_Volvocivora inseperata_ Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875,
(1876), p. 644. (Type locality, Ponapé.)
_Volvocivora insperata_ Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876,
pp. 17, 27 (Ponapé); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878),
p. 779 (Ponapé); _idem_, Ibis, 1881, pp. 110, 112, 115 (Ponapé);
Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, p. 281
(Ponapé).
_Volvozivora insperata_ Finsch, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 289
(Ponapé).
_Lalage insperata_ Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 4, 1879, p.
108 (Ponapé); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden,
no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 25 (Ponapé); Bolau, Mitteil.
Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 53 (Ponapé); Matschie, Journ. f.
Ornith., 1901, pp. 112, 113 (Ponapé); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2,
1914, p. 276 (Karolinen = Ponapé); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 68 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev.,
1932, p. 174 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p.
194 (Ponapé).
_Lisomada insperata_ Mathews, Novit. Zool., 24, 1928, p. 372 (new
generic name); _idem_, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p.
545 (Ponapé).
_Edolisoma tenuirostre insperata_ Stresemann, Ornith. Monatsber.,
47, 1939, p. 126 (Ponapé); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p.
294 (Ponapé).
_Edolisoma tenuirostre_ Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4,
1941, p. 204 (Ponapé).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ponapé.
_Characters._--Adult male: Resembles adult male of _E. t.
monachum_, but larger; upper parts more grayish-blue; wings with
outer edges bluish-gray and inner webbings grayish-white; central
tail feathers with subterminal, roundish, black spots; two
outermost tail feathers black tipped with broad, pale bluish-gray
coloring; lores more bluish-gray and less black; ear-coverts pale
bluish-gray; chin, throat, breast, abdomen, flanks, under wing,
and under tail-coverts grayish-blue; bill and feet black; iris
dark brown.
Adult female: Resembles adult female of _E. t. monachum_, but
larger; forehead slate-gray; crown brownish-gray, browner on nape;
back chocolate-brown; rump rufous; upper tail-coverts more
cinnamon; wing and tail brownish-black, outer margins of primaries
edged with buff; outer margins of secondaries and upper
wing-coverts except primary wing-coverts edged with rufous;
central tail feathers like back but tipped with buff, other tail
feathers more broadly tipped with buff; lores grayish-black; malar
stripe to auriculars darker and more brownish-black with lighter
shafts; underparts rufous, under wing paler and more buffy.
Immature: Resembles adult female, but forehead grayish tinged with
ochre; crown and neck brown becoming slightly more reddish on back
and more burnt reddish-brown on rump; tail edged and tipped with
buff; primaries tipped with whitish, secondaries broadly edged
with buff, primary wing-coverts tipped with buffy-white; lores
blackish; ear-coverts rufous with lighter shafts; tail feathers
pointed while in adult more rounded. Younger birds resemble older
ones, but plumage except wings and tail may be spotted or barred
with buff and black with whitish margins.
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 34.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 46 (23 males, 23 females),
from Caroline Islands, AMNH--Ponapé (Nov., Dec.).
_Nesting._--Coultas (field notes) writes that the nest is
cup-shaped, made of grasses and strands of hair fern, and placed at
low elevations in small trees and bushes. He was told that two eggs
are laid. He comments that the nesting season had just been
completed in November and December (the time of his visit to
Ponapé), because he noted juveniles being attended and fed by the
adults.
_Molt._--Most of the specimens taken by Coultas in November and
December are in fresh plumage or in the final stages of molt,
indicating that the molt was initiated possibly in September and
would be completed possibly in January. This time of molt appears
to be approximately one month later than the time of molt of _E. t.
monachum_ of Palau. Probably the bird at the Palau Islands breeds
slightly earlier in the year than the subspecies on Ponapé.
Examination of the large series of birds taken by Coultas at
Ponapé shows the presence of three types of plumages. The writer
has not made a thorough diagnosis of these plumages, but suspects
that the phenomenon obtained here is the same as was found by Mayr
(1933e) in his study of _Neolalage banksiana_ (Gray), which is a
related bird. Immatures of _E. t. insperatum_ seemingly present
two plumages, which, if Mayr's arrangement is followed, may be
interpreted as a more primitive or "retarded" type in one case,
with less striking plumage, barred with black and buff, and a more
advanced or "progressive" type in the other case, with plumage of
the latter resembling more the adult type, especially the adult
female. It was not ascertained whether any of these specimens
represented adult birds in "retarded" plumage.
_Remarks._--The Cicada Bird at Ponapé resembles in habits its related
subspecies at Palau. Coultas (field notes) writes that it is a forest
bird, with retiring habits. He observed the birds in small groups, and
describes their musical call notes as "to-to-wee, to-to-wee" repeated
several times.
_Evolutionary history of Edolisoma tenuirostre in Micronesia._--Mayr (in
Stresemann, 1939:126) first pointed out the close relationship between
the cicada birds of Micronesia and _Edolisoma tenuirostre_ of the
Solomon Islands. Up to that time the Micronesian birds were considered
to belong to the genus _Lalage_. The cicada birds probably invaded
Micronesia along two independent routes from a dispersal center in the
Papuan area. The form at Palau, _E. t. monachum_, resembles closely
several of the subspecies to the south and southwest, particularly those
in the New Guinea area. Aside from the smaller size of the Palau form
there are differences in coloration between this bird and those of
Melanesia. In the adult female and the juvenile there are differences in
the amount of barring on the underparts and in the shade of color on the
upper parts. In the adult male there are differences in the marginal
coloring of the primaries and secondaries. _E. t. nesiotis_ may have
arrived at Yap from Palau. Little is known concerning the taxonomic
position of this bird. On the basis of the information available, it
appears closer to the Palau bird than the Ponapé bird in color; however,
in size it probably more closely approaches the latter subspecies.
The Ponapé Cicada Bird, _E. t. insperatum_, appears to represent a
colonization distinct from that which established the populations at Yap
and Palau. This conclusion is based on the fact that the adult female of
_E. t. insperatum_ has distinctive reddish coloring and lacks the
barring on the underparts, and that it may have been derived from an
ancestral stock, which was reddish and not barred, such as _E. t.
remotum_ of the New Ireland area. The three subspecies in Micronesia may
represent remnants of a single colonization, since additional material
from Yap may prove that this island population has characters
intermediate between those of the other subspecies of Micronesia.
=Dicrurus macrocercus harterti= S. Baker