Geographic range.—Micronesia: Palau Islands—Babelthuap.
Characters.—Kuroda (1922a:27) describes the bird as follows, "Resembles E. trichroa (Kittlitz) from Carolines (the type from Kusaie), but distinguishable from it by the bill being much thicker and stouter, by the chin being tinged with blue, by the under-parts being paler throughout and somewhat tinged with bluish, by the rump and upper tail-coverts being bright crimson instead of dull crimson, by the central tail-feathers brownish red instead of dull crimson, by the distinct shafts of central tail-feathers and by longer wing and tail."
Measurements.—The measurements by Kuroda of a single specimen are listed in [table 53].
Remarks.—Only one specimen of this subspecies is known. The NAMRU2 party did not obtain any record of it in the southern Palaus in 1945. If still present in the islands, it may be confined to the higher forested areas of Babelthuap.
Evolutionary history of Erythrura trichroa in Micronesia.—The Blue-faced Parrot-finch has been recorded from Kusaie, Ponapé, Truk and Palau, which are all "high" islands of southern Micronesia. This bird belongs to a species which occurs in Melanesia, northern Australia, Celebes, and the Moluccas. Stresemann (1940:40) points out the interesting observation that this species ranges only east of Wallace's Line. Mayr (1931c:1-10) has reviewed the parrot-finches of the genus Erythrura and places E. trichroa in the subgenus Erythrura, noting that E. t. cyaneifrons from Banks and the New Hebrides is similar to the subspecies found in Micronesia. As a group the subspecies of E. trichroa are very similar, but the populations in Micronesia appear closest to subspecies from the Solomons, Admiralty Islands and possibly to E. t. modesta from the Moluccas, which appears to indicate that Micronesia was invaded from the south or from the southwest via the Moluccas. Whether the little known subspecies at Palau represents an independent invader from the Moluccas is uncertain.
Lonchura nigerrima minor (Yamashina)
Black-breasted Weaver-finch
Munia (Donacola) hunsteini minor Yamashina, in Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 43, 1931, p. 600. (Type locality, Ponapé.)
Lonchura hunsteini minor Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 171 (Ponapé, Truk); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 190 (Ponapé, Truk).