Table 26. Measurements of Ptilinopus roseicapillus
| Number | Wing | Tail | Exposed culmen | Tarsus |
| 32 adult males | 127 (122-133) | 80 (75-84) | 14 (13-15.3) | 25 (24-27) |
| 10 adult females | 124 (121-130) | 76 (75-79) | 13 (12-13.7) | 24 (22-25.5) |
Table 27. Measurements of Ducula oceanica
Table 27. Measurements of Ducula oceanica
| Subspecies | Number | Wing | Exposed culmen | Tarsus |
| D. o. monacha | 8 males | 228 (219-233) | 36 (34-37) | |
6 females | 221 (214-228) | 22.5 (22.0-23.0) | 31 (29-33) | |
| D. o. teraokai | 5 males | 230 (225-237) | 23.5 (23.0-25.0) | 34 (33-35) |
8 females | 231 (221-238) | 23.0 (21.5-24.5) | 34 (33-35) | |
| D. o. townsendi | 8 males | 226 (211-234) | 24.0 (23.5-25.0) | 34 (32-35) |
5 females | 226 (215-233) | 24.0 (23.0-24.5) | 33 (32-34) | |
| D. o. oceanica | 4 males | 222 (217-228) | 25.0 (24.5-26.0) | 35 (34-36) |
13 females | 219 (213-226) | 24.0 (23.0-25.0) | 32 (30-34) | |
| D. o. ratakensis[B] | 6 males | (211-217) | (25.0-27. | |
3 females | (208-213) | (25.0-26.0) |
Globicera oceanica townsendi Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 191. (Type locality, Ponapé).
Carpophaga oceanica Finsch (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878), p. 780 (Ponapé); Nehrkorn, Journ. f. Ornith., 1879, p. 407 (Ponapé); Finsch (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 292 (Ponapé); idem, 1881, pp. 113, 115 (Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause (part), Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 281 (Ponapé); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 52 (Ponapé); Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 113 (Guam, error = Ponapé).
Globicera oceanica Salvadori (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 21, 1893, p. 176 (Ponapé).
Globicera oceanica townsendi Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 6 (Ponapé); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 55 (Ponapé); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 45 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 190 (Ponapé).
Ducula oceanica townsendi Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1937, p. 44 (Ponapé); Bequaert, Mushi, vol. 12, no. 2, 1939, pp. 81, 82 (Ponapé); idem, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 16, 1941, pp. 266, 290 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 212 (Ponapé); Amadon, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1237, 1943, p. 11 (Ponapé); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 289 (Ponapé).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Ponapé.
Characters.—Adult: Resembles D. o. teraokai, but darker. Resembles. closely D. o. oceanica but larger and darker on crown and nape; lower parts slightly paler but chin more cream-buff in color. As Adamon (1943:11) states, there is little difference between D. o. townsendi and D. o. oceanica except in size.
Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 27].
Specimens examined.—Total number 21 (11 males, 9 females, 1 unsexed), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM—Ponapé, 2 (Feb. 11, 12); AMNH—Ponapé, 19 (Nov. 22, 29, Dec. 1, 2, 3).
Nesting.—Coultas (field notes) writes that the pigeon at Ponapé nests the year around, probably two or three times a year. He describes the nest as being made of loose twigs and as placed on a fork of a limb in a tall tree. One egg is laid. Coultas saw "two or three" females nesting in December.
Parasites.—Bequaert (1939:81, 82 and 1941:266, 290) found the flies (Hippoboscidae), Ornithoctona plicata and O. pusilla, on pigeons from Ponapé.
Remarks.—Coultas (field notes) writes that in 1930 several Japanese made a livelihood as professional hunters of pigeons at Ponapé. He notes, "Two or three years ago, 4 or 5 Japanese, each, averaged from 75 to 100 birds per day, which they sold to the inhabitants for 35 sen (17-1/2 cents) per bird.... Now these same hunters are fortunate if they obtain 4 or 5 Ducula each per day and are able to do so only by starting before daylight and covering great distances. Other birds are now replacing Ducula on the market." Coultas further records in his notes that the hunters used calls to attract the pigeons. In 1930, Coultas regarded the pigeon at Ponapé as a rapidly disappearing species; he found it only in small areas in remote regions of the mountains. With the shipping of supplies cut off to the Japanese garrison forces at Ponapé, as well as at Kusaie, Truk, and Yap by the effective American blockade during the latter part of the war, it is probable that the pigeons were hunted more intensively by the Japanese hunting parties than ever before. Richards obtained two specimens at Ponapé in the period from August, 1947, to January, 1948.
Ducula oceanica oceanica (Lesson and Garnot)
Micronesian Pigeon
Columba oceanica Lesson and Garnot, Dict. Sci. Nat., éd., Levrault, 40, 1826, p. 316. (Type locality, Oualan = Kusaie.)
Columba oceanica Lesson (part), Voy. "La Coquille," Zool.; Atlas, 1826, pl. 41; vol. 2, 1828, pp. 432, 708 (Oualan or Strong); idem, (part), Man. d'Ornith., 11, 1828, p. 166 (Oualan); Kittlitz (part), Kupfertaf. Naturgesch. Vögel, 3, 1833, p. 25, pl. 23, fig. 1 (Ualan); idem (part), Observ. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 284 (Ualan); Lesson, Compl. de Buffon, 2d ed., 2, Oiseaux, 1839, p. 292 (Oualan); Prévost and Knip (part), Les Pigeons, 2, 1838-43, p. 47, pl. 24 (Oualan); Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, 39, 1854, p. 1072 (Oualan); Kittlitz, Denkw. Reise russ. Amer. Micron. und Kamchat., 1, 1858, pp. 39, 49, 62 (Ualan).
Carpohaga oceanica Hartlaub (part), Archiv f. Naturgesch., 18, 1852, pp. 115, 185 (Ualan); idem, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 168 (Carolinen = Kusaie); Hartlaub and Finsch (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 101 (Ualan); Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 6, no. 35, 1873, p. 87 (Oualan); Salvadori (part). Cronaca del R. Liceo-Ginnasio Cavour, 1878, pp. 3, 8 (Oualan); Finsch (part), Ibis, 1880, pp. 220, 331, 332 (Taluit); idem (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, pp. 292, 304 (Kuschai); idem, Ibis, 1881, p. 108 (Kuschai); idem, Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 50 (Kuschai, Jaluit); Hartert, Katalog Vogelsamml, Senckenb., 1891, p. 190 (Ualan); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 52 (Ualan, Taluit); Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 113 (Ualan).
Globicera oceanica Bonaparte (part), Consp. Avium, 2, 1855, p. 31 (Oualan); idem, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, 43, 1856, p. 835 (Oualan); Reichenbach (part), Tauben, 1861, p. 120 (Oualan); Salvadori (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 21, 1893, p. 176 (Kushai).
Carpophaga pacifica Finsch and Hartlaub (part), Fauna Centralpolynesiens, 1867, p. 145 (Ualan).
Carpophaga (Globicera) oceanica Gray (part), Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 41 (Oualan).
Globicera oceanica oceanica Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 191 (Kusaie); Momiyama (part), Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 6 (Kusaie, Taluit); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 55 (Kusaie, Taluit); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 45 (Kusaie); Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 44, 1932, p. 221 (Jaluit, Iringlob, Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 190 (Kusaie, Jaluit, Elmore).
Muscadivora oceanica oceanica Neumann (part), Verhandl. Ornith. Ges. Bayern, 25, 1922, p. 234 (Kushai).
Ducula Oceanica oceanica Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1937, p. 44 (Kusaie, Jaluit, Elmore); Bequaert, Mushi, 12, 1939, p. 81 (Kusaie); idem, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 16, 1941, p. 266 (Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 212 (Kusaie, Jaluit, Elmore); Amadon, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1237, 1943, p. 11 (Kusaie, Jaluit, Elmore); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 289 (Kusaie, Jaluit, Elmore).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Kusaie; Marshall Islands—Jaluit, Elmore.
Characters.—Adult male: A large knob-billed pigeon with breast gray, washed with buff; head and neck dark gray; feathers at base of bill and on chin buff-white; abdomen and under tail-coverts near "burnt sienna," sides grayer; mantle, back, rump, upper tail-coverts, wings and tail bronze-green edged with a dark bluish sheen; under side of wing and under side of tail brown; bill and knob black; feet blackish-red; iris reddish-brown. Adult female resembles adult male but smaller and possibly a little darker bluish-green on back, wings, and tail.
D. o. oceania resembles D. o. townsendi, but is smaller with upper parts slightly darker and abdomen and under side of tail lighter.
Measurements.—Measurements are presented in [table 27].
Specimens examined.—Total number, 47 (25 males, 22 females), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM—Kusaie, 2 (Feb. 8, 9,); AMNH—Kusaie, 45 (Jan., Feb., March).
Parasites.—Bequaert (1939:81 and 1941:266) obtained the fly (Hippoboscidae) Ornithoctona plicata from the pigeon at Kusaie.
Remarks.—The Micronesian Pigeon at Kusaie has been known since 1824, when from June 5 to June 15 of that year personnel from the corvette "La Coquille" visited the island and observed the bird. Kittlitz visited Kusaie and observed the pigeon in December, 1827, and January, 1828. Finsch (1880c and 1880d) found the bird in the Marshalls at Jaluit. Takatsukasa and Yamashina (1932:221) record the bird from Elmore in the Marshalls. Coultas (field notes) writes that the pigeon was numerous at Kusaie in 1931. He remarks that they appear stupid and are easily killed by the natives, who use a call to attract them. With regard to their habits he writes, "About four o'clock in the afternoon these birds begin congregating in the high trees of the lowlands close to the salt water where they roost for the night. At daybreak they begin migrating to the high mountain sides and peaks where they spend the time feeding."
Ducula oceanica ratakensis (Takatsukasa and Yamashina)
Micronesian Pigeon
Globecera oceanica ratakensis Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 44, 1932, p. 221. (Type locality, Aruno.)
Columba australis Chamisso, in Kotzebue's, Voy. "Rurick," 3, 1821, p. 157 (Radak).
Carpophaga oceanica Finsch, Ibis, 1880, p. 331 (Arno); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 52 (Arno); idem, Ibis, 1893, p. 211 (Marshalls).
Globicera oceanica oceanica Momiyama (part), Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 5 (Arno); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 55 (Arno).
Globicera oceanica ratakensis Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 190 (Arhno, Wotze); Mathews, Ibis, 1933, p. 87 (Aruno, Wozzie).
Ducala oceanica ratakensis Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1937, p. 44 (Arno, Wotje); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 212 (Arhno, Wotze); Amadon, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1237, 1943, p. 12 (Arno, Wotje); Mayr. Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 289 (Arno, Wotje).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Marshall Islands (Radak Chain)—Wotje, Arhno.
Characters.—Takatsukasa and Yamashina (1932:221) describe this subspecies as follows, "This form differs from all other forms of Globicera oceanica by its smaller size, more bronze-sheen on the back, more vinaceous grey on the breast and duller brown on the abdomen." On examining two specimens from Arno in the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, Amadon (1943:12) writes that he finds no distinguishing color characters between D. o. oceanica and D. o. ratakensis. He also questions whether there is any difference in size between the two populations.
Measurements.—Measurements are listed in [table 27].
Remarks.—Chamisso (1821), the naturalist on board the ship "Rurick," was the first person to write of the pigeon in the Radak Chain of the Marshall Islands. The ship visited this area in 1817. Finsch (1880b) published an account of the bird when he visited the area about 1880. Takatsukasa and Yamashina (1932:221) described this bird as new on the basis of an examination of nine skins taken at Arhno and Wotje.
Evolutionary history of Ducula oceanica in Micronesia.—The distribution and evolutionary history of Ducula oceanica have been treated by Mayr (1940) and Amadon (1943). These authors place D. oceanica within a superspecies containing D. pacifica (Melanesia to Samoa and Cook Islands), D. aurorea (Society Islands), D. galeata (Marquesas Islands), and possibly other species in Papua and Malaysia. According to Mayr (1942b:fig. 7), D. pacifica is the species which is ancestral to other species of pigeons in Oceania. Apparently D. oceanica was derived from this ancestral stock and reached Micronesia via the Ellice and Gilbert islands. Records of Ducula were obtained in the Gilbert Islands in the days of exploration; Amadon (1943:11) tentatively refers these to D. o. oceanica.
The irregular distribution of D. oceanica in the islands of Micronesia and the fact that the bird exists on both "high" volcanic islands as well as on "low" coral atolls suggest that the present population may be a remnant of a once more widely distributed one. The fact that D. oceanica may be divided into several subspecies shows that a greater amount of geographic variation has occurred as compared with its probable ancestral stock, D. pacifica, which is virtually undifferentiated over most of its extensive range. The pigeon of Micronesia has a more rounded wing than that of D. pacifica, which might, as Amadon has suggested, cause the bird to be more sedentary and lend itself more readily to differentiation through geographic isolation. D. pacifica is known to fly from island to island. As shown by the measurements in [table 27], the length of wing of D. oceanica differs, in the various insular populations, being longer in the west and shorter in the east. This cline has been discussed by Amadon (1943:11).
It is interesting that Ducula or some other large pigeon has not become established in the Mariana Islands. Ducula is present at Yap and Truk, which are not very distant from Guam. Another tropical pigeon, Columba vitiensis, has extended its range northward and reached the Bonin Islands; probably it arrived there via the Philippines or the Riu Kiu Islands. Thus, there are representatives of large pigeons on islands to the southeast, south, west and northwest of the Marianas, but none has become established in the Marianas themselves.
Streptopelia bitorquata dusumieri (Temminck)
Philippine Turtle Dove
Columba dusumieri Temminck, Pl. col., livr. 32, 1832, p. 188. (Type locality, Vicinity of Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands.)
Colombe Dussumier Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. "Uranie," Zool., 1824, pp. 35, 680 (Mariannes); idem, Ann. Sci. Nat. Paris, 6, 1825, p. 148 (Mariannes).
Columba dusumieri Wagler, Syst. Avium Columba, 1827, p. 266, sp. 99 (Marianis).
Columba Dussumieri Kittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 305 (Guahan).
Streptopelia gaimardi Bonaparte, Consp. Avium, 2, 1854, p. 66 (Type locality, Mariannes); idem, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, 40, 1855, p. 18 (Mariannes); Reichenbach, Tauben, 1862, p. 76 (Mariannen).
Turtur (Streptopelia) Giamardi Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 43 (Guam).
Turtur gaimardi Gray, Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 239 (Marian).
Turtur dussumieri Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 6, no. 35, 1873, p. 120 (Mariannes); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. Und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 54 (Marianne); Salvadori, Cat. Birds British Mus., 21, 1893, p. 423 (Mariannes); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 222 (Guam); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 60 (Guam, Saipan); Wheeler, Report Island of Guam, 1900, p. 13 (Guam); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 43 (Marianas); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 68 (Marianas); idem, Amer. Anthro., 4, 1902, p. 711 (Guam); idem, The Plant World, 7, 1904, p. 264 (Guam); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 2, 1904, p. 760 (Marianne); Safford, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 78 (Guam); Schnee, Zeitschr. f. Naturwisch., 82, 1912, p. 466 (Marianen); Prowazek, Die deutschen Marianen, 1913, p. 101 (Marianen); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 1, 1913, p. 341 (Marianen); Cox, Island of Guam, 1917, p. 20 (Guam).
Streptopelia dussumieri Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 54 (Guam, Saipan); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 62 (Marianas); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 189 (Saipan, Tinian, Rota).
Tuttur dessumieri Bryan, Guam Rec., vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 24 (Guam).
Streptopelia bitorquata dusumieri Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1937, p. 96 (Marianne); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 211 (Saipan, Tinian, Rota); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 289 (Marianas); Watson, The Raven, 17, 1946, p. 41 (Guam); Downs, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 49, 1946, p. 96 (Tinian); Strophlet, Auk, 1946, p. 538 (Guam); Stott, Auk, 1947, p. 526 (Saipan); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 60 (Guam, Rota).
Streptopelia bitorquata Baker, Trans. 11th N. American Wildlife Conf., 1946, p. 208 (Guam); idem, Condor. 49, 1947, p. 125 (Guam).
Geographic range.—Philippine Islands, Sula Archipelago, northern Borneo. In Micronesia: Mariana Islands (introduced)—Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan.
Characters.—Adult: A medium-sized dove with head and nape near "light Quaker drab" with a vinous tinge; chin and upper throat whitish becoming near "vinaceous buff" on lower throat and to near "vinaceous-faun" on breast and upper abdomen; lower abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts white; tibia grayish; neck feathers dark with grayish centers and metallic greenish-slate edges; color near "Japan rose"; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, scapulars, upper wing-coverts, and inner secondaries dark "drab"; sides, upper wing coverts, outer secondaries, and under wing-coverts lead colored; primaries blackish edged with light gray; central tail feathers like back but paler, outer feathers of tail darker with brownish tinge on edges; outermost tail feathers blackish tipped with gray and with outer webs whitish; bill dark; feet reddish; iris orange.
Measurements.—Measurements of 15 adult males from Guam, Rota and Tinian: wing, 154-162 (158); tail, 127-135 (130); culmen, 16.2-18.1 (17.2); tarsus, 24-27 (25.5); of 10 adult females from Guam and Rota: wing, 150-162 (156); tail, 120-130 (127); culmen, 16.2-19.1 (17.5); tarsus, 24-26 (25). No differences in measurements were found between populations from Guam, Rota and Tinian.
Weights.—The author (1948:61) reports the weights of five adult males as 130-167 (152) and of six adult females as 135-159 (146). These birds were taken at Guam.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 27 (16 males, 11 females), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM—Guam, 21 (Feb. 7, May 25, 26, June 9, July 6, 7, 10, 18, 23, Aug. 2, 11, Sept. 8, Oct. 8)—Rota, 4 (Oct. 18, 22, 23, Nov. 2)—Tinian, 2 (Oct. 24, 25).
Nesting.—The NAMRU2 party found evidences of nesting by this dove at Guam in February, March, April, and June. Nests were observed on May 29 and June 28. On the latter date a nest containing one nestling and one unhatched egg was found near Mount Santa Rosa. The nest was situated approximately five feet from the ground in a low bush. Two eggs taken by Necker at Rota on October 31, 1945, are white and measure 29.6 by 23.0 and 30.1 by 23.0. Strophlet (1946:538) observed a bird carrying nest materials at Guam on November 13. Hartert (1898:60) reports on nests found at Guam in April and May. Each nest contained one egg. It is probable that this bird nests at all times of the year. The nuptial flight of these birds reminds one very much of that of the mourning dove of North America.
Remarks.—The Philippine Turtle Dove was introduced from the Philippines to Guam and other islands of the southern Marianas by the Spanish probably in the 18th Century; it was in 1771-1774 that the Philippine deer (Rusa) was introduced to Guam. Perhaps these birds were initially introduced as caged birds or possibly were liberated to offer hunting for the colonial governors. They have been a very successful introduction and are well established. At Guam (see Baker 1947b:124), this species comprised 15.5 percent of all birds seen along roadways. Although open areas appear to be preferred by this dove and although it may be on the increase owing to the clearing operations of the war effort, it appears to be equally adapted to forested areas and coconut groves. It feeds on the ground to a large extent, fitting into an ecologic niche which few other species of birds of the islands occupy. It was even observed feeding on sandy beaches and tidal flats at low tide.
In 1931, Coultas found the dove to be numerous at Guam, but thought that it was in danger of extinction at Tinian and Saipan owing to extensive hunting. Downs (1946:96) reported that in 1945 the dove was abundant at Tinian. Gleise (1945:22) estimated the population of these doves at 300 on Tinian in 1945. From the remarks of Stott (1947:526), we may assume that the population at Saipan is in no immediate danger of extinction.
A comparison of specimens from the Marianas with those from the Philippines reveals no significant difference between the two. Bonaparte described the dove in the Marianas as new, naming it Streptopelia gaimardi. The name Turtur prevostianus has been used by some authors to denote the dove in the Marianas, but this was through error as explained by Salvadori (1893:410). This name refers to a dove found on Marianne, an island of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean.
Gallicolumba canifrons (Hartlaub and Finsch)
Palau Ground Dove
Phlegoenas canifrons Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 101. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)
Phlegoenas canifrons Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 5, 27, pl. 5, fig. 1 (Palau); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 407 (Palau); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 57 (Pelew); Hartert; Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 61 (Pelew); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 113 (Palau); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 53 (Pelews).
Phlogoenas canifrons Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p. 112 (Pelew); Salvadori, Ornith.] Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 169 (Pelew); idem, Cat. Birds British Mus., 21, 1893, p. 592 (Pelew); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 227 (Palaos); Bolau. Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 68 (Palau); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 2, 1904, p. 772 (Pelew).
Phaps canifrons Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 3, 1877, p. 89 (Pelew).
Gallicolumba canifrons canifrons Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 74 (Pelew).
Gallicolumba canifrons Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 189 (Palau); Mayr, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 828, 1936, p. 4 (Palau); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1937, p. 136 (Palau); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 211 (Babelthuap); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 290 (Palau); Mayr, Audubon Mag., 47, 1945, p. 282 (Palau); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 62 (Garakayo, Peleliu).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Palau Islands—Babelthuap, Koror, Garakayo, Peleliu, Ngabad, Angaur.
Characters.—Adult male: A small, ground dove with forehead, crown, sides of head, chin, throat, and breast ashy gray, lighter on forehead, chin, and throat, and washed with "light vinaceous-faun" on breast; occiput, nape and mantle dark "ferruginous"; rest of upper parts glossed with bronze-olive; lesser and middle wing-coverts tipped with metallic purple; wings reddish-brown with dark brown tips; under side of wing reddish-brown to brown; abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts dark grayish-brown; tail colored like back, outer feathers have a paler brown terminal band rather obscure; bill horn colored; feet red; iris brown.
Female: A female molting into adult plumage is cinnamon colored, mottled with dark brown; on the back an olive-green sheen is beginning to appear; tail brown with some greenish sheen; tips of tail edged with light brown; bill and feet light brown.
Measurements.—Measurements of six adult males are: wing, 112-119 (115); tail, 65-72 (70); exposed culmen, 15.3-16.1 (15.7); tarsus, 30.1-31.2 (30.8); of one female in postjuvenal molt: wing, 107; tail, 69; exposed culmen, 17.1; tarsus, 30.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 8 (7 males, 1 female), as follows: Palau Islands, USNM—Koror, 1 (Nov. 18)—Garakayo, 2 (Sept. 17, 19)—Peleliu, 2 (Sept. 1, Dec. 5)—Ngabad, 1 (Sept. 11); AMNH—exact locality not given, 1 (Dec. 1).
Food habits.—Stomachs of specimens taken by the NAMRU2 party at Peleliu and Garakayo contained one and one-half to two cc. of hard seeds and seed parts.
Remarks.—The Palau Ground Dove, according to Amadon (1943:19), is a member of a superspecies containing G. hoedti (Wetar), G. beccarii (New Guinea, Bismarcks, Solomons), G. sanctaecrucis (Santa Cruz, New Hebrides), and G. stairi (central Polynesia).
G. canifrons apparently came to the Palaus from either New Guinea or the region of the Bismarck Archipelago, evolving from G. beccarii or some related form. The Palau Ground Dove has a copper-colored occiput, nape, and shoulder patch, but otherwise it resembles this Melanesian species, G. beccarii. Amadon (1943:20) discusses two types of plumage of females in G. stairi; one is a male type of plumage. The lack of female specimens prevents me from determining whether this characteristic is present in G. canifrons.
Coultas (field notes) had difficulty in obtaining even one specimen of G. canifrons in the Palaus in 1931. He concluded that either the bird was practically extinct or that he just could not find it. From the experience of the NAMRU2 party in the southern Palaus in 1945, I would think that he merely did not find the bird. Although it is probably rare in comparison with some other members of the family Columbidae of these islands, we found this bird on most of the islands visited.
The NAMRU2 party arrived at Palau expecting to find the ground dove a fairly conspicuous member of the avifauna and expecting to see it sitting in trees and flying across the roads much in the same manner as did the ground dove at Guam, G. x. xanthonura. At first, we did not find the bird, but in the dense jungles a low, penetrating, and intermittent, call was heard which may be described as a moan. This was the call of the ground dove. The bird was difficult to discover because its color blended so well with the shadows and dark background of the coral rocks and forest litter. The bird was very active and moved along rapidly pecking at food particles. Also it was wary. Once the distinctive call note was recognized, it was not difficult to locate the area in which the bird was living; however, finding the bird was difficult. On one occasion I stalked a dove for at least a half an hour knowing that it was always within fifty yards of me. A bird that was flushed, flew about twenty-five feet and dropped down in open forest litter and disappeared. On the basis of specimens collected and call notes heard, I estimate that the population of the Palau Ground Dove on the islands visited in 1945 was as follows: Peleliu—a minimum of 15 (found in most forested areas which were not greatly damaged by the invasion operations); Garakayo—a minimum of 10 (the doves were found to live equally well on the steep hillsides or in flat jungle on this islet); Ngabad—5 to 10 (doves were heard in several areas on this small islet); Angaur—not estimated (one call was heard in brush near the edge of a fresh water lake).
Gallicolumba xanthonura xanthonura (Temminck)
White-throated Ground Dove
Columba xanthonura Temminck, Pl. col., livr. 32, 1823, pl. 190. (Type locality, Mariannes.)
Columba xanthonura Lesson, Compl. de Buffon, 2nd ed., 2, Oiseaux, 1838, p. 281 (Mariannes).
Columba Pampusan Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. "Uranie," Zool., 1824, pp. 121, 681, pl. 30 (Mariannes); Dumont, Dict. Sci. Nat., ed. Levrault, 40, 1826, p. 345 (Guam); Lesson, Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 471 (Mariannes); Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 167 (Mariannen).
Columba erythroptera Lesson, Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 471 (Mariannes); Kittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 305 (Guahan); Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 167 (Mariannen).
Columba xanthura Prévost and Knip, Les Pigeons, 2, 1838-43, p. 45, pl. 23 (Guam).
Pampusana xanthua Bonaparte, Consp. Avium, 2, 1854, p. 89 (Mariannis); idem, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, 40, 1855, p. 207 (Mariannes); Reichenbach, Tauben, 1861, p. 39 (Guam).
Caloenas (Pampusana) xanthura Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 45 (Guam).
Phlegoenas erythroptera Reichenbach, Tauben, 1861, p. 41 (Mariannen).
Caloenas xanthura Gray, Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 247 (Marian).
Phlegoenas yapensis Hartlaub and Finsch, 1872, p. 102 (Type locality, Uap); Gräffe, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 2, 1873, pp. 122, 123 (Yap); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 391 (Yap); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 57 (Yap); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 61 (Yap); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 113 (Yap).
Pampusana rousseaui Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 103 (Marianne).
Phaps erythroptera Giebel (part), Thes. Ornith., 3, 1877, p. 89 (Marianne).
Phaps xanthura Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 3, 1877, p. 91 (Marianne).
Phaps yapensis Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 3, 1877, p. 91 (Uap).
Phlegoenas virgo Reichenow. Journ. f. Ornith., 1885, p. 110 (Type locality, Palau-Inseln, error = Guam).
Phlogaenas erythroptera Oustalet, Le Nat., 1889, p. 261 (Mariannes).
Phlegoenas pampusan Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 55 (Marianne); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 224 (Saypan, Guam, Rota).
Phlogoenas yapensis Salvadori, Cat. Birds British Mus., 21, 1893, p. 593 (Uap); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 227 (Mackensie); Bolau, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 68 (Yap); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 2. 1904, p. 772 (Uap).
Phlogoenas pampusan Salvadori, Cat. Birds British Mus., 21, 1893, p. 602 (Marianne).
Phlegoenas xanthonura Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 60 (Guam, Saipan); Wheeler, Report Island of Guam, 1900, p. 13 (Guam); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 113 (Guam, Saipan); Safford, Amer. Anthro., 4, 1902, p. 711 (Guam); idem, Osprey, 1902, p. 68 (Mariannas); idem, The Plant World, 7, 1904, p. 264 (Guam); idem, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 78 (Guam); Cox, Island of Guam, 1917, p. 20 (Guam).
Phlogoenas xanthonura Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 42 (Marianas); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 1, 1913, p. 331 (Mariannen); Bryan, Guam Rec., vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 24 (Guam).
Phlegoenas xanthonura xanthonura Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 54 (Guam, Rota, Saipan).
Phlegoenas xanthonura yapensis Kuroda, in Momoyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 54 (Yap).
Gallicolumba xanthonura Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 75 (Marianas, Mackenzie); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 189 (Pagan, Almagan, Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Mackenzie); Mayr, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 828, 1936, p. 4 (Marianne); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1937, p. 136 (Marianne, Yap); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 211 (Yap, Assongsong, Pagan, Almagan, Saipan, Tinian, Rota); Strophlet, Auk, 1946, p. 538 (Guam); Wharton, Ecol. Monogr., 16, 1946, p. 174 (Guam); Baker, Condor, 49, 1947, p. 125 (Guam).
Gallicolumba canifrons yapensis Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 74 (Yap).
Terricolumba xanthonura Yamashina, Tori, 10, 1940, p. 677 (Assongsong).
Gallicolumba xanthonura xanthonura Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 290 (Marianas, Yap); Watson, The Raven, 17, 1946, p. 41 (Guam); Stott, Auk, 1947, p. 526 (Saipan); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 61 (Guam, Rota Yap).
Gallecolumba xanthonura xanthonura Downs, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 49, 1946, p. 96 (Tinian).
Fig. 14. Geographic distribution of Gallicolumba of Micronesia and Eastern Polynesia and routes of its dispersal. (1) G. jobiensis; (2) G. x. kubaryi; (3) G. x. xanthonura; (4) G. erythroptera; (5) G. rubescens.
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Asuncion, Pagan, Almagan, Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Guam; Caroline Islands—Yap.
Characters.—Adult male: Forehead, face, chin, throat, and upper breast white, lightly washed with pale buff; crown, occiput, sides of head, and nape rusty brown to dark brown; rest of upper parts dark bronze-olive; feathers of mantle and upper wing-coverts broadly edged with metallic purple-violet; primaries, under wing-coverts and axillaries brown; tail, lower breast and rest of underparts dark brown; bill and feet dark brown.
Adult female: Resembles adult male, but smaller and with underparts colored between "ochraceous-tawny" and "cinnamon brown" instead of dark brown and white; head and neck darker and with more rufous than underparts; remainder of upper surface resembles underparts but with striking olive green sheen, especially on upper wing-coverts; primaries brown but outer webs lighter; tail rufous-brown, with a broad, black subterminal band.
The male type of plumage in the adult female is: breast light drab tinged with light brown and darkening anteriorly; crown resembles that of normal female although darker and becoming lighter and grayer on neck and nape; shoulder and wing-coverts compare favorably with that of adult male although lighter and with yellowish tinge; back bronzed olive-green as in normal female but mantle with a few purplish feathers characteristic of male; abdomen near "olive brown" with buffy-brown edges to feathers.
Immature male: Resembles adult male, but head and nape darker brown; throat and upper breast may be more brown and less white.
Immature female: Resembles adult female, but with more rufous coloring; olive-green sheen on feathers reduced in amount or absent.
Measurements.—Measurements are found in [table 28].
Table 28. Measurements of Gallicolumba xanthonura
Subspecies Number Wing Tail Culmen Tarsus G. x. xanthonura 43 males
146 102 22.0 32 (139-153) (97-111) (21.0-23.0) (31-33) 31 females
136 94 20.5 30 (131-141) (90-98) (20.0-21.5) (28-32) G. x. kubaryi 7 males
157 23.0 35 (152-160) (20.5-23.5) (33-35) 7 females
148 23.0 33 (145-151) (22.5-23.5) (32-34)
Table 28. Measurements of Gallicolumba xanthonura
Table 28. Measurements of Gallicolumba xanthonura
| Subspecies | Number | Wing | Tail | Culmen | Tarsus |
| G. x. xanthonura | 43 males | 146 | 102 | 22.0 | 32 |
| (139-153) | (97-111) | (21.0-23.0) | (31-33) | ||
31 females | 136 | 94 | 20.5 | 30 | |
| (131-141) | (90-98) | (20.0-21.5) | (28-32) | ||
| G. x. kubaryi | 7 males | 157 | 23.0 | 35 | |
| (152-160) | (20.5-23.5) | (33-35) | |||
7 females | 148 | 23.0 | 33 | ||
| (145-151) | (22.5-23.5) | (32-34) |
There is little difference in the measurements of specimens from Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan, and Asuncion. No specimens from Yap were available for examination.
Weights.—The NAMRU2 party obtained weights of this ground dove from Guam as follows: seven adult males 119-154 (130); seven adult females 96-150 (118).
Specimens examined.—Total number, 96 (50 males, 38 females, 8 unsexed) as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM—Guam, 29 (Mar. 18, April 4, 17, May 20, 28, June 2, 9, 13, 14, 15, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28, July 2, 6, 10, 23, Aug. 11, 21)—Rota, 6 (Oct. 20, 22, 25, 26, Nov. 1, 2)—Tinian, 4 (Oct. 24, 26); AMNH—Guam, 40 (Jan. 17, 30, Feb. 12, 20, March 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 23, April 13, 19, June 13, 15, July 10, 25, Aug. 4, 10, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22, Sept. 4, Dec. 26, 30)—Tinian, 8 (Sept. 7, 10, 11, 12, 13)—Saipan, 6 (July 13, 15, Aug. 24, Sept. 7, 8)—Asuncion, 3 (Jan. 18, Feb. 7, June).
Nesting.—The NAMRU2 party found the ground dove nesting at Guam in the winter and spring months beginning in late January. Nests were observed in tall trees, many of which were well isolated from other trees and vegetation. On February 10 a nest was discovered in a breadfruit tree near one of the NAMRU2 barracks on Oca Point. It was approximately 50 feet above the ground. On February 26 I found pieces of egg shell beneath the tree. Occasionally during the day, the male, but never the female, was observed sitting on this nest. On February 10, a dove (the male) was observed building a nest in a large banyan tree at Oca Point. Another nest was being constructed by a female on March 7. On March 17 a young female dove, just beginning to fly, was taken; another was found on April 3. Adult birds with enlarged gonads were taken in April, May, June, and July. Marche, according to Oustalet (1895:224), obtained eggs in May, 1887.
Food habits.—Stomachs of doves taken at Guam contained fruits and fruit parts. On March 9, a dove was observed feeding on the berries of the shrub known as "inkbush." This appeared to be a favorite food. Seale (1901:42) also mentions that this berry is a preferred food.
Parasites.—Wharton (1946:174) lists the chigger (Acarina), Trombicula sp., from the ground dove at Guam.
Remarks.—At Guam, the NAMRU2 party observed the ground dove to be fairly common in 1945. Along roadways, the present author (1947b:124) found that individuals of this species comprised 2.5 percent of the total population of birds observed, and the ground dove was seen on 31.2 percent of 125 road counts made. The male was much more in evidence than the female and was frequently seen flying high over the roadways and jungle areas; eighty percent of the ground doves seen while road-counts were being made were males. The female was found less frequently; it was a less conspicuous bird and was seen only occasionally in flight. Neither sex appeared to have the secretive, terrestrial habits of G. canifrons of the Palau Islands. On the basis of our observations at Guam, I would say that the name "ground dove" for the bird at Guam is not descriptive. The birds were found to spend considerable time in tall trees; the closest that I saw them to the ground was when they were feeding only three to four feet from the ground in the ink berry bushes.
The call note of this dove is much like that of the Palau Ground Dove; Seale (1901:42) describes it as follows, "These pigeons seem to prefer the deep jungle, from whence their deep low moan, like the sound of a man dying in great distress, comes with a weird uncanny effect, heightened by the gloom and darkness of the unknown forest.... This sound, which always seems to come from a long distance, is very misleading, and one is considerably surprised to find he is perhaps within a few feet of the bird." Seale writes that they were very common on Guam in 1900. In 1931, Coultas found the dove "quite common at the north end of the island." The bird apparently prefers the dense forest or second growth brushy areas, but was found also in the partly cleared areas surrounding the NAMRU2 headquarters at Oca Point in 1945. At Rota, the NAMRU2 party found the birds to be numerous in 1945. Coultas observed only a few birds on Tinian in 1931; Downs (1946:96) found only a small population at this island in 1945. The extensive cultivation and clearing activities at Tinian have removed much of the habitat suitable for these, as well as other birds. At Saipan, Stott (1947:526) writes that the bird is common on "brush-covered hillsides and semi-wooded country." There is little information published regarding the status of this dove in the northern Marianas.
Gallicolumba xanthonura kubaryi (Finsch)
White-throated Ground Dove
Phlegoenas Kubaryi Finsch, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 292. (Type locality, Ruck and Ponapé.)
Phlegoenas erythroptera Bonaparte, Consp. Avium, 2, 1854, p. 89 (Carolines); Reichenbach, Tauben, 1862, p. 41 (Carolines); Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878), p. 780 (Ponapé); idem, Ibis, 1881, p. 115 (Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, pp. 281, 353 (Ponapé, Ruk); Tristram, Cat. Birds, 1889, p. 41 (Ruk).
Phlegoenas kubaryi Reichenow and Schalow, Journ. f. Ornith., 1881, p. 75 (Ruk, Ponapé); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 55 (Ruk, Ponapé); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 8 (Ruk, Ponapé); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 113 (Ruck, Ponapé); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 53 (Ruk, Ponapé).
Phlogoenas erythroptera Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 576 (Ponapé, Ruk); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 52 (Ruk).
Phlogoenas kubaryi Salvadori, Cat. Birds British Mus., 21, 1893, p. 599 (Ruk, Ponapé); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 227 (Caroline = Truk); Bolau, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 68 (Ruck); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 1, 1913, p. 331 (Karolinen).
Phlegaenas kubaryi Christian, The Caroline Islands, 1899, p. 357 (Ponapé).
Gallicolumba kubaryi Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 74 (Caroline Is.); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 189 (Truk, Ponapé); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1947, p. 136 (Ruk, Ponapé); Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, p. 204 (Ponapé); Bequaert, Mushi, 12, 1939, p. 81 (Ponapé); idem, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 16, 1941, p. 266 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 211 (Truk, Ponapé).
Gallicolumba xanthonura kubaryi Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 290 (Truk, Ponapé); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 62 (Truk).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Truk, Ponapé.
Characters.—Adult male: Resembles adult male of G. x. xanthonura, but larger with crown, nape, and hind neck sooty-black; upper back and lesser upper wing-coverts purplish-violet, extending lower on back than in G. x. xanthonura.
Adult female: Resembles adult male, but smaller and paler with upper back glossy, bronze-green margined with purplish-violet; lower back and rump glossy, olive-green; upper tail-coverts greenish-brown; central tail feathers blackish-brown; innermost secondaries bright, glossy green tinged with bluish.
Measurements.—Measurements are presented in [table 28].
Specimens examined.—Total number, 21 (9 males, 11 females, 1 unsexed), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM—Truk, 1 (July); AMNH—Ponapé, 13 (Nov., Dec.)—Truk, 7 (Jan., Feb., May).
Nesting.—At Ponapé in November and December, Coultas obtained specimens which had enlarged gonads. He did not find the nest of this bird but writes (field notes) that the natives told him that the nest is placed in the top of the tree fern 10 or 15 feet above the ground. In contrast, the ground dove at Guam may select a nesting site considerably higher in the tree. Coultas reports that one egg is laid by C. x. kubaryi.
Food habits.—Coultas (field notes) writes that the bird feeds and lives on the ground at Ponapé. He lists food as small snails, seeds, and worms.
Parasites.—Bequaert (1939:81 and 1941:266) records the fly (Hippoboscidae), Ornithoctona plicata, from the ground dove at Ponapé.
Remarks.—Coultas (field notes) writes that in 1930 the ground dove at Ponapé was rare in the forested areas and generally found more along the sea coast and in the upland valleys. Coultas describes its call as an infrequent shrill, whistle-like call. He writes that hunting by the Japanese and natives was reducing the population of G. x. kubaryi at Ponapé in 1930. In 1945, McElroy of the NAMRU2 party found the dove at Truk on forested slopes in tall trees, and reported that its habits at Truk were similar to those of C. x. xanthonura at Guam. In 1947-1948, Richards noted (in litt.) that the dove at Ponapé was rare (he saw only one specimen). At Truk, he found the bird to be "rather common" in thickets, dry gullies, and flying over grassy slopes. He found the bird near sea level, never in country above 300 feet in altitude and not in deep forest. I offer no explanation for the conflicting reports concerning the habits of this species, unless it be that the bird is capable of varying its habits to fit particular habitats; for example, in jungle areas it may be ground-living and in open woodlands it may be tree-living.
Evolutionary history of Gallicolumba in Micronesia.—There have been two unrelated invasions of Micronesia by the genus Gallicolumba. One invasion established G. canifrons at the Palau Islands. The other established the populations of G. xanthonura in the Caroline and Mariana islands, Mayr (1936:4) points out that G. xanthonura is related to G. jobiensis (New Guinea and Northern Melanesia), G. erythroptera (Society and Tuamotu islands), and G. rubescens (Marquesas Islands). This group may be regarded as a superspecies. The adults of G. jobiensis, the male and female, resemble one another. In both, the head, neck, and auriculoloral stripes are sooty-black; the eye stripe, chin, throat, and breast are white; the abdomen is dark; and the upper parts are blackish with a coppery sheen. Immatures are rusty-brown. G. xanthonura is closely related to G. jobiensis, and they conceivably, along with G. erythroptera, might be considered conspecific. The close relationship between the G. xanthonura in Micronesia and G. erythroptera has been noted by Oustalet (1896:71). Among named kinds, G. x. kubaryi most closely resembles G. jobiensis with sooty-black coloring present on the head. The male and female of G. x. kubaryi closely resemble each other, although immature type of plumage may occur in adult females as indicated by the immature plumage of a bird containing well-developed eggs taken at Ponapé by Coultas.
In G. x. xanthonura the male lacks the sooty-black head and has lost some of the coppery sheen from the middle of the back. The female has taken on the immature type of plumage, except for occasional near-male type plumage. In G. erythroptera the male has lost some of the sooty-black coloring on the forehead, anterior crown, and loral area and some of the coppery sheen in the middle of the back. The female of G. erythroptera resembles the female of G. x. xanthonura except that the throat and breast are faintly outlined by the brownish color. The head and malar stripe are also outlined in this manner. Some females have some coppery gloss on the shoulder and a few white feathers on the breast; these may be considered as in the near-male type of plumage.
The tendencies in the evolution of these insular populations of Gallicolumba include a reduction of sooty-black on the head and a reduction of coppery gloss on the back of the male and the reduction of malelike plumage in the female. G. rubescens of the Marquesas Islands is smaller and darker. It retains the coppery gloss on the back and has, in addition, a white bar on the tail and one on the wing. On the basis of color and structural characters, it is apparent that this superspecies of Gallicolumba has evolved from a center of evolution in the region of New Guinea (as shown in [figure 14]) with a colonization of Micronesia, from which (probably from G. x. kubaryi) an invasion of eastern Polynesia occurred establishing G. erythroptera in the Society and Tuamotu islands, although it is also possible that G. erythroptera may have reached Polynesia by way of a more direct route from Melanesia. Such a pathway of colonization as that just described is not unusual since representatives of other genera including Acrocephalus, Myzomela, and Zosterops may have followed similar paths of dispersal from Micronesia into Polynesia. Apparently a population isolated in the Marquesas has evolved the distinctive G. rubescens.
Caloenas nicobarica pelewensis Finsch
Nicobar Pigeon
Caloenas nicobarica var. pelewensis Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 159 (in reprint p. 27). (Type locality, Palau.)
Caloenas nicobarica pelewensis Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 77 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 188 (Palau); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1937, p. 139 (Palau); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 210 (Babelthuap, Koror); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 291 (Palau); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 62 (Garakayo).
Caloenas nicobarica Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 211 (Pelew); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und. Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 57 (Pelew).
Caloenas pelewensis Salvadori, Cat. Birds British Mus., 21, 1893, p. 618 (Pelew); Bolau, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 69 (Palau); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 113 (Palau); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 1, 1913, p. 328 (Palauinseln); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 52 (Pelew).
Caloenas nicobaricus pelewensis Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 53 (Pelew).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Palau Islands-Babelthuap, Koror, Garakayo.
Characters.—Adult: A large heavy-bodied pigeon with head, neck, and upper breast blackish; rest of plumage metallic bluish-green with coppery sheen; wings glossy green; tail and under tail-coverts white; feathers of hind-neck long and lanceolate; bill heavy and slightly hooked with lump at base.
Resembles C. n. nicobarica (Linnaeus), but slightly smaller and with upper parts metallic bluish-green and underparts darker and less green.
Measurements.—One adult female measures: wing, 232; tail, 82; culmen, 31; tarsus, 44; one immature female: wing, 236; tail, 89; culmen, 32; tarsus, 45.
Specimens examined.—Total number, three females from Palau Islands, AMNH—exact locality not given (undated).
Remarks.—C. nicobarica is distributed from the Nicobar Islands east through Malaysia to Melanesia as a single undifferentiated form. In the northeasternmost part of its range, in the Palau Islands, it exhibits geographic variation and is considered to be subspecifically distinct from the rest of the population. C. nicobarica appears to have no close relatives. It may represent the last remnant of some ancient group of pigeons.
The Nicobar Pigeon is rare. Coultas, who visited the islands in 1931, did not obtain the bird. The only specimens available for study are those in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History taken by Kubary in the period between 1870 and 1880. The NAMRU2 party did not obtain specimens but saw the bird on five occasions at the island of Garakayo in the middle Palaus. The writer expected the bird to be ground-living in habit, but the individuals, which I saw at Garakayo, were either perched on scrubby vegetation on high and inaccessible cliffs or were flying high overhead. In its flight overhead, the short, white tail was a particularly conspicuous mark of identification. The flight reminded me very much of that of the Black Vulture (Córagyps atrátus) of North America. No birds were found at Peleliu or Angaur, and the small population of this pigeon that remains is probably restricted to uninhabited coral islets, as Mayr (1945a:291) has already noted. Marshall (1949: 207) saw one bird on Peleliu and one on Koror in November and December, 1945. This endemic subspecies is probably on the road to extinction unless governmental protection can be established and enforced.
Trichoglossus rubiginosus (Bonaparte)
Ponapé Lory
Chalcopsitta rubiginosus Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, 30, February, 1850, p. 134; Consp. Avium, 1, after April 15, 1850, p. 3. (Type locality, "ex Insulis Barabay et Guebe," error = Ponapé.)
Chalcopsitta rubiginosus Bonaparte, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1850, p. 26, pl. 16 ("Ins. Barabay et Guebe," error = Ponapé); Pelzeln, Reise "Novara," Vögel, 1865, pp. 99, 162 (Puynipet); Reichenow, Journ. f. Ornith., 1881, p. 162 ("Nordwestl. Polynessische subregion Carolinen" = Ponapé); Tristram, Cat. Birds, 1889, p. 73 (Ponapé); Finsch, Deut. Verein zum Schultze der Vogelwelt, 18, 1893, p. 458 (Carolinen = Ponapé); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ponapé).
Domicella rubiginosa Finsch, Die Papageien, 2, 1868, p. 781 (Puynipet); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 88 (Puinipet).
Lorius rubiginosus Gray, Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 153 (Puynipet); Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 3, no. 38, 1874, p. 58 (Puynipet).
Lorius rubiginosa Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 502 (Senjawin = Ponapé).
Trichoglossus rubiginosus Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 17, 18 (Ponapé); idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878), p. 778 (Ponapé); idem, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 284 (Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 281 (Ponapé); Finsch, Ibis, 1881, pp. 110, 111, 114 (Ponapé); idem, Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 49 (Ponapé); Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml. Senckenb., 1891, p. 161 (Puypinet); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6 1890-1891 (1891), p. 8 (Ponapé); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1937, p. 151 (Ponapé); Mayr, Proc. Sixth Pac. Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, p. 204 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 201 (Ponapé); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 291 (Ponapé).
Eos rubiginosa Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 1, 1880, p. 267 (Puynipet); idem, Cat. Birds British Mus., 20, 1891, p. 29 (Ponapé); Christian, The Caroline Islands, 1899, p. 357 (Ponapé); Finsch, Notes Leyden Mus., 22, 1900, p. 142 (Ponapé); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1902, p. 29 (Puinipet); Uchida, Annot. Zool. Japon., 9, 1918, pp. 484, 493 (Ponapé); Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 192 (Ponapé).
Chalcopsittacus rubiginosus Finsch, Sammlung wissensch. Vorträge, 14th Ser., 1900, p. 639 (Ponapé).
Oenopsittacus rubiginosus Reichenow, Die Vögel, 1, 1913, p. 443 (Karolinen = Ponapé); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 58 (Ponapé); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 295 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 181 (Ponapé).
Eos rubiginosus Takastukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 53 (Ponapé).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Ponapé.
Characters.—Adult: A medium-sized, dark raspberry-red lory with head and nape deep purplish-red; upper back, scapulars, and upper wing-coverts raspberry-red, edged with blackish; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts more purplish; tail yellowish-green becoming more yellow and less green toward tip; wings black with outer webs olivaceous-green; outer edges of primaries more yellowish; lores, chin, auriculars, sides of head, and neck deep purplish-red, chin feathers faintly barred with raspberry and edged with blackish; throat, breast, abdomen, and flanks raspberry-red, feathers edged with blackish except on lower abdomen; under tail-coverts orange-red, under wing-coverts deep purple with black edges; bill of male orange, of female paler yellow; feet black; iris of male light yellowish-orange, of female grayish-white.
Immature: Resembles adult, but with narrow and more sharply pointed tail feathers.
Measurements.—Measurements are presented in [table 29].
Table 29. Measurements of Trichoglossus rubiginosus
Sex No. Wing Tail Culmenybr />from
cereTarsus Adult males 18 147 105 20 16 (143-153) (100-110) (19-20) (15-17) Adult females 13 142 101 19 16 (141-146) (98-104) (18-19) (15-17) Specimens examined.—Total number, 31 (18 males, 13 females), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM—Ponapé, 2 (Feb. 12); AMNH—Ponapé, 29 (Nov.).
Nesting.—According to Coultas (field notes) the nest is placed in the top of a coconut tree or in a hollow of a large forest tree. He says that one egg is laid, but does not record dates of nesting. Four of the birds taken by Coultas at Ponapé in November had swollen gonads.
Molt.—Specimens taken in November by Coultas were either in fresh plumage or were completing the molt when obtained.
Parasites.—Uchida (1918:484, 493) found the bird lice (Mallophaga), Psittaconirmus harrisoni and Eomenopon denticulatus, on the Ponapé Lory.
Remarks.—There is little written information concerning the habits of the Ponapé lory. Mayr (1945a:291) describes the bird as being "very noisy" and with "habits apparently similar to T. haematodus." Coultas made a number of observations on this species; some of these unpublished notes are essentially as follows: Trichoglossus is common on Ponapé. It is found everywhere on the island, preferring the coconut palms; it is noisy and quarrelsome. The parrot travels usually in small groups of two to six or eight birds, keeping up a continuous chatter all of the time. This chatter quiets down into a very pleasant-sounding crooning-tone after sunset. Trichoglossus is a continual nuisance to the hunter, inquisitive and easily attracted by the slightest noise, to which the bird responds with a frantic yapping that frightens everything within a radius of a mile. One sometimes finds a bird alone working quietly about among the low trees of the high mountain ridges. The natives' name for the bird, "se ridt," means "always hide out in rain." The bird stays under a big leaf and keeps dry during the rain. This lory is intelligent, easily tamed, and sometimes learns to repeat a few words.
Evolutionary history of Trichoglossus rubiginosus.—The Ponapé Lory is the only native parrot in Micronesia. It is an aberrant species and seemingly is of long residence on the island, as indicated by its differences from related forms to the southward and southwestward. The bird shows some relationships to T. ornatus (Linnaeus) of Celebes, but the plumage of T. rubiginosus lacks the brilliant red, green, and yellow of this bird. The plumage of the Ponapé Lory is also softer in texture; this is a character exhibited also by other Micronesian birds, for example, Cleptornus and Colluricincla. T. rubiginosus and T. ornatus correspond, however, in having the feathers of the breast edged with blackish. T. rubiginosus resembles also T. flavovirides of Celebes and Sula in that the edges of the feathers of the breast are dark, no markings are present on the inner web of the wing, and feathers of the upper back are edged with dark coloring. T. rubiginosus may have been derived from either of these two species; however, it shows a close relationship also to the T. haematodus group from the Papuan region. In any case, the Ponapé Lory, isolated in Micronesia, has not the multicolored plumage of its relatives and has, instead, a rather uniformly colored plumage. The presence of this parrot at only a single island in Micronesia is difficult to explain; perhaps at one time the bird was more widely distributed in Micronesia, or it may be that the population represents a single successful invasion to Ponapé. Like Aplonis pelzelni, another endemic species at Ponapé, this lory may have reached the island as a straggler, perhaps being carried north by the prevailing winds in the post-nesting season.
Cuculus canorus telephonus Heine
Common Cuckoo
Cuculus telephonus Heine, Journ. f. Ornith., 1863, p. 332. (Type locality, Japan.)
Cuculus canorus Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 89, 100 (Pelew); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 4, 12 (Palau); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 10 (Pelew); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 63 (Pelew).
Cuculus canorus telephonus Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 57 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 181 (Palau); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 201 (Palau); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 302 (Palau).
Geographic range.—Breeds in northeastern Asia and Japan. Winters south to India, Malaysia, and Melanesia. In Micronesia: Palau Islands—exact locality not given.
Remarks.—The Common Cuckoo is a straggler on winter migration to the Palau Islands.
Cuculus saturatus horsfieldi Moore
Oriental Cuckoo
Cuculus horsfieldi Moore, in Moore and Horsfield, Cat. Birds Mus. Hon. East-India Co., 2, 1856-58 (1857), p. 703. (Type locality, Java.)
Cuculus striatus Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 89, 100 (Pelew); Finsch. Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 4, 12 (Palau); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 63 (Pelew).
Cuculus intermedius Wiglesworth. Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 10 (Pelew).
Cuculus optatus optatus Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 57 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 181 (Palau).
Cuculus saturatus horsfieldi Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 201 (Babelthuap, Koror); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 302 (Palau).
Geographic range.—Breeds in eastern Asia and Japan. Winters south to India, Malaysia, and Melanesia. In Micronesia: Palau Islands—Babelthuap, Koror.
Remarks.—The Oriental Cuckoo reaches the Palau Islands as a winter visitor. On November 11 and 25 of 1931, Coultas obtained four immature birds at Palau near taro swamps. The natives told him that the cuckoo visited the islands each year from December to June. On September 21 at Angaur the NAMRU2 party saw one bird which may have been this cuckoo.
Eudynamis taitensis (Sparrman)
Long-tailed New Zealand Cuckoo
Cuculus taitensis Sparrman, Mus. Carls., fasc, 2, 1787, pl. 32. (No type locality = Tahiti.)
Eudynamis tahitiensis Gräffe, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 2, 1873, p. 123 (Yap).
Eudynamis taitiensis Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 49 (Palau); idem, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 17, 20 (Ponapé); idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878), p. 778 (Ponapé); idem, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, pp. 284, 298 (Ponapé, Kuschai, Palaos, Marshalls); idem, Ibis, 1880, pp. 331, 332 (Taluit); idem, Ibis, 1881, pp. 104, 108, 113, 114 (Kushai, Uleai, Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, pp. 281, 299, 353 (Ponapé, Mortlock, Ruk); Christian, The Caroline Islands, 1899, p. 358 (Ponapé).
Urodynamis taitensis Finsch, Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 53 (Jaluit, Ponapé, Palau); Bogert, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 933, 1937, p. 9 (Palau, Ruk, Kusaie, Ponapé, Truk, Iringlove, Wozzie, Auru, Jaluit, Ratak); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 4, 1940, p. 40 (Palaus, Carolines, Marshall); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 201 (Palau, Truk, Lukunor, Ponapé, Kusaie, Jaluit, Elmore, Aurh, Wotze).
Urodynamis taitiensis Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 11 (Pelew, Ualan, Ponapé, Luganor, Taluit); idem, Ibis, 1893, p. 212 (Marshalls); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 7 (Ruk); Finsch, Notes Leyden Mus., 22, 1900, p. 120 (Ponapé, Palau, Kuschai, Ruk, Mortlock, Uleai, Jaluit); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 52 (Ruk); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 58 (Pelew, Ualan, Ponapé, Luganor, Ruk, Taluit); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 180 (Palau, Kusaie, Ponapé, Luganor, Truk, Jaluit, Elmore, Aurh, Wotze).
Urdynamis taitiensis Finsch, Sammulung wissensch. Vorträge, 14th ser., 1900, p. 659 (Palau).
Eudynamis taitiensis Schnee, Zool. Jahrbücher, 20, 1904, p. 389 (Marshalls); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 302 (Micronesia).
Geographic range.—Breeds in New Zealand and adjacent islands. Winters chiefly in Polynesia, also Melanesia and Micronesia. In Micronesia: Palau Islands—exact locality unknown; Caroline Islands—Yap, Lukunor, Truk, Ponapé, Kusaie; Marshall Islands—Jaluit, Elmore, Auru, Wotze, Bikini.
Characters.—Adult: A large, long-tailed cuckoo with upper parts dark brown; top of head spotted with white; wings, upper back and tail barred with rufous; underparts pale rufous or buffy-rufous with shafts of feathers streaked with brown.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 4 (2 males, 2 females), as follows: Caroline Islands, AMNH—Truk, 1 (Jan. 7)—Kusaie, 2 (March); Marshall Islands, USNM—Bikini, 1 (May 1).
Remarks.—Bogert (1937) has summarized the information known concerning the migration of the New Zealand Long-tailed Cuckoo. Its principal winter range is in eastern and central Polynesia: Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Union, Cook, Society, and Tuamotu islands. The bird reaches the northern extent of its range in the Marshall and Caroline islands (see map in Bogert, 1937:3-4). There are no records for the Marianas and only one record from the Palaus (taken by Peters, as recorded by Finsch, 1875:49). The bird is seemingly much more numerous as a winter visitor in the Marshall Islands than in the Caroline Islands. Coultas (field notes) writes that the cuckoo appears at Kusaie about the first of February. Bogert (1937) remarks that the cuckoo arrives at New Zealand for the breeding period in October or November and leaves for the northern wintering grounds in February or March.
Bogert (1937:11) discusses briefly the history of migration of this bird. She presents as a possible reason for the migration the fact that the cuckoo feeds principally on caterpillars and that as a consequence it moves northward to the tropics during the winter months because this food is not available at the breeding grounds in the winter months. Perhaps this cuckoo in developing its ability to fly long distances over water on migration has expanded the breadth of its range eastward into the oceanic islands, rather than westward through Malaysia and Melanesia, because it has found less competition from resident birds and from other migrants for feed and habitat. On many of the islands and atolls of the Pacific Basin, this species is the only land bird known.
Otus podarginus (Hartlaub and Finsch)
Palau Scops Owl
Noctua podargina Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 90. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)
Noctua podargina Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 4, 8, pl. 1, fig. 1 and 2 (Palau); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 720 (Pelew); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 407 (Palau).
Ninox podargina Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 2, 1875, p. 151 (Palau); Bolau, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 51 (Palau); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 61 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 181 (Palau).
Scops podargina Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 2, 1875, p. 313 (Palau); Nehrkorn, Journ. f. Ornith., 1879, p. 394 (Palau); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 3 (Pelew); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Palau); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 2, 1904, p. 883 (Pelew).
P[isorhina] podargina Reichenow, Die Vögel, 1913, p. 424 (Palau).
Otus podarginus Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 268 (Palau); Mayr. Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1269, 1944, p. 3 (Palau); idem, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 291 (Palau).
Pyrroglaux podargina Yamashina, Tori, 10, 1938, p. 1 (Pelew); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 4, 1940, p. 109 (Babelthuap, Koror); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 202 (Palau).
Geographic range.—Micronesia: Palau Islands—Koror, Babelthuap, Angaur.
Characters.—Adult male: A small owl with forehead and superciliary area whitish tinged with buff and narrowly barred blackish-brown; feathers at base of upper mandible with long, blackish shafts, crown and back rufous-brown; some feathers on neck narrowly barred ochraceous and black; some scapulars with outer webs barred dark brown and white; rump and upper tail-coverts dark rufous, barred white and dark brown; tail rufous, barred indistinctly dark brown, inner webs barred white and dark brown; wings sandy rufous, outer edges of all but first primary spotted buffy-white; lores rufous, shafts white; indistinct eye ring rufous; ear-coverts whitish with rufous tips, chin white; throat white narrowly barred with wavy dark lines and tipped with rufous; breast pale rufous, feathers barred with white and black; abdomen paler rufous; under tail-coverts often barred with black and white without rufous wash; under wing-coverts white barred with dark brown; bill and feet whitish; iris brown.
Adult female: Resembles adult male, but darker brown above with fine vermiculations of blackish color; underparts may be pale or dark rufous with slight or heavy white and brown barrings and spots.
Immature: Resembles adult male, but upper parts darker brown; forehead, crown, and back barred ochraceous and black; scapulars with white shaft streaks and spots of white; underparts more heavily barred.
Measurements.—Eight males measure: wing, 155-163 (159); tail, 82-88 (84); culmen, 22.0-23.5 (23.0); tarsus, 32-35 (33); two females measure: wing, 158, 165; tail, 83, 90; culmen, 23.5, 24.0; tarsus, 33, 35.
Specimens examined.—Total number, 11 (9 males, 2 females), as follows: Palau Islands, USNM—Koror, 1 (Nov. 3); AMNH—exact locality not given, 10 (Oct., Nov., Dec.).
Remarks.—Coultas (field notes) found the Palau Scops Owl fairly common around villages on the island of Koror. He obtained specimens at night with the use of a flashlight. He writes that the bird moves about considerably remaining on one perch and calling for only approximately three minutes. The bird stays in the mangrove thickets in the daylight hours. Marshall (1949:207) also found the owl at Koror as well as at Peleliu in 1945. He observed 33 pairs on Koror (approximately one-half of the total population) and four pairs on Peleliu. The NAMRU2 party did not find the owl in the southern Palaus in 1945.
Yamashina (1938:1) gave the Palau Scops Owl the generic name, Pyrroglaux. Mayr (1944b:3) has reviewed this treatment and presents evidence to show that the name Pyrroglaux should not be recognized and that the bird correctly belongs in the genus Otus. He presents a detailed discussion to show its relationship to O. spilocephalus, and that the characters possessed by O. podarginus are no more different or unusual than those found in other members of this widespread genus. It is pointed out that the reduction of the feathering is probably caused by the change in habitat—from a colder one in Asia to a warmer, tropical one in the Palaus. The bird is probably derived from O. spilocephalus of Asia and Malaysia.
Asio flammeus flammeus (Pontoppidan)
Short-eared Owl
Strix Flammea Pontoppidan, Danske, Atlas, 1, 1763, p. 617, pl. 25. (Type locality, Sweden.)
Strix stridula Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. "Uranie," Zool., 1824, pp. 680, 696 (Mariannes); idem, Ann. Sci. Nat. Paris, 6, 1825, p. 149 (Mariannes).