_Globicera oceanica townsendi_ Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore,
Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 191. (Type locality, Ponapé).
_Carpophaga oceanica_ Finsch (part), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877
(1878), p. 780 (Ponapé); Nehrkorn, Journ. f. Ornith., 1879, p. 407
(Ponapé); Finsch (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 292 (Ponapé);
_idem_, 1881, pp. 113, 115 (Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause (part),
Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 281 (Ponapé); Wiglesworth
(part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891
(1891), p. 52 (Ponapé); Matschie (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901,
p. 113 (Guam, error = Ponapé).
_Globicera oceanica_ Salvadori (part), Cat. Birds British Mus.,
21, 1893, p. 176 (Ponapé).
_Globicera oceanica townsendi_ Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922,
p. 6 (Ponapé); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922, p. 55
(Ponapé); Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 45
(Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 190 (Ponapé).
_Ducula oceanica townsendi_ Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3,
1937, p. 44 (Ponapé); Bequaert, Mushi, vol. 12, no. 2, 1939, pp.
81, 82 (Ponapé); _idem_, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 16,
1941, pp. 266, 290 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed.,
1942, p. 212 (Ponapé); Amadon, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1237, 1943,
p. 11 (Ponapé); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 289
(Ponapé).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ponapé.
_Characters._--Adult: Resembles _D. o. teraokai_, but darker.
Resembles. closely _D. o. oceanica_ but larger and darker on crown
and nape; lower parts slightly paler but chin more cream-buff in
color. As Adamon (1943:11) states, there is little difference
between _D. o. townsendi_ and _D. o. oceanica_ except in size.
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 27.
_Specimens examined._--Total number 21 (11 males, 9 females, 1
unsexed), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Ponapé, 2 (Feb. 11,
12); AMNH--Ponapé, 19 (Nov. 22, 29, Dec. 1, 2, 3).
_Nesting._--Coultas (field notes) writes that the pigeon at Ponapé
nests the year around, probably two or three times a year. He
describes the nest as being made of loose twigs and as placed on a
fork of a limb in a tall tree. One egg is laid. Coultas saw "two or
three" females nesting in December.
_Parasites._--Bequaert (1939:81, 82 and 1941:266, 290) found the
flies (Hippoboscidae), _Ornithoctona plicata_ and _O. pusilla_, on
pigeons from Ponapé.
_Remarks._--Coultas (field notes) writes that in 1930 several Japanese
made a livelihood as professional hunters of pigeons at Ponapé. He
notes, "Two or three years ago, 4 or 5 Japanese, each, averaged from 75
to 100 birds per day, which they sold to the inhabitants for 35 sen
(17-1/2 cents) per bird.... Now these same hunters are fortunate if they
obtain 4 or 5 Ducula each per day and are able to do so only by starting
before daylight and covering great distances. Other birds are now
replacing Ducula on the market." Coultas further records in his notes
that the hunters used calls to attract the pigeons. In 1930, Coultas
regarded the pigeon at Ponapé as a rapidly disappearing species; he
found it only in small areas in remote regions of the mountains. With
the shipping of supplies cut off to the Japanese garrison forces at
Ponapé, as well as at Kusaie, Truk, and Yap by the effective American
blockade during the latter part of the war, it is probable that the
pigeons were hunted more intensively by the Japanese hunting parties
than ever before. Richards obtained two specimens at Ponapé in the
period from August, 1947, to January, 1948.
=Ducula oceanica oceanica= (Lesson and Garnot)