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.
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).