------------------+-----------+---------+---------+-------------
Number and Sex | Wing | Tail | Culmen | Tarsus
------------------+-----------+---------+---------+-------------
| | | |
5 males | 134 | 68 | 25 | 16.5
| (132-136) | (66-69) | (24-26) | --
| | | |
4 females | 134 | 68 | 24 | 17.0
| (132-136) | (67-69) | -- | (16.5-17.0)
------------------+-----------+---------+---------+-------------
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 12 (7 males, 5 females), from
Palau Islands, AMNH--exact locality not given (March, Nov., Dec.).
_Remarks._--Little is known concerning the habits and distribution of
the white-breasted Wood-Swallow at Palau. Coultas obtained a series of
eight birds in 1931; he writes (field notes) that his native hunter took
every bird that he saw. The natives told him that they did not know the
nest of the bird. Coultas concluded that the bird was not common. He
commented that it may be found perched in the top of a tree on a dead
branch or "even displaying in the air." The NAMRU2 party found no
evidence of this bird in the southern Palaus in 1945. The specimens
obtained by Coultas in November and December, 1931, were in molt and had
small gonads.
This wood-swallow is the only Micronesian representative of _Artamus
leucorhynchus_. Like several other species of birds it has become
established only at the Palau Islands, and has either been unsuccessful
in colonizing other parts of Micronesia or has not had the opportunity
to do so. This bird had been compared with specimens representing ten
subspecies of _A. leucorhynchus_ in Melanesia and Malaysia. _A. l.
pelewensis_ differs from these subspecies examined by its blacker
appearance, with only a faint brownish wash on the back, and by its
shorter, first primary. The curvature of the upper mandible of the bird
in the Palaus is similar to that of _P. l. leucorhynchus_ of the
Philippines; the mandible is less curved than that of _P. l.
celebensis_ of Celebes; the mandible is slightly thicker than that of
_P. l. leucopygialis_ of the New Guinea and Australian region. In length
of wing _P. l. pelewensis_ resembles closely _P. l. leucorhynchus_; _P.
l. celebensis_ has a longer wing and _P. l. leucopygialis_ has a shorter
one. Stresemann (1913:293) points to a close relationship between _P. l.
pelewensis_ and _P. l. musschenbreeki_ of Tenimber and Babber islands
and _P. l. melaleucus_ of New Caledonia; Mayr (1945a:284) says the bird
in the Palaus came from the Papuan area. Probably _P. l. pelewensis_ has
reached the Palau Islands from the New Guinea area by way of the
Philippines.
=Aplonis opacus opacus= (Kittlitz)