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Jau., i9o 4 [ THE CONDOR 9 interesting feature regarding these boobies is the coloration of the adult birds. In the Galapagos nineteen out of twenty of the breeding birds are of the grayish type while in the Revillagigedo Islands, about i2oo miles northwest, ninty-nine out of a hundred are of the white type. Frigate birds which breed commonly on many of the outlying rocks and small islands offer many views worth)- of reproduction. Nests are placed on the ground or in bushes and the absence of tear in this species renders photography an easy task. The actions of the frigates during the nesting season afforded me much amusement. Imagine one of those great, ungainly birds sitting on the nest by his mate, one wing thrown lovingly over her back, while lie rubs his bill against hers, and utters low beseeching requests for her to notice him. I will say for the female I saw, that she seemed quite bored by his attentions during the time they were under observation! The manner in which a female will unceremouiously FRIGATe: BIRDS ON N?:$T, BRATTL[ ISLANO hustle her partner off the nest when she returns from her morning exercise is high- ly edifying. It is quite possible that the poor henpecked fellow sometimes resents her harsh greeting and pulls the egg from the nest in pure spite. We found eggs very often on the edge of the nest or on the ground nearby, and it would he an easy nmtter for a bird to pull the egg off the nest as it is fiat on top and the egg is held between the feet. I am tempted to think that polyandry is practiced by t.?ese birds for more than once when the male was scared from a nest on which a female was sitting, another male would swotlp down and se[tle in his place. When a nest is once started one bi?d ?nust remain on it all the time for the moment it is left unprotected. males froin surrounding nests fly to it and carry off the sticks, so that in a few minutes time not a vestige of a structure remains. The young fri- gate birds grow slowly and occupy the nest for a long time, sitting on it in a de- jected attitude that renfinds one of a sick chicken.