Erythrura trichroa trichroa (Kittlitz)
Blue-faced Parrot-finch
Fringilla trichroa Kittlitz, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, 2, 1835, p. 8, pl. 10. (Type locality, Ualan = Kusaie.)
Fringilla trichroa Kittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 285 (Ualan); idem, Denk. Reise russ. Amer. Micron. und Kamchat., 2, 1858, p. 38 (Ualan).
Estrelda trichroa Gray, Genera Birds, 2, 1849, p. 369 (Kusaie?); Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 27 (Oualan).
Erythrura trichroa Bonaparte, Consp. Avium, 1, 1850, p. 457 (Ualan); Hartlaub, Archiv f. Naturgesch., 18, 1852, p. 133 (Carolinen = Kusaie); idem, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 168 (Carolinen = Kusaie); Gray, Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 58 (Ualan); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 118 (Carolinen = Ualan); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, p. 36 (Ualan); idem (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, pp. 290, 297, 302 (Kusaie); idem (part), Ibis, 1881, pp. 104, 108 (Kuschai); Salvadori (part), Ornith. Papuasia, 2, 1881, p. 442 (Carolinis = Kusaie?); Schmeltz and Krause (part), Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 281 (Kusaie); Sclater (part), Ibis, 1881, p. 545 (Ualan); Sharpe (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 13, 1890, p. 385 (Carolines = Kusaie); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 42 (Ualan); Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ualan); Dubois (part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, pp. 583 (Carolines = Kusaie); Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Kusaie).
Erythrura kittlitzi Bonaparte, Consp. Avium, 1, 1850, p. 457 (ex Bonaparte MSS.) (Type locality, Ualan); Gray, Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 58 (Caroline Islands = Kusaie).
Erythrura trichros trichros Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 6 (Kusaie); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, pp. 27, 29, 78 (Kusaie); Mayr (part), Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 489, 1931, p. 4 (Kusaie); Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Tori, 7, 1931, p. 110 (Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 170 (Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 189 (Kusaie); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 302 (Kusaie).
Chloromunia trichroa trichroa Mathews (part), Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 840 (Ualan).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Kusaie.
Characters.—Adult: A small finch with thick, stout bill; head, neck, back, and scapulars between "parrot green" and "grass green"; forehead, orbital area, auriculars, and malar area bluish; sides of neck green tinged with yellowish; edge of forehead and lores blackish; wing-coverts and outer margins of wings yellowish-green; underparts like back but paler green; rump, upper tail-coverts and outer edges of tail feathers near "Pompeian red"; wing and tail feathers mostly brownish; bend of wing greenish; under wing-coverts brownish; axillaries buffy tinged with greenish; bill black; feet light yellowish-brown; iris brown. Adult female duller than male.
Immature: Resembles adult, but lacks bluish coloring on sides of head and on forehead; underparts washed with buffy brown; rump and tail duller carmine.
Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 53].
Specimens examined.—Total number, 14 (12 males, 2 females), from Caroline Islands, AMNH—Kusaie (Feb., March, April).
Molt.—Specimens taken in February and March have mostly new feathers, molt having been almost completed when obtained.
Remarks.—Kittlitz was the first person to describe the Blue-faced Parrot-finch; he found it at Kusaie when he visited the island in the winter of 1827-28. Later, it was found to have an extensive range in Micronesia, Melanesia, northern Australia, Celebes, and the Moluccas. This small finch may be kept as a pet in a cage by native peoples, but as far as I know there is no evidence that the bird has been introduced to island areas as a result of this practice.
Table 53. Measurements of Erythrura trichroa in Micronesia
Table 53. Measurements of Erythrura trichroa in Micronesia
| Subspecies | No. | Wing | Tail | Culmen | Tarsus |
| E. t. trichroa | 6 | 58 | 46 | 13.0 | 17 |
| (57-59) | (43-48) | (12.5-13.5) | (16-17) | ||
| E. t. clara | 29 | 59 | 45 | 13.5 | 17 |
| (57-62) | (41-50) | (13.0-14.5) | (17-18) | ||
| E. t. pelewensis* | 1 | 61.5 | 51 | 13.5 | 18 |
* Kuroda (1922:28).
Coultas observed the finch at Kusaie in 1931; he wrote (field notes) that it is a common bird but difficult to obtain. He found it in most parts of the island and at all elevations; the bird appeared to prefer dense underbrush of the jungle or marginal vegetation. He found no evidence of breeding activity in February, March or April.