Erythrura trichroa clara Takatsukasa and Yamashina
Blue-faced Parrot-finch
Erythrura trichroa clara Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Tori, 7, 1931, p. 110. (Type locality, Ruk Island.)
Erythrura trichroa Finsch (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 290 (Ponapé, Hügeln = Truk); idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 576 (Ruk); idem (part), Ibis, 1881, pp. 104, 110, 112, 115 (Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause (part), Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 353 (Ruk); Salvadori (part), Ornith. Papuasia, 2, 1881, p. 442 (Ponapé); Sclater (part), Ibis, 1881, p. 545 (Ponapé, Ruk); Sharpe (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 13, 1890, p. 385 (Carolines = Truk, Ponapé); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 42 (Ponapé, Ruk); Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers, 1899, p. 122 (Ruk); Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ruk, Ponapé); Dubois (part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 583 (Carolines = Ponapé); Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori, 1, 1915, pp. 55, 64 (Ponapé); Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, p. 204 (Ponapé).
Erythrura trichroa trichroa Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 6 (Ruk, Ponapé); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, pp. 27, 28, 29, 78 (Ponapé, Ruk); Mayr (part), Amer. Mus., Novit., no. 489, 1931, p. 4 (Ponapé, Ruk).
Chloromunia trichroa Mathews, Birds Australia, 12, 1925, p. 208 (Ruk).
Chloromunia trichroa trichroa Mathews (part), Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 840 (Carolines = Truk, Ponapé).
Erythrura trichroa clara Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 170 (Truk, Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 189 (Truk, Ponapé); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 302 (Truk, Ponapé); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 74 (Truk).
Lobospingus trichroa clara Mathews, Ibis, 1933, p. 96 (Ruk, Ponapé).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Truk, Ponapé, Lukunor?
Characters.—Adult: Resembles adult of E. t. trichroa, but slightly larger with underparts more yellowish and less greenish; blue on head slightly paler; sides of neck tinged more strongly with yellowish. Birds from Ponapé are slightly paler than those from Truk.
Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 53]. Birds from Ponapé and Truk differ but little in measurements.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 39 (22 males, 16 females, 1 unsexed), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM—Truk, 2 (May 5, Dec.); AMNH—Truk, 15 (March, June, Nov.)—Ponapé, 22 (Dec.).
Molt.—Birds taken in March and June are not in molt. Some of the specimens obtained in November and December are in molt.
Remarks.—The differences between E. t. trichroa at Kusaie and E. t. clara at Ponapé and Truk are slight. Takatsukasa and Yamashina (1931d:110) separate E. t. clara from E. t. trichroa of Kusaie on the basis of a paler blue coloring on head, body more yellowish green and sides of neck more distinctly golden-yellow.
Coultas obtained specimens at Ponapé in 1930 and reports (field notes) that the bird occurs in the extensive grassland areas of the island but that the numbers are small. He estimates the population to be less than 100 individuals. He learned that the Japanese had trapped them for shipment to Japan as caged birds. Coultas writes that the finch at Ponapé "is very shy and flies readily when he is disturbed. As soon as a call of alarm is uttered the whole flock flies up from the ground and heads for the true forest where they will hide. They will also work along in the grass, and make a getaway. The bird has a little hissing sybilation that it utters when on the wing." He found the bird in flocks of 3 to 20; immatures were frequently found alone.
McElroy of the NAMRU2 party obtained a female at Moen Island in the Truk Atoll in December, 1945. He found small flocks of these birds in dense vegetation along streams.