FRIGATE

in the navy, an obsolete term applied to a ve el of a size FRIES (frés), Elias Magnus, Swed- ' larger than a sloop or brig and le 591 FRIGATE-BIRD than a ship of the line; usually carrying her guns (which varied from about thirty to fifty or sixty in number) on the main deck and on a raised quarterdeck and forecastle, or having two decks. Such ships were often fast sailers, and were much employed as cruisers in the great wars of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries. _ Since the introduction of ironclad ve els the term cruiser has been applied to ships taking the place of the frigates of former days. FRIGATE - BIRD, or MAN - OF WAR BIRD (Fregata aquila), a tropical web-footed bird, the type of a family (Fregatide) allied to the pelicans. Including the long tail, the male bird reaches 3 feet in length, but the body is comparatively small. The bill is longer than the head, strong, hooked ~~ 3° Frigate-bird (Fregata aquila) at the point, and sharp. In proportion to the size of the body the wings are longer than those of any other bird, having an extent of 7 feet or more. The flight of the frigate-bird is powerful and graceful. It neither swims nor wades, but catches flying-fish in the air or forces fishing-birds in flight to let go of their prey, which the frigate bird dexterously seizes as it falls. IMG:fig592_1.jpg: