Rhipidura rufifrons saipanensis Hartert
Rufous-fronted Fantail
Rhipidura saipanensis Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 54. (Type locality, Saipan).
Rhipidura versicolor Oustalet, Le Nat., 1889, p. 260 (Mariannes = Saipan); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 21 (Marianne = Saipan); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 190 (Saipan).
Rhipidura saipanensis Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113 (Saipan); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 48 (Saipan); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 277 (Saipan); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 63 (Marianne = Saipan).
Rhipidura rufifrons saipanensis Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 65 (Saipan); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 490 (Saipan); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), rev., 1932, p. 176 (Saipan, Tinian); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), 3d ed., 1942, p. 195 (Saipan, Tinian); Mayr (part), Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 295 (Saipan, Tinian); Mayr and Moynihan (part), Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1321, 1946, p. 3 (Saipan, Tinian); Baker, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 59, 1946, p. 77 (Saipan, Tinian); Downs, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 49, 1946, p. 98 (Tinian).
Rhipidura lepida saipanensis Stott, Auk, 64, 1946, p. 527 (Saipan).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Saipan, Tinian.
Characters.—Adult: Resembles adult of R. r. uraniae, but forehead and anterior crown more rufous; posterior crown and nape lighter; rump and upper tail-coverts lighter and richer in color; white malar stripe broader; chin with white feathering more extensive, covering edge of upper throat.
Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 38].
Specimens examined.—Total number, 16 (9 males, 6 females, 1 unsexed), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM—Saipan, 1 (Dec. 15)—Tinian, 3 (Oct. 16, 23); AMNH—Saipan, 6 (July, Aug.)—Tinian, 6 (Sept.).
Molt.—Molt begins in July and extends through the autumn. Most of the specimens examined, that were taken in this period, are in molt.
Food habits.—Stott (1947:527) writes that the fantail forages for insects in the undergrowth and also while on the wing captures flying insects. Downs (1946:99) made similar observations concerning this bird at Tinian.
Remarks.—In studying the collection of fantails obtained by Marche at Guam and Saipan, Oustalet (1895:191) reached the conclusion that the birds from these two islands were the same as the bird from Yap, which he called R. versicolor. He thought that the white-throated birds were in breeding plumage, and that the black-throated birds (from Guam) were in autumn and winter dress. This error was corrected by Hartert (1898:53).
Downs (1946:98-100) has published some interesting observations concerning the fantail at Tinian. He describes feeding behavior and the song which he says is "a beautiful rolling whistle, starting rather shrilly, then rolling on. Something like a meadow-lark and song sparrow combined." Gleise (1945:220) estimated the population of fantails at Tinian to be "40-50" in 1945. In 1931, Coultas found the bird at Tinian but not at Saipan. Stott (1947:527) observed the bird at Saipan "in forested areas and vine-draped crevices in the lava above Magicienne Bay."