===================+==========+=========+========+===========+========
SUBSPECIES | Number | Wing | Tail | Culmen | Tarsus
-------------------+----------+---------+--------+-----------+--------
_G. x. xanthonura_ |43 males | 146 | 102 | 22.0 | 32
| |(139-153)|(97-111)|(21.0-23.0)| (31-33)
| | | | |
|31 females| 136 | 94 | 20.5 | 30
| |(131-141)|(90-98) |(20.0-21.5 | (28-32)
| | | | |
_G. x. kubaryi_ | 7 males | 157 | | 23.0 | 35
| |(152-160)| |(20.5-23.5)| (33-35)
| | | | |
| 7 females| 148 | | 23.0 | 33
| |(145-151)| |(22.5-23.5)| (32-34)
-------------------+----------+---------+--------+-----------+--------
There is little difference in the measurements of specimens from
Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan, and Asuncion. No specimens from Yap
were available for examination.
_Weights._--The NAMRU2 party obtained weights of this ground dove
from Guam as follows: seven adult males 119-154 (130); seven adult
females 96-150 (118).
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 96 (50 males, 38 females, 8
unsexed) as follows: Mariana Islands, USNM--Guam, 29 (Mar. 18,
April 4, 17, May 20, 28, June 2, 9, 13, 14, 15, 20, 23, 24, 27, 28,
July 2, 6, 10, 23, Aug. 11, 21)--Rota, 6 (Oct. 20, 22, 25, 26, Nov.
1, 2)--Tinian, 4 (Oct. 24, 26); AMNH--Guam, 40 (Jan. 17, 30, Feb.
12, 20, March 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 23, April 13, 19, June 13, 15, July
10, 25, Aug. 4, 10, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 21, 22, Sept. 4, Dec. 26,
30)--Tinian, 8 (Sept. 7, 10, 11, 12, 13)--Saipan, 6 (July 13, 15,
Aug. 24, Sept. 7, 8)--Asuncion, 3 (Jan. 18, Feb. 7, June).
_Nesting._--The NAMRU2 party found the ground dove nesting at Guam
in the winter and spring months beginning in late January. Nests
were observed in tall trees, many of which were well isolated from
other trees and vegetation. On February 10 a nest was discovered in
a breadfruit tree near one of the NAMRU2 barracks on Oca Point. It
was approximately 50 feet above the ground. On February 26 I found
pieces of egg shell beneath the tree. Occasionally during the day,
the male, but never the female, was observed sitting on this nest.
On February 10, a dove (the male) was observed building a nest in a
large banyan tree at Oca Point. Another nest was being constructed
by a female on March 7. On March 17 a young female dove, just
beginning to fly, was taken; another was found on April 3. Adult
birds with enlarged gonads were taken in April, May, June, and
July. Marche, according to Oustalet (1895:224), obtained eggs in
May, 1887.
_Food habits._--Stomachs of doves taken at Guam contained fruits
and fruit parts. On March 9, a dove was observed feeding on the
berries of the shrub known as "inkbush." This appeared to be a
favorite food. Seale (1901:42) also mentions that this berry is a
preferred food.
_Parasites._--Wharton (1946:174) lists the chigger (Acarina),
_Trombicula_ sp., from the ground dove at Guam.
_Remarks._--At Guam, the NAMRU2 party observed the ground dove to be
fairly common in 1945. Along roadways, the present author (1947b:124)
found that individuals of this species comprised 2.5 percent of the
total population of birds observed, and the ground dove was seen on 31.2
percent of 125 road counts made. The male was much more in evidence than
the female and was frequently seen flying high over the roadways and
jungle areas; eighty percent of the ground doves seen while road-counts
were being made were males. The female was found less frequently; it was
a less conspicuous bird and was seen only occasionally in flight.
Neither sex appeared to have the secretive, terrestrial habits of _G.
canifrons_ of the Palau Islands. On the basis of our observations at
Guam, I would say that the name "ground dove" for the bird at Guam is
not descriptive. The birds were found to spend considerable time in tall
trees; the closest that I saw them to the ground was when they were
feeding only three to four feet from the ground in the ink berry bushes.
The call note of this dove is much like that of the Palau Ground Dove;
Seale (1901:42) describes it as follows, "These pigeons seem to prefer
the deep jungle, from whence their deep low moan, like the sound of a
man dying in great distress, comes with a weird uncanny effect,
heightened by the gloom and darkness of the unknown forest.... This
sound, which always seems to come from a long distance, is very
misleading, and one is considerably surprised to find he is perhaps
within a few feet of the bird." Seale writes that they were very common
on Guam in 1900. In 1931, Coultas found the dove "quite common at the
north end of the island." The bird apparently prefers the dense forest
or second growth brushy areas, but was found also in the partly cleared
areas surrounding the NAMRU2 headquarters at Oca Point in 1945. At Rota,
the NAMRU2 party found the birds to be numerous in 1945. Coultas
observed only a few birds on Tinian in 1931; Downs (1946:96) found only
a small population at this island in 1945. The extensive cultivation and
clearing activities at Tinian have removed much of the habitat suitable
for these, as well as other birds. At Saipan, Stott (1947:526) writes
that the bird is common on "brush-covered hillsides and semi-wooded
country." There is little information published regarding the status of
this dove in the northern Marianas.
=Gallicolumba xanthonura kubaryi= (Finsch)