_Caprimulgus phalaena_ Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1872, p. 91. (Type locality, Pelew.)
_Caprimulgus phalaena_ Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp.
4, 13, pl. 2, fig. 1, 2 (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. 17
(Pelew); Hartert, Cat. Birds British Mus., 16, 1892, p. 545
(Pelew); _idem_, Das Tierreich, no. 1, 1897, p. 51 (Palau); Bolau,
Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 65 (Palau); Matschie,
Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Palau); Dubois, Syn. Avium 1,
1902, p. 124 (Pelew); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 154
(Palau); Mathews, Syst. Avium. Australasianarum, 1, 1927, p. 396
(Pelew); Hachisuka, Birds Philippines, 2, 1934, p. 120 (Pelew).
_Caprimulgus indicus phalaena_ Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 61 (Pelew); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev.,
1932, p. 179 (Palau); Peters, Check-list Birds World, 4, 1940, p.
204 (Palau); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 199
(Babelthuap, Koror); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 292
(Palau).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Palau Islands--Babeltuap, Koror,
Garakayo.
_Characters._--Adult male: "Above grayish-brown, very finely
vermiculated, more rufous on the back, with large longitudinal
streaks and a few cross markings; scapulars partly with pale buff
bands, mostly pale gray at the basal portion; primaries deep
brown, with a white spot to the inner web of the first primary not
extending to the shaft, second and third primary with fine spots
to the inner web extending to the shaft and obsolete white spots
to the outer web, fourth primary with a smaller and less pure
white spot; chin and throat blackish brown, barred with rufous,
with two white spots on the throat; breast brownish gray,
vermiculated and spotted with brown and blackish; abdomen dirty
ochraceous buff barred with brown, the bars wider on the lower
tail-coverts; retrices rufous-brown with blackish bars, outer ones
with broad white terminal spots." (Hartert, 1892:545.) Bill
basally whitish with black tip; feet blackish pink; iris dark
brown.
Adult female: According to Hartert (1892:545) similar to male, but
with small, more or less obsolete, rufous-buff (not white) spots
on the primaries; rectrices without white spots.
Immature: Resembles adult but paler and less distinctly marked.
_C. i. phalaena_ resembles _C. i. jotaka_, but is paler; the male
is more broadly barred and more buffy on abdomen and under side of
tail; the female has paler spots on wing.
_Measurements._--Measurements of four males: wing, 161-168 (165);
tail, 118-129 (124); culmen, 22; tarsus, 14.0-15.1 (14.5); of four
females: wing, 161-165 (163); tail, 118-127 (123); culmen, 22;
tarsus, 14.5-15.6 (15.1).
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 8 (4 males, 4 females), as
follows: Palau Islands, USNM--Koror, 3 (Nov. 3, 20, 29);
AMNH--exact locality not given, 5 (Oct., Nov., Dec.).
_Remarks._--This subspecies of the Jungle Nightjar is restricted to the
Palau Islands and particularly to those islands possessing damp, shady
forests and mangrove swamps. In September, 1945, two birds were observed
at the edge of a mangrove swamp at Garakayo at twilight by the NAMRU2
party, but neither of them was taken. Coultas (field notes) found the
nightjar in mangrove swamps. He writes that they remain quiet there
during the daylight hours. He took specimens both in the evening and at
dawn. He considers the bird as not very common. Marshall (1949:208)
obtained specimens at Koror in 1945.
Among the races of _C. indicus_, the coloration of _C. i. phalaena_
resembles most closely that of _C. i. jotaka_; probably _C. i. phalaena_
was derived from _C. i. jotaka_ of Asia. Apparently this bird arrived at
the Palaus by way of the Philippines. It is found only in these islands
of Micronesia and maybe another one of that group of species which
reached the Palaus without expanding their ranges farther into
Micronesia.
=Collocalia inexpectata pelewensis= Mayr