Aplonis opacus aeneus(Takatsukasa and Yamashina)

Aplonis opaca guamiMomiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 9. (Type locality, Guam).

Turdus columbinusLesson (part), Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 406 (Mariannes = Guam).

Lamproth[ornis] opacaKittlitz (part), Kupfertaf. Naturgesch. Vögel, 2, 1833, p. 11, pl. 15, fig. 2 (Marianen = Guam); idem (part), Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, pp. 298, 304 (Guahan).

Lamprotornis columbinusBonaparte (part), Consp. Avium, 1, 1850, p. 417 (Mariann. =Guam).

Lamprotornis columbinaHartlaub (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 167 (Mariannen =Guam); Kittlitz, Denkw. Reise russ. Amer. Micron, und Kamchat., 1, 1858, pp. 367, 376 (Guaham).

Calornis opacaGray (part), Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 26 (Ladrone or Marian Is.);idem, (part), Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 27 (Ladrone = Guam?).

Calornis kittlitziFinsch and Hartlaub (part), Fauna Centralpolynesiens, 1867, p. 109 (Marianen = Guam?); Oustalet, Le. Nat., 1889, p. 261 (Mariannes).

Calornis columbinaGiebel (part), Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 427 (Marianae = Guam?).

Calornis pacificusFinsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 17, 32 Marianne).

Aplonis kittlitziWiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 44 (Marianne; Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 212 (Guam, Saypan); Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 58 (Guam, Saipan); Wheeler, Report Island of Guam, 1900, p. 13 (Guam); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 54 (Marianas); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Guam); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 69 (Guam);idem, The Plant World, 7, 1904, p. 264 (Guam);idem, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 79 (Guam); Mearns, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 36, 1909, p. 477 (Guam); Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Marianas); Cox, Island of Guam, 1917, p. 21 (Guam); Bryan, Guam Rec, vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 25 (Guam).

Aplonis opacaWetmore (part), in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 219 (Guam).

Aplonis kittlitzi kurodaiMomiyama, Tori, 2, 1920, p. (Saipan).

Aplonis opaca guamiKuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 71 (Guam); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 847 (Guam); Yamashina, Tori, 7, 1932, p. 394 (Saipan, Rota); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 169 (Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan).

Aplonis opaca hartertiMomiyama (part), Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 10 (Type locality, Saipan); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 71 (Saipan); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 847 (Saipan).

Aplornis opaca hartertiTakatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 43, 1931, p. 487 (Saipan).

Aplornis opaca guamiTakatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 44, 1932, p. 221 (Tinian, Rota); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 188 (Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Guam).

Aplonis opacus guamiMayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 297 (Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan); Watson, The Raven, 17, 1946, p. 41 (Guam); Downs, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 49, 1946, p. 103 (Tinian); Stott, Auk, 1947, p. 527 (Saipan, Guam); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 69 (Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan).

Aplonis opacusWharton, Ecol. Monogr., 16, 1946, p. 174 (Guam); Strophlet, Auk, 1946, p. 540 (Guam); Baker, Condor, 49, 1947, p. 125 (Guam).

Geographic range.—Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan.

Characters.—Adult: Resembles closelyA. o. angusin the amount of greenish gloss present on the body feathers, but with slightly shorter and deeper bill.

Immature: Resembles the immature ofA. o. angusbut streaks on underparts brighter and less-dingy yellow.

Measurements.—Measurements are listed intable 45. The writer (1948:69) has given average measurements for the length of wing of adult males from Guam as 127, from Rota as 122, from Tinian as 131, and from Saipan as 131; for depth of bill of adult males from Guam as 9.0, from Rota as 9.0, from Tinian as 9.5, and from Saipan as 10.0.

Weights.—The NAMRU2 party obtained weights of six adult males from Guam as 84-96 (87); of eight adult females from Guam as 78-108 (86); of two juvenal males from Guam as 88 and 90; of five juvenal females from Guam as 77-87 (80); of two adult males from Rota as 70 and 83; and of five juvenal males from Rota as 64-80 (76).

Specimens examined.—Total number, 95 (55 males, 37 females, 3 unsexed), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM—Guam, 44 (Jan. 21, 22, Feb. 5, March 8, 13, April 12, May 18, 22, 24, 27, 29, 30, June 3, 4, 6, 14, 16, 18, July 6, 7, 14, 20, Aug. 24, Oct. 8, Nov. 19, 23)—Rota, 12 (Oct. 18, 19, 26, 27, Nov. 2)—Tinian, 4 (Oct. 12, 18); AMNH—Guam, 16 (Jan. 23, 24, 29, March 3, 12, 13, 24, May, Aug. 12, Nov. 23, 28, Dec. 26)—Tinian, 15 (Sept. 7, 8, 10, 11, 12)—Saipan, 4 (July 9, 17, Aug. 26, Sept. 2).

Nesting.—The NAMRU2 party found evidence of nesting by starlings at Guam as early as January 28, in 1945. On this date a bird was seen to carry food into a hollow tree at Oca Point. Signs of nesting activities were observed in the months that followed, the last record being obtained on June 11. Starlings nest in cavities in trees, in holes in rocky cliffs, and probably in the tops of coconut palms. On June 2 a nest was found by Muennink in a cavity of a banyan tree at Oca Point, Guam. The nest was approximately 12 feet from the ground and consisted of a flattened mass of green foliage at the bottom of the cavity. Two eggs found in the nest have been described by the author (1948:69) as "Niagara green" with scattered, irregular spots of color, near "russet," "Mars brown" and "pallid purple-drab," most abundant near the large ends. Measurements are 32.1 by 22.1 and 32.0 by 22.4.

Yamashina (1932a:394) records two eggs taken at Saipan on April 14, 1931; two eggs taken at Rota on March 10, 1931; and one egg taken at Rota on March 11, 1931. Seale (1901:54) writes that the starling nests in a hole in the dead trunk of the coconut palm and may lay three or four eggs. Hartert (1898:59) reports that two eggs were taken at Guam on March 11.

Food habits.—Probably the chief food of the starling at Guam is the fruit and seeds of the papaya. This plant grows in most parts of the island, especially in the lowlands where land uses have disturbed the climax vegetation. Many of the garden plots lay fallow during the war and were allowed to grow up in thick stands of papaya. As a fruit began to ripen, the starlings would peck out one side of a ripe fruit, feeding on the tissues and the seeds. It was seldom that a fully ripe papaya fruit was found that had not been at least partly eaten by the starlings. Apparently the birds do not feed on the fruit before it is fully ripened. Seeds of other types of vegetation were also eaten by the birds.

Parasites.—Wharton (1946:174) records the chigger (Acarina),Trombiculasp., from the starling at Guam.

Remarks.—According to Oustalet (1895:212), the starling was taken in the Marianas by the expedition in the "Uranie" in 1820 and by the expedition in the "Astrolabe" in 1829. Kittlitz, who visited Guam from March 1-20, 1828, also recorded the starling. It was not until 1922, however, that the starling in the Marianas was recognized as subspecifically distinct from the birds in the Carolines and Palaus.The Japanese ornithologists named the bird at Guam asA. o. guamiand the bird at Saipan asA. o. harterti, but later regarded these as a single subspeciesA. o. guami. Momiyama (1920:2) had, previously to the naming of the new forms in the Marianas, considered the bird at Saipan as belonging to the same subspecies as that found at Yap. Among named kinds,A. o. guamifound at Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan appears to be most closely related toA. o. angus. These two subspecies differ in that the streaking of the underparts in the immatures is brighter inA. o. guamiand duller inA. o. angus. The bird at Saipan has a longer wing and a deeper bill than the bird at Guam; however, birds at Tinian show intermediate measurements.

At Guam, the starling is the most numerous land bird. The writer (1947b:124), in counting birds along the roadways of Guam, recorded the starling on all of the 125 counts and found the birds to include more than one-half (57.3 percent) of all the birds seen. Starlings may have increased during the years of the war, with the disruption of normal agricultural activities allowing the growth of papaya and other food plants in fallow areas; however, the use of the birds as food by the islanders probably increased during the war.

As at other islands in Micronesia, the numbers of birds in immature plumage at Guam seemingly exceeds the number of birds in adult plumage. Animals which may prey on the starling at Guam include the feral house cat,Rattus mindanensis,Corvus kubaryi, and the large lizardVaranus indicus. The starling spends little time on the ground; it feeds principally in the trees, which might limit the amount of damage done to it by the feral house cats which are numerous on the island. The rat,R. mindanensis, is a semi-arboreal animal and may feed on eggs and young birds in nest cavities of trees or on cliffs. The crow,C. kubaryi, has a reputation for stealing chicken eggs from poultry yards and may prey on the eggs and young of the starling. The monitor lizard,V. indicus, is known to prey on the starling, as well as on the domestic chickens at farm houses. On January 31, 1945, one of these large lizards was seen descending a tree after robbing a nest of a starling; one of the starling's eggs was seen in the mouth of the lizard. The noise and commotion set up by the parent birds and by other starlings, which had been attracted to the area, did not appear to perturb the uninvited guest.

Downs (1946:103) writes that the starling at Tinian is less common than the white-eye,Zosterops conspicillata saypani. Gleize (1945:220) estimated the population of starlings on Tinian at 200.Coultas (field notes) found the starling abundant at Tinian in 1931, but he did not find the bird at Saipan. According to Stott (1947:527), the starling was abundant at Guam but "appeared to be common only locally on Saipan." He saw large flocks at the Marpi Point and Kingman Point areas on Saipan but found the bird less numerous elsewhere on the island. At Rota, the NAMRU2 party found the birds to be numerous and widely distributed over the island in 1945.

At Guam, the present writer observed behavior of the starling on January 31, 1945, which may have been a courtship ceremony. Two adults were perched on a palm frond approximately 20 feet above the ground. The bird which was perched more distally on the frond opened its tail fan-fashion, spread its wings and at irregular intervals picked up in its beak a part of the frond and then released it. As this behavior was taking place, the birds would call in a sweet ascending song, which reminded me very much of the song of the redwing blackbird of North America. This was indeed a contrast to the usual squawking notes of this subspecies.

Aplornis opaca aeneaTakatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 43, 1931, p. 487. (Type locality, Pagan.)

Aplonis kittlitziOustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 212 (Pagan, Agrigan).

Aplonis opaca hartertiMomiyama (part), Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 11 (Pagan, Agrigan); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 71 (Pagan, Agrigan).

Aplornis opaca aeneaHand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 187 (Asongsong = Asuncion, Agrigan, Pagan, Almagan).

Aplornis opaca aeneaTakatsukasa and Yamashina, Dobutsu. Zasshi, 44, 1932, p. 221 (Pagan, Almagan).

Aplonis opaca aeneaHand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 169 (Agrigan, Pagan, Almagan); Yamashina, Tori, 10, 1940, p. 673 (Asongsong).

Aplonis opacus aeneusMayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 297 (Agrigan, Pagan, Almagan); Borror, Auk, 64, 1947, p. 417 (Agrihan).

Geographic range.—Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Alamagan, Pagan, Agrihan, Asuncion.

Characters.—Adult: According to Takatsukasa and Yamashina (1931:487),A. o. aeneusresemblesA. o. oriiof Palau, but has a bronze rather than green luster.A. o. aeneusresemblesA. o. opacus, but has a smaller bill.

Remarks.—No specimens of this subspecies have been examined by me. Little information is available regarding the occurrence of this subspecies in the northern Marianas. Oustalet (1895:212) writes that Marche collected four specimens at Pagan and three at Agrihan. Borror (1947:417) writes that in 1945, it was a "common andabundant species" at Agrihan. He obtained one specimen between July 27 and August 14 and comments that it had a grasshopper in its stomach.

Evolutionary history of Aplonis opacus.—Aplonis opacusis known from the Mariana, Palau, and Caroline islands in Micronesia. It consists of several subspecies, which have relatively few distinguishing characteristics. No starlings are known in the Marshall and Gilbert islands, although atolls occur in these island-chains that offer a habitat approximately the same as those in the western Carolines now occupied byA. o. angus.

In regard to parental stock, Sharpe (1876:47) consideredA. opacusas "nothing but a slightly more metallic race ofC. mysolensis, with a still stouter bill." The species with which Sharpe comparedA. opacusis known from Mysol, Buru, and Ceram. Oustalet (1896:70) thought that theAplonisin Micronesia belonged to a group of starlings whose members are scattered through the Pacific islands including Cook, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Britain, New Guinea, Banta, Mysol, Salwatti, and Timor. Mayr (1941b:204) is of the opinion thatAplonisin Micronesia was derived from central Polynesia. Amadon (1943:8), in his study of the genera of starlings, placesA. opacuswithin a superspecies containingA. cinerascens,A. tabuensis,A. fuscus, and possiblyA. feadensisandA. cantoroides. All of these are blackish birds with greenish gloss with immatures having the underparts streaked. In comparingA. opacuswith these mentioned species and with other species ofAplonis, I find thatA. opacusmore closely resemblesA. feadensisandA. cantoroidesthan any others. Although there are differences in size of the bill, wing, and tail, these structures are proportionally the same. The streaked underparts of the immatures ofA. cantoroidesare much like that of the immatures ofA. opacus, whereas the immatures ofA. feadensisare only faintly streaked with whitish below. The eye ofA. cantoroidesis red, and that ofA. opacusis more nearly yellow. The ancestral stock from whichA. opacusdeveloped in Micronesia seemingly reached the area from Melanesia. In Micronesia the birds dispersed to various groups of islands from some point in the Caroline Islands. The birds are absent from the Marshall Islands. Perhaps the birds never reached the Marshall Islands or they may have been present in former times and disappeared since then.

Aplonis pelzelniFinsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875 (1876), p. 644. (Type locality, Ponapé.)

Aplonis pelzelniFinsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 17, 32, pl. 2, fig. 3 (Ponapé);idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878), p. 779 (Ponapé);idem, Journ, f. Ornith., 1880, p. 290 (Ponapé);idem, Ibis, 1881, pp. 110, 112, 115 (Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 281 (Ponapé); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 13, 1890, p. 136 (Ponapé); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 43 (Ponapé); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 215 (Ponapé); Bolau, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 62 (Ponapé); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 111, 112 (Ponapé); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 542 (Ponapé); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 355 (Ponapé); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Ponapé); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 70 (Ponapé); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 849 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 170 (Ponapé); Bequaert, Mushi, 12, 1939, p. 82 (Ponapé); Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, pp. 204, 213 (Ponapé); Bequaert, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 16, 1941, p. 290 (Ponapé); Mayr. Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 298 (Ponapé).

Aplornis pelzelniHand-List Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 189 (Ponapé).

Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Ponapé.

Characters.—Adult: A small, dark starling with upper parts sooty-brown, darker on head with forehead and lores blackish; wings, rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail lighter and more brownish than head; underparts paler and washed with olive-brown; bill and feet black; iris brown.

Immature: Resembles adult, but lighter brown, especially the underparts.

A. pelzelnidiffers fromA. opacusby having no gloss on the feathers, smaller size, more slender bill, and a brown iris.

Measurements.—Measurements are listed intable 46.

Specimens examined.—Total number, 59 (32 males, 24 females, 3 unsexed), from Caroline Islands, AMNH—Ponapé (Dec).

Nesting.—Coultas (field notes) obtained reports that the Ponapé Mountain Starling nests in cavities in trees and lays two eggs.

Table 46. Measurements ofAplonis pelzelni

10 adult males

10 adult females

Parasites.—Bequaert (1939:82 and 1941:290) records the fly (Hippoboscidae),Ornithoica pusilla, fromA. pelzelni.

Remarks.—Coultas (field notes) writes that "the Mountain Starling is a bird of the true mountain forest.... I did not record it below 1,400 feet. Natives tell me that the Mountain Starling formerly covered the whole of the island and that now some individuals can be found on the low atoll of Ant, to the westward of Ponapé. Unfortunately, I was not permitted to visit either Ant or Pakin." Coultas notes also that the birds are quiet and usually travel in pairs. They are easily attracted by squeaking the lips against the hand or by the cries of a wounded bird. Many of these starlings were taken in fruit trees. Coultas describes the call ofA. pelzelnias "weaker and finer" than that ofA. opacus. These two species may be found together, according to Coultas, butA. opacusis apparently the more aggressive and often drivesA. pelzelniaway. Richards (in litt.) found this bird to be "very rare" while on his visit to Ponapé in 1947-1948. He observed two individuals on January 15, 1948, at an elevation of approximately 600 or 700 feet. A male was taken.

Evolutionary history of Aplonis pelzelni.—The Ponapé Mountain Starling is a distinctive bird which evidently represents an ancient and single colonization of Micronesia. It lacks the green gloss which is found on many of the other starlings of the Pacific region. It has a brown iris, and the immatures lack the streaked underparts which are characteristic ofA. opacusand other species. The structure of its wing resembles that ofA. opacus, but the primaries are more rounded. It is apparently better adapted to forested uplands, whereasA. opacusand its relatives,A. cantoroidesandA. feadensis, appear to prefer lowland forests and coconut plantations. In habits and habitat preference,A. pelzelniseems to resembleA. santovestris, which is restricted to mountain environment on Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides. The describers of this starling, Harrisson and Marshall (1937:149), write that "Aplonis santovestrisapparently most closely resemblesA. pelzelnifrom Ponapé, especially in bill and tarsus." According to the description,A. santovestrisis approximately the size ofA. pelzelniwith brownish coloring, crown dark brown, lower back and rump dark rufous, wing and tail blackish-brown, underparts rufous-brown, and iris grayish-green. These two birds are separated geographically and apparently exhibit evidences of parallel development. Possibly they came from a common ancestral stock. Mayr (1941b:204) writes thatA. pelzelnibelongs with the starlings of the Polynesian area. I have comparedA. pelzelniwith other starlings of the Southwest Pacific, includingA.feadensis,A. cantoroides, andA. zealandicus, but see no close resemblances.

Lamprothornis corvinaKittlitz, Kupfertaf. Naturgesch. Vögel, 2, 1833, p. 12, pl. 15, fig. 3. (Type locality, Ualan = Kusaie.)

Lamprothornis corvina, Kittlitz, Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Peterbourg, 2, 1835, p. 7, pl. 9 (Ualan);idem, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 285 (Ualan).

Lamprotornis corvinaBonaparte, Consp. Avium, 1, 1850, p. 417 (Ualan); Hartlaub, Archiv. f. Naturgesch., 18, 1852, p. 133 (Ualan); Kittlitz, Denkw. Reise russ. Amer. Micron. und Kamchat., 2, 1858, pp. 25, 43, 59, 103 (Ualan); Finsch, Ibis, 1881, p. 104 (Kuschai).

Lamprocorax corvinusHartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 168 (Carolinen = Kusaie); Sclater, Ibis, 1859, p. 327 (Caroline = Kusaie); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 543 (Kuschai).

Calornis (Lamprocorax?) corvinaGray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 25 (Oualan).

Sturnoides corvinaFinsch and Hartlaub, Fauna Centralpolynesiens, 1867, p. 108 (Ualan); Finsch, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, pp. 297, 302 (Kuschai).

Calornis corvinaGray, Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 27 (Caroline = Kusaie); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 100 (Ualan); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 427 (Caroline = Kusaie); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 13, 1890, p. 137 (Kuschai); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 46 (Ualan or Kushai); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ualan); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Kusaie).

Sturnoides corvinusFinsch, Ibis, 1881, pp. 107, 108 (Kushai).

Kittlitzia corvinaHartert, Kat. Vogelsamml. Senckenb., 1891, p. 75 (Ualan); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 72 (Kusaie); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 853 (Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 169 (Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 187 (Kusaie).

Aplonis corvinaReichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 356 (Ualan); Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, p. 213 (Kusaie).

Aplonis corvinusMayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 298 (Kusaie).

Geographic range.—Micronesia: Caroline Islands—Kusaie, probably extinct for many years.

Characters.—According to Sharpe (1890:137), "Shining black; each feather with a glossy margin, varying from steel-green to purplish red; bill and feet black (Kittlitz)."

Remarks.—Kittlitz obtained two specimens of a unique starling at Kusaie when he visited the island in December and January, 1827-'28. He named the birds as new and deposited the specimens in the museum in St. Petersburg. The bird has not been found at Kusaie since that time. Sharpe (1890:137-138, footnote) writes "This species I have never seen, and Dr. Finsch did not meet with it during his visit to Kuschai. He writes to me:—'It no doubt exists on Kuschai, just as it did when Kittlitz visited the island. Nobody has reached the mountains in the interior since Kittlitz's time; and it is strictly a mountain bird.'" Coultas spent considerable time searching the higher areas of Kusaie for the bird in 1931.

The Kusaie Mountain Starling apparently represents an earlyinvasion of Micronesia, independent of that of any other starling in the area and perhaps the earliest of the three colonizations by starlings in Micronesia. The drawing of the bird as pictured by Kittlitz (1833:pl. 14, fig. 3) shows the long bill to be one of its distinctive characters. This suggests relationship toA. atrifuscusof Samoa, as noted by Mayr (1942a:6).A. atrifuscusis larger thanA. opacuswith a longer bill and gloss on some of the feathering of the body; it looks a good deal like the drawing ofA. corvinusby Kittlitz.A. corvinusmay also have some relation toA. magnusof Biak, although this species has a longer tail and a shorter bill.A. corvinusprobably has undergone an evolutionary development which parallels that ofA. atrifuscusand possibly other species in the Polynesian and Melanesian areas. The ancestral stock from whichA. corvinuswas derived may have been close toA. grandis, which is found in the Solomon area.A. grandisis a forest bird, somewhat solitary in habits.

[Motacilla]philippensisForster, Ind. Zool., 1781, p. 41. (Type locality, Philippines.)

Sturnus philippensisMayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 302 (Palau).

Geographic range.—Breeds in Japan. Winters to the Philippine Islands. In Micronesia: Palau Islands—exact locality unknown.

Remarks.—Mayr (1945a:302) records this starling as a migrant visitor to the Palau Islands. Coultas obtained an immature female of this species at Palau on October 13, 1931.

Sturnus cineraceusTemminck, Pl. Col. 2, 1832, pl. 556. (Type locality, Japan.)

Spodiopsar cineraceaKishida, Lansania, 1, 1929, p. 17 (Saipan); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 187 (Saipan).

Geographic range.—Breeds in eastern Asia and Japan. Winters in southern China and Philippines. In Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Saipan.

Remarks.—The Ashy Starling has been reported from Saipan by Kishida. It probably is a casual winter migrant.

Ptilotis MarcheiOustalet, Le Nat., 1889, p. 260. (Type locality, Saypan.)

Cleptornis marcheiWiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 35 (Saypan); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 56 (Saipan); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Saipan); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 60 (Saipan); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 722 (Marianne = Saipan); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 64 (Marianne = Saipan); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 75 (Saipan); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 788 (Saipan); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 171 (Saipan); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 190 (Saipan); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 298 (Saipan); Stott, Auk, 64, 1947, p. 527 (Saipan).

Ptilotis (Cleptornis) marcheiOustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 202 (Saypan).

Geographic range.—Micronesia: Mariana Islands—Saipan.

Characters.—Adult: A small honey-eater with head, rump, and underparts near "light cadmium" becoming lighter on the chin and darker on the nape; back near "orange-citrine"; wings and tail feathers brown with outer edges colored like back and inner edges whitish; orbital ring pale yellow; breast, belly, sides, and under tail- and upper tail-coverts near "raw sienna"; under wing-coverts pale yellow; axillaries yellow; bill and feet light yellow-brown, maxilla darker; iris chestnut-brown. Immature has lighter bill.

Measurements.—Measurements are listed intable 47.

Table 47. Measurements ofCleptornis marchei

Specimens examined.—Total number, 17 (9 males, 8 females), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM—Saipan, 4 (July 11, Dec. 15); AMNH—Saipan, 13 (July 8, Aug. 1, 10, 13, 14, 21, 30, Sept. 3, 7, 9, 15).

Nesting.—Hartert (1898:56) reports that one nest of the Golden Honey-eater was found on July 7. It was hung from a fork of a branch, "like the nest of a golden Oriole." He writes that four other nests were obtained in late August. Hartert describes the egg as "pale blue without gloss, spotted over and over with rufous, more so on the thicker end, and measures about 20:15 mm."

Molt.—Specimens taken in July, August, and September are molting.

Remarks.—Oustalet (1895:202) writes that Marche obtained 25 specimens of the Golden Honey-eater at Saipan in May, June, and July, 1887. Little is known regarding its habits; Moran (1946:262) writes that the bird "reminds one of the prothonotary warbler, with a long, curved, black bill." Stott (1947:527) writes that "it appears to be restricted to a single habitat, that of dense forest." He found the bird in forest on the north shore of Magicienne Bay. Coultas obtained only one specimen on his visit to Saipan in 1931. Marshall (1949:216) records some interesting observations of this bird made in 1945. He notes (op. cit.p. 219) that the bird breeds in January, February and April.

Not only is it remarkable that the Golden Honey-eater has become established on a single island in a rather closely associated chain of islands, but it is also difficult to determine from where the bird came. It seemingly has no close relatives in the Micronesian area. Oustalet (1895:202) points out that one has to go to New Guinea, Moluccas, Australia, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga in order to find related forms. In looking through the large collections of Meliphagidae in the American Museum of Natural History, I found only a few genera to which the Saipan Golden Honey-eater seems to be closely related.Timeliopsisof New Guinea has some resemblances toCleptornis, although the coloration is different.Timeliopsishas a similar bill, but has a longer tail and longer wing; the shortness of the wing inCleptornisis not unusual since other insular forms also exhibit this characteristic.

PerhapsCleptornisis closer to the genusMeliphagaof New Guinea and Australia, which has become differentiated into a number of diverse species and subspecies.Cleptorniscompares rather favorably withM. pencillata carteriof Australia, but differs by the softness of its feathers and the shorter wing and shorter tail. It shows also some affinities withM. flavaof Australia, particularly in shape of bill; the coloration of the feathers is light olive-green inM. flava. The bird at Saipan seemingly has no relationships with the Hawaiian honey-eaters.

Cinnyris rubraterLesson, Dict. Sci. Nat., éd. Levrault, 50, 1827, p. 30. (Type locality, Oualan = Kusaie.)

Cinnyris rubraterLesson (part), Voy. "La Coquille," Zool., 2, 1828, pp. 433, 678 (Oualan);idem(part), Man. d'Ornith., 2, 1828, p. 55 (Oualan);idem(part), Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 299 (Oualan); Kittlitz (part), Kupfertaf. Naturgesch. Vögel, 1832, p. 6, pl. 8, fig. 1 (Ualan);idem(part), Denkw. Reise russ. Amer. Micron. und Kamchat., 1, 1858, pp. 364, 381; 2, 1858, pp. 39, 49 (Ualan).

Certhia CardinalisKittlitz, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, 2, 1835, p. 4 (Ualan).

Cinnyris cardinalisKittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 285 (Ualan).

Myzomela sanguinolentaBonaparte, Consp. Avium, 1, 1850, p. 394 (no loc. = Kusaie?).

Myzomela rubraterHartlaub (part), Archiv. f. Naturgesch., 18, 1852, pp. 109, 131 (Ualan); Finsch and Hartlaub, Fauna Centralpolynesiens, 1867, p. 57 (Ualan).

Myzomela rubratraHartlaub (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 168 (Carolinen = Kusaie);idem(part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867 (1868), p. 829 (Carolines = Kusaie); Hartlaub and Finsch (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 95 (Ualan); Giebel (part), Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 681 (Carolinae = Kusaie); Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, p. 26 (Ualan); Forbes (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1879, p. 271 (Ualan); Finsch (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, pp. 285, 298 (Kuschai);idem(part), Ibis, 1881, pp. 103, 108, 111 (Kuschai);idem(part), Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 48 (Ualan); Hartert, Kat. Vogelsamml. Senckenb., 1891, p. 31 (Ualan); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 31 (Ualan); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, pp. 201, 202 (Kushai); Hartert (part), Novit, Zool., 5, 1898, p. 56 (Ualan); Dubois (part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 716 (Carolines = Kusaie).

Certhia sanguinolentaKittlitz, Denkw. Reise russ. Amer. Micron, und Kamchat., 1, 1858, p. 364 (Ualan).

Myzomela majorGray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 11 (Oualan?).

Myzomela rubrataMatschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ualan).

Myzomela rubratra rubratraWetmore, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 30, 1917, p. 117 (Kusaie); Wetmore (part), in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 219 (Kusaie); Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, pp. 15, 20, 21, 22, (Kusaie); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 72 (Kusaie); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 743 (Oualan); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), rev., 1932, p. 172 (Kusaie); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), 3d ed., 1942, p. 191 (Kusaie).

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