_Totanus brevipes_ Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat., 6, 1816, p.
410. (No locality given, the type is from Timor.)
_Totanus pedestris_ Lesson, Traité d'Ornith., 1831, p. 552
(Marianne, Ualan).
_Totanus brevipes_ Kittlitz, Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le
Séniavine," 3, 1836, pp. 287, 299, 304 (Ualan, Lougounor, Guahan);
Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 51 (Ladrone or
Marian Is.); Pelzeln, Reise "Novara," Vögel, 1865, p. 129, 162
(Puynipet, Ualan).
_Totanus incanus_ Finsch and Hartlaub (part), Fauna
Centralpolynesians, 1867, p. 187 (Mariannen, Ualan, Puynipet);
Salvadori (part), Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 322 (Micronesia);
Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6,
1890-1891 (1891), p. 65 (Mulgrave, Taluit, Ualan, Ponapé, Ruk,
Luganor, Uap, Pelew, Marianas); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus.
Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 8, 1896, p. 41 (Saypan, Guam, Jaluit,
Carolines, Palaos).
_Heteractitis brevipes_ Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus.,
1, 1901, p. 35 (Marianas); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 67
(Marianas); _idem_, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905, p. 80
(Guam); Cox, Island of Guam, 1917, p. 21 (Guam); Wetmore, in
Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 180
(Uala = Truk); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p.
170 (Carolines).
_Heteractitis brevis_ Prowazek, Die deutschen Marianen, 1913, pp.
47, 101 (Marianen).
_Heteroscelus brevipes_ Ridgway, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., 50, pt. 8,
1919, p. 367 (Western Pacific); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 2,
1934, p. 270 (Carolines).
_Tringa incana brevipes_ Hartert, Vögel pal. Fauna, 13-14, 1921,
p. 1623 (Guam, Truk); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 191
(Palaus, Carolines); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p.
213 (Babelthuap, Koror, Angaur, Yap, Iuripik, Faraulep, Truk,
Ponapé).
_Heteroscelus incanus brevipes_ Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 47 (Pelew, Yap, Ruk); Kuroda, Avifauna Riu
Kiu, 1925, p. 177 (Micronesia); Stickney, Amer. Mus. Novit., no.
1248, 1943, p. 5 (Saipan, Guam, Palau, Ruk, Kusaie); Mayr, Birds
Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 43 (Micronesia); Baker, Smithson.
Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15, 1948, p. 52 (Guam, Peleliu, Truk).
_Heteroscelus incanus_ Wharton and Hardcastle (part), Journ.
Parasitology, 32, 1946, pp. 296, 316, 318 (Guam, Peleliu).
_Geographic range._--Breeds in eastern Siberia and adjacent areas.
Winters south to Malaysia and east to Australia and Oceania. In
Micronesia: Mariana Islands--Guam, Saipan; Palau Islands--Angaur,
Peleliu, Koror, Babelthuap; Caroline Islands--Yap, Truk, Iuripik,
Faraulep, Ponapé, Kusaie.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 39 (11 males, 27 females, 1
unsexed), as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM--Guam, 16 (June 4, 6,
July 16, 24, Aug. 6, 27, Sept. 4, 6, 27, Oct. 23); AMNH--Saipan, 1
(Sept. 8),--Guam, 5 (Feb. 11, Mar. 4, 13, Sept. 14, Dec. 5); Palau
Islands, USNM--Peleliu, 7 (Sept. 6-8, 16); AMNH--exact locality not
given, 4 (Nov. 8); Caroline Islands, USNM--Truk, 1 (Dec. 13);
AMNH--Truk, 3 (Feb. 6, 26, Oct. 14),--Kusaie, 2 (Mar., April).
_Weights._--Weights of birds obtained by the NAMRU2 party were as
follows: three males from Guam, 90-104 (95); six females from Guam,
99-116 (104).
_Remarks._--It is not clear whether some of the accounts cited above
refer to this species or to the species, _Heteroscelus incanus_. Owing
to the fact that specimens used in some of these early reports have not
been examined by me, the identifications of the birds concerned cannot
be verified and consequently it is impossible to be certain to which
species some of the references pertain. In listing these accounts in the
literature, I am following Sharpe (1896:455) whenever possible.
Tattlers were among the first birds observed and taken in Micronesia.
Quoy and Gaimard found them in the Marianas, and Kittlitz and Kubary
recorded the species in the Carolines. Kubary also reported the birds at
the Palaus.
The Gray-tailed Tattler apparently does not reach the Marshall Islands
but visits only the western part of Micronesia. Stickney (1943:2) shows
a map of the known geographic range of this species in Micronesia. The
separation of _H. brevipes_ and _H. incanus_ in the field is not always
possible. For identification, the NAMRU2 party depended primarily on
specimens collected. At Guam, specimens of _H. brevipes_, thought to be
nonmigratory, were taken in early June. These were in winter plumage.
Beginning in mid-July there was an increase in the number of tattlers
seen; apparently fall migration had begun. At Peleliu in September,
1945, the NAMRU2 party found tattlers to be numerous. Apparently all
were of this species; no _H. incanus_ were taken there. On September 8,
approximately 75 individuals in small and large flocks were counted at
Akarakoro Point on the tidal flats. The birds remained apart from the
other shorebirds which were feeding at the same locality.
=Heteroscelus incanus= (Gmelin)