fabricata, and the use of the Fr. bâtiment, for a vessel as well as a building is compared; another suggestion derives the word from the Gr. ἄφρακτος, unfenced or unguarded), originally a small swift, undecked vessel, propelled by oars or sails, in use on the Mediterranean. The word is thus used of the large open boats, without guns, used for war purposes by the Portuguese in the East Indies during the 16th and 17th centuries. The French first applied the term to a particular type of ships of war during the second quarter of the 18th century. The Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) marked the definite adoption of the “frigate” as a standard class of vessel, coming next to ships of the line, and used for cruising and scouting purposes. They were three-masted, fully rigged, fast vessels, with the main armament carried on a single deck, and additional guns on the poop and forecastle. The number of guns varied from 24 to 50, but between 30 and 40 guns was the usual amount carried. “Frigate” continued to be used as the name for this type of ship, even after the introduction of steam and of ironclad vessels, but the class is now represented by that known as “cruiser.”
FRIGATE-BIRD, the name commonly given by English
sailors, on account of the swiftness of its flight, its habit of cruising about near other species and of daringly pursuing them, to a large sea-bird[1]—the Fregata aquila of most ornithologists—the Fregatte of French and the Rabihorcado of Spanish mariners.
It was placed by Linnaeus in the genus Pelecanus, and its assignment to the family Pelecanidae had hardly ever been doubted till Professor St George Mivart declared (Trans. Zool. Soc. x. p. 364) that, as regards the postcranial part of its axial skeleton, he could not detect sufficiently good characters to unite it with that family in the group named by Professor J. F.
Brandt Steganopodes. There seems to be no ground for disputing this decision so far as separating the genus Fregata from the Pelecanidae goes, but systematists will probably pause before they proceed to abolish the Steganopodes, and the result will most likely be that the frigate-birds will be considered to form a distinct family (Fregatidae) in that group. In one very remarkable
way the osteology of Fregata differs from that of all other birds known. The furcula coalesces firmly at its symphysis with the carina of the sternum, and also with the coracoids at the upper extremity of each of its rami, the anterior end of each coracoid coalescing also with the proximal end of the scapula. Thus the only articulations in the whole sternal apparatus are
where the coracoids meet the sternum, and the consequence is
a bony framework which would be perfectly rigid did not the
flexibility of the rami of the furcula permit a limited amount of
motion. That this mechanism is closely related to the faculty
which the bird possesses of soaring for a considerable time in the
air with scarcely a perceptible movement of the wings can
hardly be doubted.
Two species of Fregata are considered to exist, though they differ in little but size and geographical distribution. The larger, F. aquila, has a wide range all round the world within the tropics and at times passes their limits. The smaller, F. minor, appears to be confined to the eastern seas, from Madagascar to the Moluccas, and southward to Australia, being particularly abundant in Torres Strait,—the other species, however, being found there as well. Having a spread of wing equal to a swan’s and a very small body, the buoyancy of these birds is very great. It is a beautiful sight to watch one or more of them floating overhead against the deep blue sky, the long forked tail alternately opening and shutting like a pair of scissors, and the head, which is of course kept to windward, inclined from side to side, while the wings are to all appearance fixedly extended, though the breeze may be constantly varying in strength and direction. Equally fine is the contrast afforded by these birds when engaged in fishing, or, as seems more often to happen, in robbing other birds, especially boobies, as they are fishing. Then the speed of their flight is indeed seen to advantage, as well as the marvellous suddenness with which they can change their rapid course as their victim tries to escape from their attack. Before gales frigate-birds are said often to fly low, and their appearance near or over land, except at their breeding-time, is supposed to portend a hurricane.[2] Generally seen singly or in pairs, except when the prospect of prey induces them to congregate, they breed in large companies, and O. Salvin has graphically described (Ibis, 1864, p. 375) one of their settlements off the coast of British Honduras, which he visited in May 1862. Here they chose the highest mangrove-trees[3] on which to build their frail nests, and seemed to prefer the leeward side. The single egg laid in each nest has a white and chalky shell very like that of a cormorant’s. The nestlings are clothed in pure white down, and so thickly as to resemble puff-balls. When fledged, the beak, head, neck and belly are white, the legs and feet bluish-white, but the body is dark above. The adult females retain the white beneath, but the adult males lose it, and in both sexes at maturity the upper plumage is of a very dark chocolate brown, nearly black, with a bright metallic gloss, while the feet in the females are pink, and black in the males—the last also acquiring a bright scarlet pouch, capable of inflation, and being perceptible when on the wing. The habits of F. minor seem wholly to resemble those of F. aquila. According to J. M. Bechstein, an example of this last species was obtained at the mouth of the Weser in January 1792. (A. N.)
FRIGG, the wife of the god Odin (Woden) in northern mythology. She was known also to other Teutonic peoples both on the continent (O. H. Ger. Friia, Langobardic Frea) and in England, where her name still survives in Friday (O. E. Frigedæg). She is often wrongly identified with Freyia. (See Teutonic Peoples, ad fin.)
FRIGIDARIUM, the Latin term (from frigidus, cold) applied
to the open area of the Roman thermae, in which there was
generally a cold swimming bath, and sometimes to the bath
(see Baths). From the description given by Aelius Spartianus
(A.D. 297) it would seem that portions of the frigidarium were
covered over by a ceiling formed of interlaced bars of gilt bronze,
and this statement has been to a certain extent substantiated
by the discovery of many tons of T-shaped iron found in the
excavations under the paving of the frigidarium of the thermae
of Caracalla. Dr J. H. Middleton in The Remains of Ancient
Rome (1892) points out that in the part of the enclosure walls
are deep sinkings to receive the ends of the great girders. He suggests that the panels of the lattice-work ceiling were filled in with concrete made of light pumice stone.
FRIIS, JOHAN (1494–1570), Danish statesman, was born in
1494, and was educated at Odense and at Copenhagen, completing
his studies abroad. Few among the ancient Danish nobility
occupy so prominent a place in Danish history as Johan Friis,
who exercised a decisive influence in the government of the
realm during the reign of three kings. He was one of the first
of the magnates to adhere to the Reformation and its promoter
King Frederick I. (1523–1533), his apostasy being so richly
rewarded out of the spoils of the plundered Church that his heirs
had to restore property of the value of 1,000,000 kroner. Friis
succeeded Claus Gjoodsen as imperial chancellor in 1532, and
held that dignity till his death. During the ensuing interregnum
he powerfully contributed, at the head of the nobles of Funen
and Jutland, to the election of Christian III. (1533–1559), but
in the course of the “Count’s War” he was taken prisoner by
Count Christopher, the Catholic candidate for the throne, and
forced to do him homage. Subsequently by judicious bribery
he contrived to escape to Germany, and from thence rejoined
Christian III. He was one of the plenipotentiaries who concluded
peace with Lübeck at the congress of Hamburg, and subsequently
took an active part in the great work of national reconstruction
necessitated by the Reformation, acting as mediator between
the Danish and the German parties who were contesting for
- ↑ “Man-of-war-bird” is also sometimes applied to it, and is perhaps the older name; but it is less distinctive, some of the larger Albatrosses being so called, and, in books at least, has generally passed out of use.
- ↑ Hence another of the names—“hurricane-bird”—by which this species is occasionally known.
- ↑ Captain Taylor, however, found their nests as well on low bushes of the same tree in the Bay of Fonseca (Ibis, 1859, pp. 150-152).
