Fregata minor minor (Gmelin)
Pacific Man-o'-War
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.