_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)
Least Man-o'-War
_Atagen (sic) Ariel_ Gray, Gen. Birds, 3, 1845, col. pl. [185].
(Type locality, Raine Island, Queensland.)
_Pelecanus minor_ Lesson, Traite d'Ornith., 1831, p. 607
(Mariannes, Carolines).
_Tachypetes minor_ Hartlaub, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867 (1868),
p. 831 (Mackenzie Group); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1872, p. 90 (Uap); Gräffe, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 2, 1873,
p. 123 (Yap).
_Fregata minor_ Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 405
(Mariannes, Mackenzie); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus.
Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 71 (Uap, Ngoli or Matelotas).
_Tachypetes aquila_ var. _minor_ Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist.
Nat. Paris, (3), 8, 1896, p. 65 (Rota, Carolines, Marshalls);
Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 68 (Marianne).
_Fregata ariel_ Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds British Mus., 26, 1898,
p. 447 (Marianas, Carolines); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop
Mus., 1, 1901, p. 25 (Guam?); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 70
(Marianas); Bryan, Guam Rec., vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 15 (Guam).
_Fregata ariel ariel_ Mathews, Birds Australia, 4, 1914-15, p. 285
(Carolines, Marshalls); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia,
1922, p. 36 (Yap, Ngoli, Rota); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev.,
1932, p. 186 (Rota, Yap, Ngulu, Uluthi); Hand-list Japanese Birds,
3d ed., 1942, p. 208 (Rota, Yap, Ngulu, Uluthi).
_Geographic range._--China coast and Philippines south to Australia
and east to Pacific islands. In Micronesia: Mariana Islands--Guam?,
Rota; Caroline Islands--Yap, Ngulu, Ulithi.
_Characters._--Adult male: Resembles _F. m. minor_, but smaller
and blacker with upper parts lustrous greenish-blue and white
patch on lower flank.
Adult female: Resembles adult male, but browner with paler nape
and white breast. Immature: Resembles adult, but with head, chin,
throat, and belly white washed with rufous.
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