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Show IggiJ BIRDS OF THE PHOZNIX ISLANDS. 293 retracted to the level of the general contour of the neck. The interior of the pouch is in communication with the air-sacs of the neck ; it is therefore filled and emptied through the bronchi. Bands containing blood-vessels, with which the wall of the pouch is very richly supplied, traverse the cavity, passing from the fleshy part of the neck to the outer wall. On blowing through a tube into the treat air-sac at the base of the neck, the pouch becomes distended, and remains so if a ligature is tied round the neck, below the pouch. By far the greater number of nests at Phcenix Island contained a single white egg, about as large as a hen's; some nests, however, contained two eggs. There were no young birds at this island. At Canton Island, though some nests contained young birds, others were being built. I saw a male bird bringing sticks in his bill to the female, who arranged them in the nest. There are pools of fresh water on this island, and here and at Swain Island (south of the Union Islands), where there is a freshwater lagoon, I saw- Frigate-birds coming down to drink. Sweeping down to the surface, they scooped up the water with the lower mandible. Peale obtained the eggs of Frigate-birds (he does not give the species) in the Caroline Islands (Enderby Island) in January, and at Puka-puka (Honden Island), in the Low Archipelago, in August, and at other islands during the intervening period. He states his opinion that there is no definite period for the nesting of these birds in equatorial regions. The fact that there was not a single unfledged young bird among the thousands of nests with eggs at Phcenix "island shows that the members of this colony had begun nesting at the same time. PHAETON RUBRICATJDA, Bodd. There were several of this bird, which ranges through the tropical parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. One was caught in its nesting-place, which was in a pile of the rough coral blocks which had been thrown together by the guano-diggers. There was a single egg. At Canton Island I found the birds incubating their solitary eggs on the ground under cover of bushes; they were so tame as to allow themselves to be caught. The plumage was tinged with a pale pink colour, though more deeply in some than in others. There were three kinds of Gannets on the island :-Sula cyanops (Sundev.), S. leucogaster (Bodd.), and S. piscatrix (Linn.). These species all have very extensive ranges in the tropics. SULA CYANOPS (Sundev.). There were numbers of these birds, some solitary with their eggs and some in groups. The eggs are laid on the ground, singly or in pairs; they are of a pale blue colour almost covered with the white, chalky, uric-acid covering. In some cases there were young birds, who with the parents hissed and barked defiance with great spirit |