Part 100

Remarks.--The Tinian Monarch is known only from Tinian, where it was described in 1931 by Yamashina. Downs (1946:100-103) presents a detailed account of this bird as he saw it in 1945. He found it living in brushy woodlands where other birds, including Rhipidura rufifrons, were observed. From his description, the actions and food-catching behaviors of this bird must be much like those of Rhipidura. Gleise (1945:220) estimated the population of these birds to be 40 to 50 in 1945.

=Myiagra oceanica erythrops= Hartlaub and Finsch

Micronesian Broadbill

Myiagra erythrops Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 6. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)

Myiagra erythrops Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, pp. 117, 118 (Pelew Islands); idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 89, 97 (Pelew); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 4, 20 (Palau); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 2, 1875, p. 658 (Pelew); Nehrkorn, Journ. f. Ornith., 1879, pp. 399, 403 (Palau); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 4, 1879, p. 383 (Pelew); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 407 (Palau); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 23 (Pelew); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 195 (Palaos); Bolau, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 55 (Palau); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113 (Palau); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 283 (Pelew); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 260 (Palau); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 54 (Pelew); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 64 (Pelew); Yamashina, Tori, 10, 1940, p. 674 (Palau); Handlist Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 195 (Babelthuap, Koror); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 69 (Peleliu, Ngabad, Garakayo).

Submyiagra erythrops Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 504 (Palau); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 176 (Palau).

Myiagra oceanica erythrops Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 296 (Palau).

Geographic range.--Micronesia: Palau Islands--Babelthuap, Koror, Garakayo, Peleliu, Ngabad.

Characters.--Adult male: Crown, occiput, nape, and auriculars dark "slate-blue"; forehead, lores and orbital ring dark "cinnamon-rufous"; black and upper wing-coverts olive-brown; rump more like crown; underparts near "cinnamon," paler on middle of abdomen, sides, and under tail-coverts; wings and tail dark brown, edged with white; secondaries edged with brownish; under wing-coverts whitish with dusky bases; bill and feet black.

Adult female: Resembles adult male, but slightly smaller and paler in color.

Immature: Resembles adult, but head and rump browner; forehead, lores, and orbital ring sandy in some individuals, more rufous in others; underparts usually paler than in adult; bill basally lighter.

Measurements.--Measurements are listed in table 42.

TABLE 42. MEASUREMENTS OF ADULT SPECIMENS OF Myiagra oceanica

==================+============+=========+=========+=============+========== | Number | | | | SUBSPECIES | and sex | Wing | Tail | Full culmen | Tarsus ------------------+------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------- M. o. erythrops | 14 males | 69 | 53 | 16.4 | 19.5 | | (68-71) | (51-56) | (16.0-17.3) | (18.5-20) | | | | | | 11 females | 66 | 51 | 16.1 | 19.5 | | (64-68) | (48-53) | (15.5-17.0) | (18.5-20) | | | | | M. o. freycineti| 25 males | 70 | 60 | 16.3 | 19.5 | | (67-73) | (57-64) | (15.8-17.0) | (18.5-20) | | | | | | 16 females | 67 | 57 | 16.0 | 19.0 | | (65-70) | (55-62) | (15.5-17.0) | (18.0-19) | | | | | M. o. oceanica | 11 males | 81 | 68 | 20.1 | 20.0 | | (78-83) | (65-71) | (19.5-20.5) | (19.5-21) | | | | | | 10 females | 79 | 66 | 20.0 | 20.0 | | (77-81) | (65-68) | (20.0-20.5) | (19-20.5) | | | | | M. o. pluto | 14 males | 82 | 74 | 17.5 | 19.0 | | (79-83) | (71-77) | (17.5-18.0) | (18.5-20) | | | | | | 14 females | 80 | 73 | 17.5 | 19.0 | | (78-84) | (69-77) | (17.0-18.0) | (18.5-20) ------------------+------------+---------+---------+-------------+----------

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

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

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

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

=Myiagra oceanica freycineti= Oustalet

Micronesian Broadbill

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

Myiagra freycineti Reichenow and Schalow, Journ. f. Ornith., 1884, p. 395 (Mariannes = Guam); Oustalet, Le Nat., 1889, p. 260 (Mariannes = Guam); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 24 (Marianne = Guam); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 194 (Guam); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 54 (Guam); Wheeler, Report Island of Guam, 1900, p. 13 (Guam); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113 (Guam); Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 50 (Guam); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 69 (Guam); idem, Amer. Anthro., 4, 1902, p. 711 (Guam); idem, The Plant World, 7, 1904, p. 263 (Guam); idem, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 79 (Guam); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 260 (Marianen); Cox, Island of Guam, 1917, p. 21 (Guam); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 65 (Guam); Bryan, Guam Rec., vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 25 (Guam); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 195 (Guam); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 68 (Guam).

Submyiagra freycineti Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 504 (Guam); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 176 (Guam).

Myiagra oceanica freycineti Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 296 (Guam).

Myiagra oceanica Strophlet, Auk, 1946, p. 539. (Guam).

Geographic range.--Micronesia: Mariana Islands--Guam.

Characters.--Adult male: A small flycatcher with head and neck near "dark delft blue" with a metallic luster; lores and anterior forehead ashy-gray, more bluish and darker on auriculars and sides of neck than on lores; back and upper wing-coverts near "green-blue slate" but darker and with metallic luster less apparent than on head; rump grayer than back; chin and throat white; breast light "cinnamon," fading to pale buff and white on abdomen, sides, and under tail-coverts; tibia smoky-gray, tips of feathers paler; wings dark brown edged with light bluish-gray; tail bluish-slate, especially middle rectrices, tips of tail feathers edged with white; bill and feet black; iris dark brown.

Adult female: Resembles adult female of M. o. erythrops, but crown and neck near "deep Payne's gray," auriculars grayer than neck; anterior forehead and lores buffy and tinged with cinnamon; back browner than lores with upper wing-coverts and scapulars edged with slightly lighter brown; rump resembles crown but grayer; underparts paler than those of M. o. erythrops, especially chin and throat; tibia more brownish.