Donna Hicks, age 12, of Muncie, Indiana, for her question:

What is a frigate bird?

Nowadays, a frigate is a mighty armed warship, maybe driven by nuclear power. The most famous frigate of the early 1800s was the U.S.S. Constitution, with ironclad sides and an arsenal of ocean going weapons. But the earliest frigates were long, graceful sailing ships that made fast trips to trade among the ports of the Mediterranean. The frigate bird, like the frigate ships of yesterday and today, is a master of ocean travel. Maybe he was named by the sailors of fast frigate ships when their voyages took them into tropical seas.

The frigate bird is a large gull type bird. His body may measure 40 inches from the curved tip of his long bill to the end of his long, still tail. He spreads his mighty wings eight feet wide to soar and wheel above the waves. His cap and vest are snowy white, his gleaming black body plumage glistens in the sun. During the nesting season, the male bird grows a patch of scarlet skin under his chin and sometimes puffs it up like a balloon. Frigates are birds of tropical seas and their nesting colonies are on lonely islands or high on desolate cliffs.