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

by Rollin H. Baker

Parasites.—Wharton (1946:174) obtained the chigger (Acarina), Trombicula sp., from this bird at Guam.

Remarks.—The Rufous-fronted Fantail at Guam is a bird of the forest and forest scrub. It prefers the areas where leafy undergrowth is present. It moves rapidly about continually fluttering its wings and spreading its long fanlike tail. The birds are usually observed in pairs. On January 21, 1945, E. W. Coleman of the NAMRU2 party killed a fantail but before he could retrieve it, a large toad (Bufo marinus) seized the fallen bird and carried it into a hole in the ground.

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).