_Phlegoenas canifrons_ Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1872, p. 101. (Type locality, Pelew Islands.)
_Phlegoenas canifrons_ Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp.
5, 27, pl. 5, fig. 1 (Palau); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth.
Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 407 (Palau); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und
Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 57 (Pelew);
Hartert; Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 61 (Pelew); Matschie, Journ. f.
Ornith., 1901, p. 113 (Palau); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 53 (Pelews).
_Phlogoenas canifrons_ Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877, p.
112 (Pelew); Salvadori, Ornith.] Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 169
(Pelew); _idem_, Cat. Birds British Mus., 21, 1893, p. 592
(Pelew); Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7,
1895, p. 227 (Palaos); Bolau. Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg,
1898, p. 68 (Palau); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 2, 1904, p. 772 (Pelew).
_Phaps canifrons_ Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 3, 1877, p. 89 (Pelew).
_Gallicolumba canifrons canifrons_ Mathews, Syst. Avium
Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 74 (Pelew).
_Gallicolumba canifrons_ Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p.
189 (Palau); Mayr, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 828, 1936, p. 4 (Palau);
Peters, Check-list Birds World, 3, 1937, p. 136 (Palau); Hand-list
Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 211 (Babelthuap); Mayr, Birds
Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 290 (Palau); Mayr, Audubon Mag., 47,
1945, p. 282 (Palau); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no.
15, 1948, p. 62 (Garakayo, Peleliu).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Palau Islands--Babelthuap, Koror,
Garakayo, Peleliu, Ngabad, Angaur.
_Characters._--Adult male: A small, ground dove with forehead,
crown, sides of head, chin, throat, and breast ashy gray, lighter
on forehead, chin, and throat, and washed with "light
vinaceous-faun" on breast; occiput, nape and mantle dark
"ferruginous"; rest of upper parts glossed with bronze-olive;
lesser and middle wing-coverts tipped with metallic purple; wings
reddish-brown with dark brown tips; under side of wing
reddish-brown to brown; abdomen, vent and under tail-coverts dark
grayish-brown; tail colored like back, outer feathers have a paler
brown terminal band rather obscure; bill horn colored; feet red;
iris brown.
Female: A female molting into adult plumage is cinnamon colored,
mottled with dark brown; on the back an olive-green sheen is
beginning to appear; tail brown with some greenish sheen; tips of
tail edged with light brown; bill and feet light brown.
_Measurements._--Measurements of six adult males are: wing,
112-119 (115); tail, 65-72 (70); exposed culmen, 15.3-16.1 (15.7);
tarsus, 30.1-31.2 (30.8); of one female in postjuvenal molt: wing,
107; tail, 69; exposed culmen, 17.1; tarsus, 30.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 8 (7 males, 1 female), as
follows: Palau Islands, USNM--Koror, 1 (Nov. 18)--Garakayo, 2
(Sept. 17, 19)--Peleliu, 2 (Sept. 1, Dec. 5)--Ngabad, 1 (Sept. 11);
AMNH--exact locality not given, 1 (Dec. 1).
_Food habits._--Stomachs of specimens taken by the NAMRU2 party at
Peleliu and Garakayo contained one and one-half to two cc. of hard
seeds and seed parts.
_Remarks._--The Palau Ground Dove, according to Amadon (1943:19), is a
member of a superspecies containing _G. hoedti_ (Wetar), _G. beccarii_
(New Guinea, Bismarcks, Solomons), _G. sanctaecrucis_ (Santa Cruz, New
Hebrides), and _G. stairi_ (central Polynesia).
_G. canifrons_ apparently came to the Palaus from either New Guinea or
the region of the Bismarck Archipelago, evolving from _G. beccarii_ or
some related form. The Palau Ground Dove has a copper-colored occiput,
nape, and shoulder patch, but otherwise it resembles this Melanesian
species, _G. beccarii_. Amadon (1943:20) discusses two types of plumage
of females in _G. stairi_; one is a male type of plumage. The lack of
female specimens prevents me from determining whether this
characteristic is present in _G. canifrons_.
Coultas (field notes) had difficulty in obtaining even one specimen of
_G. canifrons_ in the Palaus in 1931. He concluded that either the bird
was practically extinct or that he just could not find it. From the
experience of the NAMRU2 party in the southern Palaus in 1945, I would
think that he merely did not find the bird. Although it is probably rare
in comparison with some other members of the family Columbidae of these
islands, we found this bird on most of the islands visited.
The NAMRU2 party arrived at Palau expecting to find the ground dove a
fairly conspicuous member of the avifauna and expecting to see it
sitting in trees and flying across the roads much in the same manner as
did the ground dove at Guam, _G. x. xanthonura_. At first, we did not
find the bird, but in the dense jungles a low, penetrating, and
intermittent, call was heard which may be described as a moan. This was
the call of the ground dove. The bird was difficult to discover because
its color blended so well with the shadows and dark background of the
coral rocks and forest litter. The bird was very active and moved along
rapidly pecking at food particles. Also it was wary. Once the
distinctive call note was recognized, it was not difficult to locate the
area in which the bird was living; however, finding the bird was
difficult. On one occasion I stalked a dove for at least a half an hour
knowing that it was always within fifty yards of me. A bird that was
flushed, flew about twenty-five feet and dropped down in open forest
litter and disappeared. On the basis of specimens collected and call
notes heard, I estimate that the population of the Palau Ground Dove on
the islands visited in 1945 was as follows: Peleliu--a minimum of 15
(found in most forested areas which were not greatly damaged by the
invasion operations); Garakayo--a minimum of 10 (the doves were found to
live equally well on the steep hillsides or in flat jungle on this
islet); Ngabad--5 to 10 (doves were heard in several areas on this small
islet); Angaur--not estimated (one call was heard in brush near the edge
of a fresh water lake).
=Gallicolumba xanthonura xanthonura= (Temminck)