_Porphyrio melanotus_ Temm. var. _pelewensis_ Hartlaub and Finsch,
Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, p. 107. (Type locality, Pelew
Islands.)
_Porphyrio melanotus_ Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1868, pp. 8, 117, 118 (Pelew); Gray, Hand-list Birds, 3,
1871, p. 64 (Pelew).
_Porphyrio melanotus pelewensis_ Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber.
Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 61 (Pelew); Bolau,
Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 70 (Palau); Dubois,
Syn. Avium, 2, 1904, p. 976 (Pelew); Mathews, Birds Australia, 1,
1911, p. 241 (Pelew); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922,
p. 43 (Pelew); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p.
100 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 197 (Palau);
Hachisuka, Birds Philippines, 1, 1932, p. 245 (Pelew).
_Porphyrio pelewensis_ Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp.
5, 39 (Palau); Salvadori, Atti Accad. Sci. Torino, 14, 1879, p.
1169 (Pelew); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy,
1881, p. 407 (Palau); Finsch, Deut. Ver. zum Schutze der
Vogelwelt, 18, 1893, p. 459 (Palau); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British
Mus., 23, 1894, p. 206 (Pelew); Nehrkorn, Nat. Eiers., 1899, p.
205 (Palau-Inseln); Matschie, Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 113
(Palau); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 1, 1913, p. 216 (Palauinseln);
Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 51 (Pelew).
_Porphyrio cyanocephalus_ Elliot, Stray Feathers, 7, 1878, pp. 10,
13 (Palau).
_Porphyrio poliocephalus pelewensis_ Peters, Check-list Birds
World, 2, 1934, p. 208 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed.,
1942, p. 222 (Koror).
_Porphyrio porphyrio pelewensis_ Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific,
1945, p. 288 (Palau); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no.
15, 1948, p. 49 (Angaur).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Palau Islands--Koror, Angaur.
_Characters._--Adult: A large, purplish-blue, marsh bird with
crown and sides of head dusky-black; wing-coverts purplish-blue;
rest of upper parts dark, washed with olivaceous-brown; outer webs
of primaries and secondaries tinged with purplish-blue; chin,
axillaries and under wing-coverts dusky; under tail-coverts
whitish; rest of underparts purplish-blue, blacker on abdomen.
_Porphyrio p. pelewensis_ resembles _P. p. palliatus_ Bruggemann
of Celebes and _P. p. melanopterus_ Bonaparte of the Moluccas and
New Guinea but upper parts paler and slightly less glossy; lesser
and primary wing-coverts more purplish-blue and less
greenish-blue; outer webs of primaries and secondaries lighter
purplish-blue; underparts less blue with patch on throat and
breast paler blue with less green (patch present on only one
specimen from the Palaus).
_Measurements._--Measurements of one male: wing, 227; tail, 81;
culmen and shield, 62.5; tarsus, 77; of three females: wing, 212,
218, 227; tail, 77, 81, 86; culmen and shield, 57, 61, 64; tarsus,
75, 75, 77.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 6 (1 male, 3 females, 2
unsexed), as follows: Palau Islands, USNM--Angaur, 1 chick (Sept.
21) AMNH--exact locality not given, 5 (Nov. 13, 19, Dec. 17-19,
undated).
_Nesting._--A black, downy chick was captured on September 21,
1945, at the edge of a fresh-water lake on Angaur by Davidson of
the NAMRU2 party (Baker, 1948:49). Two females taken by Coultas in
December had enlarged gonads.
_Remarks._--The Purple Swamphen in the Palaus stands out as one of the
more distinctive subspecies of _P. porphyrio_. It also marks the most
northeastern extension of the range of this species. The subspecies in
the Palaus shows affinities to that found to the south and southwest and
probably reached Micronesia via the Papuan area, Celebes or the Moluccas
rather than from the Philippines. It is interesting that this bird, as
well as several other species, has been able to establish itself at the
Palau Islands, but has not extended its range farther into other islands
of Micronesia. Perhaps, the bird is now in an early stage in its island
occupation.
The Purple Swamphen is probably not abundant in the Palaus. It is a
large and conspicuous bird, and its restriction to swamps and areas
around lakes may allow native hunters to obtain it rather easily,
particularly by snares or by organized drives. Coultas (field notes)
obtained specimens in taro swamps; he saw only 4 individuals and remarks
that the birds utter harsh cries at night. The NAMRU2 party flushed an
adult from lake side vegetation at Angaur on September 21, 1945. This
bird was not taken, but a downy young was obtained in the area the same
day.
=Fulica atra atra= Linnaeus