The Avifauna of Micronesia, Its Origin, Evolution, and Distribution

by Rollin H. Baker

Heteroscelus brevipes (Vieillot)

Gray-tailed Tattler

Totanus brevipes Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., 6, 1816, p. 410. (No locality given, the type is from Timor.)

Totanus pedestris Lesson, Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 552 (Marianne, Ualan).

Totanus brevipes Kittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, pp. 287, 299, 304 (Ualan, Lougounor, Guahan); Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 51 (Ladrone or Marian Is.); Pelzeln, Reise "Novara," Vögel, 1865, p. 129, 162 (Puynipet, Ualan).

Totanus incanus Finsch and Hartlaub (part), Fauna Centralpolynesians, 1867, p. 187 (Mariannen, Ualan, Puynipet); Salvadori (part), Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 322 (Micronesia); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 65 (Mulgrave, Taluit, Ualan, Ponapé, Ruk, Luganor, Uap, Pelew, Marianas); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 8, 1896, p. 41 (Saypan, Guam, Jaluit, Carolines, Palaos).

Heteractitis brevipes Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 35 (Marianas); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 67 (Marianas); idem, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 80 (Guam); Cox, Island of Guam, 1917, p. 21 (Guam); Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 180 (Uala = Truk); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 170 (Carolines).

Heteractitis brevis Prowazek, Die deutschen Marianen, 1913, pp. 47, 101 (Marianen).

Heteroscelus brevipes Ridgway, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 50, pt. 8, 1919, p. 367 (Western Pacific); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 2, 1934, p. 270 (Carolines).

Tringa incana brevipes Hartert, Vögel pal. Fauna, 13-14, 1921, p. 1623 (Guam, Truk); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 191 (Palaus, Carolines); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 213 (Babelthuap, Koror, Angaur, Yap, Iuripik, Faraulep, Truk, Ponapé).

Heteroscelus incanus brevipes Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 47 (Pelew, Yap, Ruk); Kuroda, Avifauna Riu Kiu, 1925, p. 177 (Micronesia); Stickney, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1248, 1943, p. 5 (Saipan, Guam, Palau, Ruk, Kusaie); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 43 (Micronesia); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 52 (Guam, Peleliu, Truk).

Heteroscelus incanus Wharton and Hardcastle (part), Journ. Parasitology, 32, 1946, pp. 296, 316, 318 (Guam, Peleliu).

Geographic range.—Breeds in eastern Siberia and adjacent areas. Winters south to Malaysia and east to Australia and Oceania. In Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Guam, Saipan; Palau Islands—Angaur, Peleliu, Koror, Babelthuap; Caroline Islands—Yap, Truk, Iuripik, Faraulep, Ponapé, Kusaie.

Specimens examined.—Total number, 39 (11 males, 27 females, 1 unsexed), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM—Guam, 16 (June 4, 6, July 16, 24, Aug. 6, 27, Sept. 4, 6, 27, Oct. 23); AMNH—Saipan, 1 (Sept. 8),—Guam, 5 (Feb. 11, Mar. 4, 13, Sept. 14, Dec. 5); Palau Islands, USNM—Peleliu, 7 (Sept. 6-8, 16); AMNH—exact locality not given, 4 (Nov. 8); Caroline Islands, USNM—Truk, 1 (Dec. 13); AMNH—Truk, 3 (Feb. 6, 26, Oct. 14),—Kusaie, 2 (Mar., April).

Weights.—Weights of birds obtained by the NAMRU2 party were as follows: three males from Guam, 90-104 (95); six females from Guam, 99-116 (104).

Remarks.—It is not clear whether some of the accounts cited above refer to this species or to the species, Heteroscelus incanus. Owing to the fact that specimens used in some of these early reports have not been examined by me, the identifications of the birds concerned cannot be verified and consequently it is impossible to be certain to which species some of the references pertain. In listing these accounts in the literature, I am following Sharpe (1896:455) whenever possible.

Tattlers were among the first birds observed and taken in Micronesia. Quoy and Gaimard found them in the Marianas, and Kittlitz and Kubary recorded the species in the Carolines. Kubary also reported the birds at the Palaus.

The Gray-tailed Tattler apparently does not reach the Marshall Islands but visits only the western part of Micronesia. Stickney (1943:2) shows a map of the known geographic range of this species in Micronesia. The separation of H. brevipes and H. incanus in the field is not always possible. For identification, the NAMRU2 party depended primarily on specimens collected. At Guam, specimens of H. brevipes, thought to be nonmigratory, were taken in early June. These were in winter plumage. Beginning in mid-July there was an increase in the number of tattlers seen; apparently fall migration had begun. At Peleliu in September, 1945, the NAMRU2 party found tattlers to be numerous. Apparently all were of this species; no H. incanus were taken there. On September 8, approximately 75 individuals in small and large flocks were counted at Akarakoro Point on the tidal flats. The birds remained apart from the other shorebirds which were feeding at the same locality.