Birds of the Southwest Pacific by Ernst Mayr

Birds of the Southwest Pacific by Ernst Mayr

Author:Ernst Mayr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing


(A) Very whitish below; prevailing color of upperparts pale grayish (with a little rufous and some black and white mottling). Near caves, cliffs, hollow trees, or human habitations .................................. alba

(B) Underparts more or less washed with buff or rufous. Upper-parts dark, more or less brown with large orange-buff and small whitish spots. Legs very long. Lives in grasslands .................................. longimembris

*Barn Owl (Tyto alba): Cf. Figure 9. The subspecies lifuensis Brasil 1916 is restricted to New Caledonia and the Loyalty Isls. (Uvea, Lifu, Maré).

Grass Owl (Tyto longimembris): Underparts with a scattering of black spots. Wings and tail barred dark brown and orange rufous. Facial disc buff. Iris brown; bill yellowish horn color; feet dirty white. A rare and elusive inhabitant of the grasslands. Nests on the ground. Reveals its presence by its harsh calls during the night (probably subspecies oustaleti Hartlaub).

OWLET-NIGHTJARS

New Caledonian Aegotheles (Aegotheles saved Layard): A large (11) nightjar-like bird. Brownish black above, paler below, all feathers with numerous fine grayish bars. Top of head blackish; a pale grayish band across the hind-neck (i.e. nuchal collar). Known only from a single specimen collected on New Caledonia in 1880. Apparently a geographical representative of the Australian species cristatus and probably with similar habits.

NIGHTJARS

White-throated Nightjar (Eurostopodus mystacalis): Large (10). Upperparts dark; back gray with bold black, brown, and rufous spots and bars. Top of head black. Wing-feathers black with a white spot. Throat black with narrow rufous bars; a conspicuous white patch on either side of the throat. Rest of underparts barred black and rusty ocher. The sub-species exul Mayr 1941 is known from a single specimen from Tao, northwestern New Caledonia. Habits and call note probably similar to that of the Australian race mystacalis Temminck.

SWIFTS

*White-rumped Swiftlet (Collocalia spodiopygid): Cf. Plate 2: 20. New Caledonia and all 3 Loyalty Isls. (leucopygia Gray).

*Glossy Swiftlet (Collocalia esculenta): The subspecies uropygialis Wallace (New Caledonia and all 3 Loyalty Isls.) has a white rump like spodiopygia, but differs by the glossy blue color of the back and the white on the lower abdomen. It is more a bird of the edge of the forest and of clearings than of the open grasslands.

KINGFISHERS

*Sacred Kingfisher (Halcyon sancta): The subspecies canacorum Brasil 1916 is restricted to New Caledonia, the sub-species macmillani Mayr 1940 to the Loyalty Isls. (Maré, Lifu, Uvea). Both races have the same field characters as the species. Nesting season, November-January.

SONGBIRDS

Twenty-four species of native songbirdsareknown from New Caledonia and 19 species from the Loyalty Isls. Fourteen of these are common to both areas, although sometimes sub-specifically distinct. Only on New Caledonia (and not in the Loyalty Isls.) are found the following species: Coracina emails, Megalurulus mariei, Eopsaltria flaviventris, Clytorhynckus pachycephaloides, Pachycephala rufiventris, Corvus moneduloides (introduced on Maré), Gymnomyza aubryana, Guadalcanaria undulata, Myzomcla dibapha, and Erythrura psittacca. Only in the Loyalty Isls. (but not on New Caledonia) are found 5 species: Hirundo tahitica, Myzomcla cardinalis, Zosterops minuta, Zosterops inornata, and Erythrura trichroa. In addition there are a, few introduced species.

An artificial key for all these species would be cumbersome, particularly if the various subspecies, female and immature plumages are included.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.