Part 28

Ardea melanolopha Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13, 1822, p. 326. (Type locality, Western Sumatra.)

Nycticorax goisagi Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. London, 1868, pp. 8, 118 (Pelew); idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 89 (Pelew); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 68 (Pelew).

Nycticorax melanolophus Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 5, 35 (Palau).

Gorsachius melanolophus Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 26, 1898, p. 166 (Pelew).

Gorsahius melanolophus melanolophus Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 184 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 204 (Palau); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 302 (Palau).

Gorsachius melanolophus melanolophus Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 200 (Pelew).

Geographic range.--India, Ceylon, southern China, Formosa, Indochina, Malaysia. In Micronesia: Palau Islands--exact locality unknown.

Remarks.--Captain Tetens obtained a specimen of this bittern at the Palau Islands which was reported on by Hartlaub and Finsch (1868a:8, 1868b:118). It is probably a rare straggler to western Micronesia. The specimen has not been seen by me; it may be of the subspecies G. m. kutteri (Cabanis), which is known from the Philippine Islands.

=Ixobrychus sinensis= (Gmelin)

Chinese Least Bittern

Ardea Sinensis Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 642. (Type locality, China.)

Ardea lepida Lesson, Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 573 (Marianne); Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 167 (Mariannen).

Ardea sinensis Kittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 305 (Guahan); Gray, Hand-list Birds, 3, 1871, p. 31 (Marian); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 89, 105 (Uap); Gräffe, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 2, 1873, p. 123 (Yap); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 5, 33 (Palau, Yap); idem, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 577 (Ruk); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 353 (Ruk).

Ardea (Ardetta) sinensis Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 49 (Ladrone or Marian Islands).

Ardetta Sinensis Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 364 (Pelew, Carolines, Mariannis); Oustalet, Le Nat., 1889, p. 261 (Mariannes); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 68 (Marianne, Uap, Ruk, Pelew); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch, Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 8, 1896, pp. 38, 39 (Guam, Saypan, Ponapi, Ruk, Palaos); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 65 (Guam); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 26, 1898, p. 227 (Marianne, Carolines, Pelew); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 11 (Ruk); Safford, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 79 (Guam); Prowazek, Die deutschen Marianan, 1913, p. 100 (Saipan); Cox, Island of Guam, 1917, p. 21 (Guam).

Ardetta bryani Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 27 (Type locality, Guam); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 66 (Guam); idem, The Plant World, p. 266 (Guam).

Ardetta sinensis sinensis Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 50 (Ruk, Pelew).

Ixobrychus sinensis bryani Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, pp. 173, 175 (Guam); Kuroda, in Momoyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 37 (Guam,?Yap,?Mackenzie,?Pelew); idem, Avifauna Riu Kiu, 1925, p. 134 (Guam,?Yap,?Pelew); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 202 (Guam,?Pelew); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 1, 1931, p. 121 (Guam); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 184 (Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Guam); Oberholser, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 159, 1932, p. 18 (Guam); Bryan, Guam Rec., vol. 13, no. 2, 1936, p. 15 (Guam); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 205 (Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Guam); Amadon, Bull. Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 186, 1945, p. 25 (Guam); Stott, Auk, 64, 1947, p. 525 (Saipan); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 44 (Rota, Guam).

Ixobrychus sinensis moorei Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 173 (Type locality, Uala, Truk group); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 38 (Ruk); Kuroda, Avifauna Riu Kiu, 1925, p. 134 (Ruk); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 202 (Middle Carolines); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 1, 1931, p. 121 (Truk); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 184 (Palaus, Yap, Truk); Oberholser, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 159, 1932, p. 17 (Carolines, ?Pelews); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 205 (Babelthuap, Koror, Yap, Truk); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 44 (Truk, Peleliu).

Ixobrychus sinensis Hartert, Vogel pal. Fauna, 10, 1920, p. 1260 (Truk, Palau, Guam); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 285 (Marianas, Palau, Yap, Truk); Watson, The Raven, 17, 1946, p. 41 (Guam); Downs, Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 49, 1946, p. 91 (Tinian); Wharton, Ecol. Monogr., 16, 1946, p. 174 (Guam); Delacour and Mayr, Birds Philippines, 1946, p. 29 (Guam); Strophlet, Auk, 63, 1946, p. 536, (Guam); Baker, Condor, 49, 1947, p. 125 (Guam).

Ixobrychus sinensis sinensis Hachisuka, Birds Philippines, 1, 1932, p. 365 (Guam, Truk); Robinson and Chasen, Birds Malay Peninsula, 3, 1936, p. 195 (Marianne).

Ixobrychus sinensis palewensis Momiyama, Bull. Biogeogr. Soc. Japan, 2, 1932, p. 333 (Type locality, Pelew); Mathews, Ibis, 1933, p. 88 (Pelew).

Ixobrychus sinensis yapensis Momiyama, Bull. Biogeogr. Soc. Japan, 2, 1932, p. 333 (Type locality, Yap); Mathews, Ibis, 1933, p. 89 (Yap).

Geographic range.--Northeastern China and Japan south to Micronesia, Malaysia, Burma, India and Ceylon. Winter visitor to Papuan region. In Micronesia: Mariana Islands--Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Guam; Palau Islands--Babelthuap, Koror, Peleliu; Caroline Islands--Yap, Truk.

Characters.--Adult male: A small bittern with crown and short occipital crest slaty-black; mantle light buffy-brown; back and rump gray; tail black; wing-coverts brownish-buff; primaries and secondaries slaty-black; underparts yellowish buff; chin and throat whitish; sides of head and neck and a line of feathers across chest blackish edged with buff; bill yellowish green; feet greenish yellow.

Adult female: Resembles adult male, but with upper parts mottled brown and golden chestnut; underparts deep buff streaked with pale brown on neck.

Immature: Resembles adult, with upper parts heavily streaked with blackish-brown, and underparts streaked with chestnut and dark brown.

Measurements.--Measurements of specimens from Micronesia are given in table 16.