_Myiagra pluto_ Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1875 (1876), p.
644. (Type locality, Ponapé.)
_Myiagra pluto_ Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp. 17,
19 (Ponapé); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878), p. 779
(Ponapé); Sharpe, Cat. Birds British Mus., 4, 1879, p. 380
(Ponapé); Nehrkorn, Journ. f. Ornith. 1879, p. 404 (Ponapé);
Finsch, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 288 (Ponapé); _idem_, Proc.
Zool. Soc. London, 1880, p. 576 (Ponapé); _idem_, Ibis, 1881, pp.
110, 112, 115 (Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause, Ethnogr. Abth. Mus.
Godeffroy, 1881, p. 280 (Ponapé); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber.
Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 23 (Ponapé);
Oustalet, Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 195
(Ponapi); Bolau, Mitteil. Naturhist. Mus. Hamburg, 1898, p. 55
(Ponapé); Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers., 1899, p. 26 (Ponapé); Christian,
The Caroline Islands, 1899, p. 358 (Ponapé); Matschie, Journ. f.
Ornith., 1901, pp. 111, 112, 113 (Ponapé); Dubois, Syn. Avium, 1,
1902, p. 283 (Ponapi); Reichenow, Die Vögel, 2, 1914, p. 260
(Ponapé); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, Tori, 1, 1915, p. 54 (Ponapé);
Wetmore, in Townsend and Wetmore, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., 63,
1919, p. 204 (Ponapé); Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia,
1922, p. 64 (Ponapé); Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4,
1941, p. 204 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p.
195 (Ponapé).
_Submyiagra pluto_ Mathews, Syst. Avium Australasianarum, 2, 1930,
p. 505 (Ponapé); Yamashina, Tori, 1, 1932, p. 401 (Ponapé);
Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 176 (Ponapé).
_Myiagra oceanica pluto_ Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p.
296 (Ponapé).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ponapé.
_Characters._--Adult male: A dark, bluish-gray broadbill with
head, ear-coverts, and nape dark, metallic, steel-blue; back and
rump darker and more slate-blue than head; upper tail-coverts
blackish; tail black edged with greenish gloss; wings dark brown,
scapulars and secondaries with outer edges tinged with metallic
bluish-gray; lores black; chin, throat, and upper breast dark with
light metallic-blue wash; lower breast and abdomen slate-gray;
under wing-coverts brownish-black; bill black; feet bluish-black;
iris dark brown. Female resembles male, but slightly smaller and
somewhat duller. Immature duller.
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 42.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 42 (23 males, 19 females), as
follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Ponapé, 3 (Feb. 11); AMNH--Ponapé,
39 (Nov., Dec.).
_Nesting._--Yamashina (1932a:401) records nests and eggs of the
Ponapé broadbill. The nests were at heights of between .9 and 2.2
meters above the ground. Nests, each containing a single egg, were
obtained on July 21, 25, and August 6. The eggs measure 19.5 by 16,
20.5 by 15.7, 20.5 by 16, and 20.2 by 16. Coultas (field notes)
describes the nest as a cup-shaped structure, made of fine grasses
and ferns, and placed in small trees and bushes at low elevations.
Of specimens taken by Coultas in November and December, 1931,
approximately fifty percent of the males had enlarged gonads.
According to his specimen labels, none of the females was in
breeding condition.
_Molt._--Of the large series of broadbills taken by Coultas,
approximately twenty percent of those taken in November were in
molt whereas only approximately ten percent of those taken in
December were in molt. Specimens taken in February were not in
molt. It is evident that molting takes place in the fall, possibly
from August to December.
_Remarks._--The coloration of the Micronesian Broadbill at Ponapé is in
marked contrast to that of other representatives of _Myiagra_ in
Micronesia, being dark, bluish-gray in color. Probably the bird has
taken on melanistic characters, which is not unusual in birds which have
become isolated; examples of this condition may be observed in
_Rhipidura_, _Terpsiphone_ and other genera.
Coultas (field notes) writes that the bird is "Common everywhere on the
island except in the grasslands. Two birds are working together usually,
darting around in the low trees, among the branches or on the ground.
The birds are playful, friendly and inquisitive. I should not call them
noisy as one or more will sit for many minutes watching the intruder
without making a peep. Their call, "Que Que," is a spasmodic outburst
that might be repeated many times or just once. The male, presumably,
erects the long crown feathers when calling. Perhaps both male and
female do this, I can't say. The bird flutters on the wing and displays
the feathers as does _Rhipidura_. When sitting, the bird often erects
the crest and fluffs the tail and feathers."
_Evolutionary History of Myiagra oceanica._--According to Mayr (1933d:1)
_Myiagra_ "is easily recognizable by its broad bill and the color
pattern which is similar in all species." The range of the genus
_Myiagra_ extends from Australia and Tasmania westward to Timor,
northward to the Moluccas, and Micronesia, and eastward to Polynesia.
_Myiagra oceanica_ is restricted to Micronesia and consists of four
subspecies, which until recently have been considered as four separate
species. Unlike many of the species of this genus, _M. oceanica_ shows
comparatively little sexual dimorphism. The male of _M. oceanica_ has
metallic coloring on the head and the upper back and often has rich,
rufous coloring on the breast. The female is less brilliant in coloring,
lacking the sheen. The four subspecies vary from each other in size,
color and even, to some extent, in basal breadth of the bill. _M.
oceanica_ resembles several broadbills, including _M. galeata_ of the
Moluccas, _M. rubecula_ of Australia, _M. vanikorensis_ of Fiji, and _M.
ruficollis_ of Australia and the Lesser Sundas; however, in my opinion,
it has probably been derived from _M. galeata_ of the Moluccan area or
from a closely related species. In Micronesia, _M. o. oceanica_ and _M.
o. freycineti_ appear to resemble closely this parent stock, whereas _M.
o. erythrops_ and _M. o. pluto_ are more differentiated but are
considered to have been derived from this same colonization. _M. o.
pluto_ bears some resemblance to _M. atra_ of the Papuan area,
particularly in the dark coloring; this is probably only a parallel
evolution, since they have little else in common. _M. vanikorensis_ of
the Fiji area is close to _M. oceanica_ in color and structure; the two
species, I suspect, have been derived from a common source rather than
from each other. Study of the evolutionary history of the entire genus
is necessary before we can understand fully the derivation of the
Micronesian and Polynesian species. It seems safe to say that the center
of dispersal has been in the Australian region; the lack of diversity of
this genus within the Papuan area is at present unexplained.
=Muscicapa narcissina narcissina= Temminck