=================+===============+============+==============+===========
| | | Exposed |
NUMBER | Wing | Tail | culmen | Tarsus
-----------------+---------------+------------+--------------+--------------
32 adult males | 127 (122-133) | 80 (75-84) | 14 (13-15.3) | 25 (24-27)
10 adult females | 124 (121-130) | 76 (75-79) | 13 (12-13.7) | 24 (22-25.5)
-----------------+---------------+------------+--------------+--------------
_Nesting._--At Guam, I obtained records of nests of fruit doves on
March 1, 1927, and May 7, 1945. David H. Johnson observed a pair of
fruit doves in the act of copulation on May 26, 1945. Birds with
enlarged gonads were taken by the NAMRU2 party in March and July. A
nestling in post natal molt, just beginning to fly, was taken on
July 6. Seale (1901:39) reports two nests, each containing one
white egg, taken in the period from May to July. These nests were
found in trees eight to ten feet above the ground.
_Food habits._--The Marianas Fruit Dove feeds on fruits and seeds
of trees and shrubs. The birds are apparently strictly tree
dwellers; I saw no birds on the ground. A favorite fruit is that
of a flowering shrub known as the "ink berry." Birds were
collected which contained stomachs full of these small black
berries. The fruit of the papaya is also a favorite food.
_Remarks._--The NAMRU2 party found the Marianas Fruit Dove at Guam to be
fairly numerous in undisturbed jungle, and more abundant in the heavy,
second-growth, scrub-forest as was found on Amantes Point in 1945. The
birds were secretive but were easily located by their calls. They were
usually found as singles sitting quietly concealed in thick vegetation.
Birds were seen flying rather infrequently, and then only for short
distances. The removal of large tracts of jungle to provide space for
the construction of air strips and installations in the late war has
disturbed some of the habitat of these birds. Although vast tracts of
forest were undisturbed, the birds probably have decreased at Guam.
Coultas (field notes) found the birds common at the northern end of Guam
in 1931. He commented that natives catch them with snares and bird lime
for the local markets. At Tinian in 1931, Coultas found few birds. Downs
(1946:95) and Stott (1947:526) record the birds at Tinian and Saipan,
respectively, in 1945. At Rota, the NAMRU2 party found the dove to be
numerous.
_Evolutionary history of Ptilinopus in Micronesia._--Oceania is
especially rich in species and subspecies of the genus _Ptilinopus_.
Ripley and Birckhead (1942) have made the most recent and most thorough
contribution concerning these birds. They state that the center of
distribution for the genus lies in the Papuan region. Within the Oceanic
region there are several species of _Ptilinopus_ which in one way or
another are rather closely related; Rensch (1938:277) uses these as
examples of species which have been formed by isolation. These include
_P. perousii_ from Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga; _P. mercierii_ from the
Marquesas; _P. dupetithouarsii_ from the Marquesas; _P. huttoni_ from
Rapa; _P. purpuratus_ from Henderson, Tuamotus, Societies; _P.
porphyraceus_ from Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Carolines, Solomons, New
Hebrides, New Caledonia, and adjacent areas; and _P. roseicapillus_ from
Marianas. In all of these birds the crown is wine-red except in _P.
dupetithouarsii_ in which it is whitish. _P. porphyraceus_ appears to be
more closely related to _P. purpuratus_ than to any other species and is
characterized by an often brightly washed spot of color of some shade of
red or orange on the breast. These birds may have invaded Micronesia
from the region of the Solomon Islands, although it appears more likely
that they arose in the Samoa-Fiji-Tonga region and moved northward,
probably by way of the Marshall Islands. _P. p. hernsheimi_ from Kusaie
and _P. p. ponapensis_ from Ponapé and Truk resemble _P. p. faciatus_
Peale from Samoa more closely than they do any other subspecies. _P. p.
pelewensis_ from Palau, on the other hand shows little relation to these
other two Micronesian subspecies and appears to be closest to _P. p.
porphyraceus_ of Fiji and Tonga or possibly to _P. grayi_ from
Melanesia. Ripley and Birckhead (1942:7) suggest that the subspecies at
Palau owes its marked divergence to its isolated position at the
periphery of the range of the species. _P. p. pelewensis_ probably
represents an independent and an earlier colonization, possibly from a
stock different from that from which the two subspecies in the Carolines
arose. The presence in the Palaus of subspecies singularly different
from subspecies in the Carolines can also be observed in other genera,
as for example, _Rhipidura_, and _Myiagra_. Figure 13 shows the inferred
routes of colonization of _Ptilinopus_ to Micronesia.
_P. roseicapillus_ seemingly represents a remnant, or perhaps a
successful straggler, of an early invasion to Micronesia. Ripley and
Birckhead (1942:2) classify this species as "Old Stock," along with _P.
monachus_, _P. coronulatus_ and _P. regina_. Its pathway of invasion to
the Marianas was probably directly northward from the Papuan area and
not by way of the Polynesian islands. Its resemblance to the species _P.
regina_ of southern Papua, Lesser Sundas, and Australia is most unusual,
especially since there is a separation between the two species of some
1,400 miles; this is pointed out by Ripley and Birckhead (1942:4). As I
have said (1948:59) elsewhere, "On the basis of its characters the
Mariana birds would merit only subspecific separation, but owing to the
great distance between the two doves and the possibility of independent
origin and subsequent convergence, it may be more advisable to continue
to regard the two as separate species."
[Illustration: FIG. 13. Geographic distribution of _Ptilinopus
porphyraceus_ and routes of its dispersal. (1) _P. p. porphyraceus_; (2)
_P. p. fasciatus_; (3) _P. p. hernsheimi_; (4) _P. p. ponapensis_; (5)
_P. p. pelewensis_.]
=Ducula oceanica monacha= (Momiyama)