Gallicolumba xanthonura kubaryi(Finsch)

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),Trombiculasp., 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 ofG. canifronsof 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 ofthe 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 DovePhlegoenas KubaryiFinsch, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 292. (Type locality, Ruck and Ponapé.)Phlegoenas erythropteraBonaparte, 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 kubaryiReichenow 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 erythropteraFinsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 576 (Ponapé, Ruk); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 52 (Ruk).Phlogoenas kubaryiSalvadori, 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 kubaryiChristian, The Caroline Islands, 1899, p. 357 (Ponapé).Gallicolumba kubaryiMathews, 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 kubaryiMayr, 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 ofG. 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 inG. 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 intable 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 byC. 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 ofG. x. kubaryiat 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 ofC. x. xanthonuraat 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 genusGallicolumba. One invasion establishedG. canifronsat the Palau Islands. The other established the populations ofG. xanthonurain the Caroline and Mariana islands, Mayr (1936:4) points out thatG. xanthonurais related toG. jobiensis(New Guinea and Northern Melanesia),G. erythroptera(Society and Tuamotu islands), andG. rubescens(Marquesas Islands). This group may be regarded as a superspecies. The adults ofG. 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. xanthonurais closely related toG. jobiensis, and they conceivably, along withG. erythroptera, might be considered conspecific. The close relationship between theG. xanthonurain Micronesia andG. erythropterahas been noted by Oustalet (1896:71). Among named kinds,G. x. kubaryimost closely resemblesG. jobiensiswith sooty-black coloring present on the head. The male and female ofG. x. kubaryiclosely 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.InG. x. xanthonurathe 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. InG. erythropterathe 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 ofG. erythropteraresembles the female ofG. x. xanthonuraexcept 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 ofGallicolumbainclude 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. rubescensof 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 ofGallicolumbahas evolved from a center of evolution in the region of New Guinea (as shown infigure 14) with a colonization of Micronesia, from which (probably fromG. x. kubaryi) an invasion of eastern Polynesia occurred establishingG. erythropterain the Society and Tuamotu islands, although it is also possible thatG. erythropteramay 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 includingAcrocephalus,Myzomela, andZosteropsmay have followed similar paths of dispersal from Micronesia into Polynesia. Apparently a population isolated in the Marquesas has evolved the distinctiveG. rubescens.Caloenas nicobarica pelewensisFinschNicobar PigeonCaloenas nicobaricavar.pelewensisFinsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 159 (in reprint p. 27). (Type locality, Palau.)Caloenas nicobarica pelewensisMathews, 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 nicobaricaSalvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 211 (Pelew); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und. Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 57 (Pelew).Caloenas pelewensisSalvadori, 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 pelewensisKuroda, 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.ResemblesC. 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. nicobaricais 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. nicobaricaappears 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 theroad to extinction unless governmental protection can be established and enforced.Trichoglossus rubiginosus(Bonaparte)Ponapé LoryChalcopsitta rubiginosusBonaparte, 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 rubiginosusBonaparte, 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 rubiginosaFinsch, Die Papageien, 2, 1868, p. 781 (Puynipet); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 88 (Puinipet).Lorius rubiginosusGray, Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 153 (Puynipet); Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 3, no. 38, 1874, p. 58 (Puynipet).Lorius rubiginosaGiebel, Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 502 (Senjawin = Ponapé).Trichoglossus rubiginosusFinsch, 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 rubiginosaSalvadori, 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 rubiginosusFinsch, Sammlung wissensch. Vorträge, 14th Ser., 1900, p. 639 (Ponapé).Oenopsittacus rubiginosusReichenow, 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 rubiginosusTakastukasa 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 intable 29.Table 29. Measurements ofTrichoglossus rubiginosusSexNo.WingTailCulmenybr />fromcereTarsusAdult males181471052016(143-153)(100-110)(19-20)(15-17)Adult females131421011916(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 harrisoniandEomenopon 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 toT. haematodus." Coultas made a number of observations on this species; some of these unpublished notes are essentially as follows:Trichoglossusis 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.Trichoglossusis 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 toT. ornatus(Linnaeus) of Celebes, but the plumage ofT. rubiginosuslacks 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,CleptornusandColluricincla.T. rubiginosusandT. ornatuscorrespond, however, in having the feathers of the breast edged with blackish.T. rubiginosusresembles alsoT. flavoviridesof 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. rubiginosusmay have been derived from either of these two species; however, it shows a close relationship also to theT. haematodusgroup 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. LikeAplonis 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 telephonusHeineCommon CuckooCuculus telephonusHeine, Journ. f. Ornith., 1863, p. 332. (Type locality, Japan.)Cuculus canorusHartlaub 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 telephonusKuroda, 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 horsfieldiMooreOriental CuckooCuculus horsfieldiMoore, in Moore and Horsfield, Cat. Birds Mus. Hon. East-India Co., 2, 1856-58 (1857), p. 703. (Type locality, Java.)Cuculus striatusHartlaub 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 intermediusWiglesworth. Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 10 (Pelew).Cuculus optatus optatusKuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 57 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 181 (Palau).Cuculus saturatus horsfieldiHand-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 CuckooCuculus taitensisSparrman, Mus. Carls., fasc, 2, 1787, pl. 32. (No type locality = Tahiti.)Eudynamis tahitiensisGräffe, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 2, 1873, p. 123 (Yap).Eudynamis taitiensisFinsch, 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 taitensisFinsch, 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 taitiensisWiglesworth, 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 taitiensisFinsch, Sammulung wissensch. Vorträge, 14th ser., 1900, p. 659 (Palau).Eudynamis taitiensisSchnee, 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 OwlNoctua podarginaHartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 90. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)Noctua podarginaFinsch, 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 podarginaSharpe, 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 podarginaSharpe, 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] podarginaReichenow, Die Vögel, 1913, p. 424 (Palau).Otus podarginusMathews, 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 podarginaYamashina, 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 namePyrroglauxshould not be recognized and that the bird correctly belongs in the genusOtus. He presents a detailed discussion to show its relationship toO. spilocephalus, and that the characters possessed byO. podarginusare 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 fromO. spilocephalusof Asia and Malaysia.Asio flammeus flammeus(Pontoppidan)Short-eared OwlStrix FlammeaPontoppidan, Danske, Atlas, 1, 1763, p. 617, pl. 25. (Type locality, Sweden.)Strix stridulaQuoy and Gaimard, Voy. "Uranie," Zool., 1824, pp. 680, 696 (Mariannes);idem, Ann. Sci. Nat. Paris, 6, 1825, p. 149 (Mariannes).

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),Trombiculasp., 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 ofG. canifronsof 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 ofthe 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.

Phlegoenas KubaryiFinsch, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 292. (Type locality, Ruck and Ponapé.)

Phlegoenas erythropteraBonaparte, 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 kubaryiReichenow 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 erythropteraFinsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 576 (Ponapé, Ruk); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 52 (Ruk).

Phlogoenas kubaryiSalvadori, 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 kubaryiChristian, The Caroline Islands, 1899, p. 357 (Ponapé).

Gallicolumba kubaryiMathews, 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 kubaryiMayr, 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 ofG. 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 inG. 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 intable 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 byC. 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 ofG. x. kubaryiat 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 ofC. x. xanthonuraat 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 genusGallicolumba. One invasion establishedG. canifronsat the Palau Islands. The other established the populations ofG. xanthonurain the Caroline and Mariana islands, Mayr (1936:4) points out thatG. xanthonurais related toG. jobiensis(New Guinea and Northern Melanesia),G. erythroptera(Society and Tuamotu islands), andG. rubescens(Marquesas Islands). This group may be regarded as a superspecies. The adults ofG. 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. xanthonurais closely related toG. jobiensis, and they conceivably, along withG. erythroptera, might be considered conspecific. The close relationship between theG. xanthonurain Micronesia andG. erythropterahas been noted by Oustalet (1896:71). Among named kinds,G. x. kubaryimost closely resemblesG. jobiensiswith sooty-black coloring present on the head. The male and female ofG. x. kubaryiclosely 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.

InG. x. xanthonurathe 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. InG. erythropterathe 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 ofG. erythropteraresembles the female ofG. x. xanthonuraexcept 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 ofGallicolumbainclude 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. rubescensof 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 ofGallicolumbahas evolved from a center of evolution in the region of New Guinea (as shown infigure 14) with a colonization of Micronesia, from which (probably fromG. x. kubaryi) an invasion of eastern Polynesia occurred establishingG. erythropterain the Society and Tuamotu islands, although it is also possible thatG. erythropteramay 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 includingAcrocephalus,Myzomela, andZosteropsmay have followed similar paths of dispersal from Micronesia into Polynesia. Apparently a population isolated in the Marquesas has evolved the distinctiveG. rubescens.

Caloenas nicobaricavar.pelewensisFinsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, p. 159 (in reprint p. 27). (Type locality, Palau.)

Caloenas nicobarica pelewensisMathews, 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 nicobaricaSalvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 211 (Pelew); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und. Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 57 (Pelew).

Caloenas pelewensisSalvadori, 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 pelewensisKuroda, 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.

ResemblesC. 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. nicobaricais 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. nicobaricaappears 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 theroad to extinction unless governmental protection can be established and enforced.

Chalcopsitta rubiginosusBonaparte, 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 rubiginosusBonaparte, 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 rubiginosaFinsch, Die Papageien, 2, 1868, p. 781 (Puynipet); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 88 (Puinipet).

Lorius rubiginosusGray, Hand-list Birds, 2, 1870, p. 153 (Puynipet); Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 3, no. 38, 1874, p. 58 (Puynipet).

Lorius rubiginosaGiebel, Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 502 (Senjawin = Ponapé).

Trichoglossus rubiginosusFinsch, 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 rubiginosaSalvadori, 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 rubiginosusFinsch, Sammlung wissensch. Vorträge, 14th Ser., 1900, p. 639 (Ponapé).

Oenopsittacus rubiginosusReichenow, 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 rubiginosusTakastukasa 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 intable 29.

Table 29. Measurements ofTrichoglossus rubiginosus

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 harrisoniandEomenopon 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 toT. haematodus." Coultas made a number of observations on this species; some of these unpublished notes are essentially as follows:Trichoglossusis 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.Trichoglossusis 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 toT. ornatus(Linnaeus) of Celebes, but the plumage ofT. rubiginosuslacks 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,CleptornusandColluricincla.T. rubiginosusandT. ornatuscorrespond, however, in having the feathers of the breast edged with blackish.T. rubiginosusresembles alsoT. flavoviridesof 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. rubiginosusmay have been derived from either of these two species; however, it shows a close relationship also to theT. haematodusgroup 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. LikeAplonis 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 telephonusHeine, Journ. f. Ornith., 1863, p. 332. (Type locality, Japan.)

Cuculus canorusHartlaub 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 telephonusKuroda, 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 horsfieldiMoore, in Moore and Horsfield, Cat. Birds Mus. Hon. East-India Co., 2, 1856-58 (1857), p. 703. (Type locality, Java.)

Cuculus striatusHartlaub 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 intermediusWiglesworth. Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 10 (Pelew).

Cuculus optatus optatusKuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 57 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 181 (Palau).

Cuculus saturatus horsfieldiHand-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.

Cuculus taitensisSparrman, Mus. Carls., fasc, 2, 1787, pl. 32. (No type locality = Tahiti.)

Eudynamis tahitiensisGräffe, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 2, 1873, p. 123 (Yap).

Eudynamis taitiensisFinsch, 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 taitensisFinsch, 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 taitiensisWiglesworth, 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 taitiensisFinsch, Sammulung wissensch. Vorträge, 14th ser., 1900, p. 659 (Palau).

Eudynamis taitiensisSchnee, 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.

Noctua podarginaHartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 90. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)

Noctua podarginaFinsch, 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 podarginaSharpe, 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 podarginaSharpe, 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] podarginaReichenow, Die Vögel, 1913, p. 424 (Palau).

Otus podarginusMathews, 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 podarginaYamashina, 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 namePyrroglauxshould not be recognized and that the bird correctly belongs in the genusOtus. He presents a detailed discussion to show its relationship toO. spilocephalus, and that the characters possessed byO. podarginusare 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 fromO. spilocephalusof Asia and Malaysia.

Strix FlammeaPontoppidan, Danske, Atlas, 1, 1763, p. 617, pl. 25. (Type locality, Sweden.)

Strix stridulaQuoy and Gaimard, Voy. "Uranie," Zool., 1824, pp. 680, 696 (Mariannes);idem, Ann. Sci. Nat. Paris, 6, 1825, p. 149 (Mariannes).

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