Table 42. Measurements of Adult Specimens of Myiagra oceanica

SubspeciesNumber
and
sex
WingTailExposed
culmen
Tarsus
M. o. erythrops

14 males

695316.419.5
(68-71)(51-56)(16.0-17.3)(18.5-20)

11 females

665116.119.5
(64-68)(48-53)(15.5-17.0)(18.5-20)
M. o. freycineti

25 males

706016.319.5
(67-73)(57-64)(15.8-17.0)(18.5-20)

16 females

675716.019.0
(65-70)(55-62)(15.5-17.0)(18.0-19)
M. o. oceanica

11 males

816820.120.0
(78-83)(65-71)(19.5-20.5)(19.5-21)

10 females

796620.020.0
(77-81)(65-68)(20.0-20.5)(19-20.5)
M. o. pluto

14 males

827417.519.0
(79-83)(71-77)(17.5-18.0)(18.5-20)

14 females

807317.519.0
(78-84)(69-77)(17.0-18.0)(18.5-20)

Specimens examined.—Total number, 33 (17 males, 15 females, 1 unsexed), as follows: Palau Islands, USNM—Babelthuap, 1 (Nov. 27)—Koror, 4 (Nov. 6, 19, 26)—Garakayo, 1 (Sept. 18)—Peleliu, 2 (Aug. 30)—Ngabad, 2 (Sept. 11); AMNH—exact locality not given, 23 (Oct., Nov., Dec.).

Molt.—Molt apparently takes place in fall and early winter. Of the specimens examined, there is little evidence of molt in those obtained in August and September while there is considerably more evidence of molt in those taken in November and December.

Food habits.—A bird taken by the writer on September 17, 1945, at Garakayo had approximately one-half cc. of insect parts in its stomach.

Remarks.—The Micronesian Broadbill at Palau is a friendly little bird and easily called-up to within a few yards of a person by imitating its note. It was seen by the NAMRU2 party in 1945 as singles and in pairs in the dense underbrush of the undisturbed forested areas. The bird was seen at only one woodland area at Peleliu (Southeastern Peninsula), but it was observed more frequently on the smaller islands of Ngabad and Garakayo. Coultas (field notes) also notes that in 1931 this bird was found more frequently on the smaller islands. Myiagra was found to be much less conspicuous at Palau than Rhipidura lepida. Myiagra appears to be less active, more solitary in its habits, and possibly more restricted in the territory that it covers in feeding than Rhipidura.

Myiagra oceanica freycineti Oustalet

Micronesian Broadbill

Myiagra freycineti Oustalet, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, (7), 5, 1881, p. 73. (Type locality, Mariannes = Guam.)