peters, Check-list Birds
World, 1, 1931, p. 96 (Carolines?, Marshalls?).
_Fregata minor palmerstoni_ Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932,
p. 186 (Yap, Faraulep, Truk, Lukunor, Ponapé, Kusaie, Namu,
Likieb); Bryan, Guam Rec., vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 15 (Guam);
Yamashina, Tori, 10, 1940, p. 676 (Maug, Bikar).
_Fregata minor minor_ Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p.
207 (Maug, Yap, Faraulep, Truk, Lukunor, Ponapé, Kusaie, Namu,
Bikar, Likieb).
_Fregata minor_ Borror, Auk, 64, 1947, p. 416 (Agrihan).
_Geographic range._--Eastern Indian Ocean to western Pacific Ocean.
Limits of range not certainly known. In Micronesia: Mariana
Islands--Agrigan, Maug, Saipan, Guam; Caroline Islands--Yap,
Faraulep, Truk, Lukunor, Ponapé, Kusaie; Marshall Islands--Namu,
Bikar, Likieb, Kwajalein, Bikini.
_Characters._--Adult male: Large sea bird with deeply forked tail;
blackish but wing-coverts paler; head and back glossy purple and
blue; breast lighter than belly. Adult female: Resembles adult
male, but head blacker; chin and throat grayer; breast more
whitish. Immature: Resembles adult, but head and throat whitish
washed with buff; breast dark brown; belly whitish.
_Measurements._--Two adult males measure: wing, 572; tail, 354,
396; exposed culmen, 98, 103; two adult females; wing, 583, 604;
tail, 365; exposed culmen, 119, 127. These four specimens are from
Bikini.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 10 (3 males, 7 females), from
Marshall Islands, USNM--Bikini (March 11, 22, 29, 30, April 13, 29,
May 3, 14).
_Remarks._--The systematic position of the subspecies of _Fregata minor_
in the Pacific area is not well established. I am following the
committee who prepared the Hand-list of Japanese Birds (Hachisuka _et
al._, 1942:207) in using the name _F. m. minor_, although a thorough
study may show that these birds have closer relationships to one of the
other subspecies of the Pacific area.
_Fregata minor_ has been reported only occasionally in the Marianas and
probably is not resident there. Borror (1947:416) reports the bird at
Agrihan on August 11, 1945, and Seale (1901:24) mentions one taken at
Guam in November, 1889. No records are known from the Palaus. In the
Carolines the birds are probably resident, especially in the eastern
part. In the Marshalls the species is a conspicuous member of the bird
colonies on the coral atolls. Wallace (field notes) observed two birds
at Loi Island in Kwajalein Atoll on May 7, 1944. Morrison obtained ten
specimens at Bikini in the period from March through May in 1946.
=Fregata ariel ariel= (Gray)