The famous Frigate-Bird we read of in the old school readers was twice taken in Port Phillip Bay. It is the best of flyers, as it can "breakfast on the Senegal (Africa), and dine on the Amazon." The two Frigate-Birds are common in Australian tropical seas. As already mentioned we met the Frigate Bird on Mast Head Island. Its wings are long, the forked tail also is long, but the legs and feet are very small. It is a creature of the air, and gets its living by compelling hard-working sea-birds to disgorge their prey.
The last bird in this varied Order is the Pelican. Our Australian Pelican is one of the largest of its tribe. Its enormous pouch distinguishes it at once. The ten Pelicans are practically world-wide in their distribution. On the trip of the Manawatu last year round the islands of Bass Strait, we visited the Pelicans' nesting-place on Penguin Island. This bird is practically identical with the "Pelican of the wilderness" mentioned in Holy Writ. The Pelican enjoys a reputation for maternal care of her offspring; indeed, she was said to feed the young with her own blood. This was probably due to the fact that one species of Pelican has a blood-red tip to the bill. Young Pelicans have not the long bill or the pouch. Thus this bird illustrates the truth of the statement that each animal in its development climbs its own ancestral tree, or, to say it in another form, each animal in its development recapitulates the life-history of the race. The Pelican has evidently descended from birds that possessed a short bill.
ORDER XIV.—PELICANIFORMES.
F. 59. PHALACROCORACIDAE (5), CORMORANTS, 42 sp.—16(14)A., 6(2)O., 7(3)P., 6(5)E., 10(4)Nc., 9(6)Nl.
5
42
142 Cormorant (Black), Black Shag, Phalacrocorax carbo., A., T., N.Z., cos. exc. S. Am.
[~142-146 Genus, Carbo.]
c. lagoons, sea 35
Glossy blackish-green; side of neck, face buffy white; white on thighs; f., sim. Fish.