_Sylvia syrinx_ Kittlitz, Mém. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, 2,
1835, p. 6, pl. 8. (Type locality, Lugunor and Ulcei = Woleai.)
_Sylvia syrinx_ Kittlitz (part), Obser. Zool., in Lutké, Voy. "Le
Séniavine," 3, 1836, p. 297 (Lougounor); _idem_, Denkw. Reise
russ. Amer. Micron. und Kamchat., 2, 1858, p. 92 (Ualan, Lugunor,
Ulea).
_Eparnetes_ Reichenbach, Syst. Avium, 1850, pl. 57 (no locality =
Carolines); Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, 41, 1855,
p. 1111 (Carolines).
_Tatare syrinx_ Hartlaub, Archiv f. Naturgesch., 18, 1852, p. 131
(Ualan, Lugunor); Pucheran, Voy. Pôle Sud, 3, 1853, p. 92 (Hogoleu
= Truk); Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, pp. 164, 168
(Hogoleu); Gray, Cat. Birds Trop. Is. Pacific Ocean, 1859, p. 14
(Ualan); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 7, 1883, p. 527
(Carolines); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden,
no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 41 (Ruk, Ualan, Luganor, Uleei,
Nukuor, Ponapé); Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat.
Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 210 (Ruk, Ponapi, Mortlock, Kusaie, Uleei,
Nukuor).
_Acrocephalus orientalis_ Pelzeln, Reise "Novara," Vögel, 1865,
pp. 63, 162 (Puynipet, Lugunor, Ulcei).
_Calamodyta syrinx_ Gray, Hand-list Birds, 1, 1869, p. 208
(Ualan); Giebel, Thes. Ornith., 1, 1872, p. 529 (Carolin.).
_Calamoherpe syrinx_ Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, p.
17 (Ponapé, Lugunor, Ruck, Ualan, Uleei); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc.
London, 1877 (1878), p. 778 (Ponapé); _idem_, Journ. f. Ornith,
1880, pp. 287, 297 (Ponapé, Ruck, Mortlocks, Kuschai); _idem_,
Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 575 (Ruk, Ponapé); _idem_, Ibis,
1881, pp. 108, 112, 115, 247 (Kuschai, Ruck, Ponapé, Mortlocks);
Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus. Godeffroy, 1881, pp. 298,
330, 353 (Ponapé, Mortlocks, Nukor, Ruk); Finsch, Ibis, 1883, p.
143 (Ruck); _idem_, Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 49
(Ponapé); _idem_, Sammlung wissensch. Vorträge, 14 ser., 1900, p.
659 (Carolinen).
_Acrocephalus syrinx_ Seebohm, Cat. Birds British Mus., 5, 1881,
p. 100 (Ponapé); Tristram, Ibis, 1883, p. 44 (Ponapé, Ruk,
Mortlock, Lugunor, Uleei); _idem_, Cat. Birds, 1889, p. 152
(Ponape, Ruk); Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers., 1899, p. 33 (Ponapé, Ruk);
Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 58 (Carolines); _idem_,
Novit. Zool., 7, 1900, p. 3 (Ruk); Seale (part), Occ. Papers
Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 53 (Ponapé); Matschie, Journ.
f. Ornith., 1900, pp. 112, 113 (Ruk, Ponapé, Ualan); Dubois, Syn.
Avium, 1, 1902, p. 369 (Ponapé); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p.
545 (Ponapé); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 54
(Ponapé, Ruk); Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, p.
204 (Ponapé).
_Conopoderas syrinx_ Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus.
Comp. Zoöl., 63, 1919, p. 214 (Ponapé, Truk); Takatsukasa and
Yamashina, Dobotsu. Zasshi, 43, 1931, p. 485 (Caroline Is.);
Yamashina, Tori, 7, 1932, p. 405 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese
Birds, rev., 1932, p. 177 (Carolines).
_Acrocephalus stentoreus syrinx_ Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 67 (Ruk, Ualan, Lugunor, Wolea, Nukuoro,
Ponapé).
_Conopoderas luscinia syrinx_, Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed.,
1942, p. 197 (Wolea, Lamotrek, Truk, Lukunor, Nukuoro, Ponapé,
Kusaie).
_Acrocephalus luscinia syrinx_ Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific,
1945, p. 294 (Carolines); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107,
no. 15, 1948, p. 67 (Truk).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Woleai,
Lamotrek, Truk, Lukunor, Nukuoro, Ponapé, Kusaie.
_Characters._--Adult: Resembles _A. l. luscinia_, but smaller;
with shorter, straighter bill; head and neck more reddish-brown;
back, rump, wing, and tail edged with cinnamon; flight feathers
faintly tipped with white.
Immature: Resembles adult, but lighter and more rufous in color;
wings and rump paler, wings edged with rufous buff.
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 37.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 62 (35 males, 20 females, 7
unsexed), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Ponapé, 1 (Feb.
12)--Truk, 4 (Feb. 16, Mar. 15); AMNH--Ponapé, 35 (Nov.,
Dec.)--Truk, 22 (Feb., March, May, June, Nov.).
_Nesting._--Birds nest in reedy swamps and scrub vegetation in the
Caroline Islands, although Finsch (1881b:115), recording a field
note by Kubary, states that nests were found in trees at Mortlock
Atoll (= Lukunor). Yamashina (1932a:405) reports the collecting of
seven sets of eggs at Ponapé in July and August, 1931. The sets
consisted of one or two eggs each. McElroy of the NAMRU2 party
obtained specimens with enlarged gonads at Truk in December and
noted that birds were carrying nest materials to cane swamps. Of
the birds secured by Coultas in November and December at Ponapé,
only a small number had enlarged gonads. He also found nests
containing no eggs in low bushes at Ponapé. Hartert (1900:3)
reports that at Truk Owston's Japanese collectors obtained "many
nests" from the end of May to the beginning of July. These nests
contained one or two eggs and were found 7 to 20 feet above the
ground in breadfruit, coconut and ivory-nut palm trees. Hartert
writes, "The eggs are white, covered with darker and lighter brown
patches, and underlying ashy grey or lavender-grey spots. These
spots are generally thicker near the broad end, sometimes forming a
loose ring, and they are sometimes equally spread over the whole
surface." He lists measurements of 48 eggs.
_Molt._--Of the specimens examined by me, those taken in the
spring and summer are in fresh or worn plumage; those taken in
fall and winter are in molt, with a few skins exhibiting worn or
fresh plumage in the latter period. Apparently the peak in the
molting process occurs from September to December.
_Food habits._--The reed-warbler is an insect feeder. Coultas, in
his observations of the bird at Ponapé, relates that he was able
to locate the warbler by listening for the "snapping of the
mandibles as the bird is catching food."
_Remarks._--From the observations of Kittlitz, Kubary, Coultas, McElroy,
and others, it is apparent that the Nightingale Reed-warbler in the
Caroline Islands is restricted to the lower elevations of the islands.
Whereas the reed-warbler at Guam seems closely associated with cane
swamps and adjacent vegetation, the bird in the Carolines may range more
extensively into brush lands, forest margins and grass lands. Coultas
(field notes) notes that the reed-warbler at Ponapé is a "common bird of
the small bush and grasslands. One is attracted by its warbler-like
song. The bird spends hours perched on a stem of a bush caroling the
time of day. When feeding, one finds it on the ground or working away
quietly among the bushes. _Acrocephalus_ is a friendly bird who does not
become frightened easily. He responds to man-made calls."
The Nightingale Reed-warbler is found on many of the islands in the
Caroline Chain, including both the "high" volcanic islands (Ponapé and
Truk) and the "low" coral islands (Lukunor and Nukunor). Although the
bird has been recorded at Kusaie by Kittlitz and Finsch, it was not
taken there by Coultas in 1931. Reed-warblers are unknown at Yap,
Ulithi, Fais or at other islands of the extreme western Carolines, or in
the Palau Archipelago.
They are unrecorded also in the Marshall Islands, but at Nauru in the
Gilbert Islands, to the southeast, an isolated population of this bird
occurs and has been named _A. l. rehsei_ (Finsch).
=Acrocephalus luscinia yamashinae= (Takatsukasa)