==================+=========+=======+===========+==========+========
| | | | Depth of |
NUMBER AND SEX | Wing | Tail | Exposed | bill at | Tarsus
| | | culmen | nostril |
------------------+---------+-------+-----------+----------+--------
10 adult males | 103 | 65 | 20.0 | 6.5 | 27
| 101-105 | 63-67 | 19.0-21.0 | 6.0-7.0 | 26-28
| | | | |
10 adult females | 99 | 61 | 19.5 | 6.0 | 27
| 97-102 | 57-64 | 19.5-20.5 | 6.0-6.5 | 26-27
------------------+---------+-------+-----------+----------+--------
_Parasites._--Bequaert (1939:82 and 1941:290) records the fly
(Hippoboscidae), _Ornithoica pusilla_, from _A. pelzelni_.
_Remarks._--Coultas (field notes) writes that "the Mountain Starling is
a bird of the true mountain forest.... I did not record it below 1,400
feet. Natives tell me that the Mountain Starling formerly covered the
whole of the island and that now some individuals can be found on the
low atoll of Ant, to the westward of Ponapé. Unfortunately, I was not
permitted to visit either Ant or Pakin." Coultas notes also that the
birds are quiet and usually travel in pairs. They are easily attracted
by squeaking the lips against the hand or by the cries of a wounded
bird. Many of these starlings were taken in fruit trees. Coultas
describes the call of _A. pelzelni_ as "weaker and finer" than that of
_A. opacus_. These two species may be found together, according to
Coultas, but _A. opacus_ is apparently the more aggressive and often
drives _A. pelzelni_ away. Richards (_in litt._) found this bird to be
"very rare" while on his visit to Ponapé in 1947-1948. He observed two
individuals on January 15, 1948, at an elevation of approximately 600 or
700 feet. A male was taken.
_Evolutionary history of Aplonis pelzelni._--The Ponapé Mountain
Starling is a distinctive bird which evidently represents an ancient and
single colonization of Micronesia. It lacks the green gloss which is
found on many of the other starlings of the Pacific region. It has a
brown iris, and the immatures lack the streaked underparts which are
characteristic of _A. opacus_ and other species. The structure of its
wing resembles that of _A. opacus_, but the primaries are more rounded.
It is apparently better adapted to forested uplands, whereas _A. opacus_
and its relatives, _A. cantoroides_ and _A. feadensis_, appear to prefer
lowland forests and coconut plantations. In habits and habitat
preference, _A. pelzelni_ seems to resemble _A. santovestris_, which is
restricted to mountain environment on Espiritu Santo in the New
Hebrides. The describers of this starling, Harrisson and Marshall
(1937:149), write that "_Aplonis santovestris_ apparently most closely
resembles _A. pelzelni_ from Ponapé, especially in bill and tarsus."
According to the description, _A. santovestris_ is approximately the
size of _A. pelzelni_ with brownish coloring, crown dark brown, lower
back and rump dark rufous, wing and tail blackish-brown, underparts
rufous-brown, and iris grayish-green. These two birds are separated
geographically and apparently exhibit evidences of parallel development.
Possibly they came from a common ancestral stock. Mayr (1941b:204)
writes that _A. pelzelni_ belongs with the starlings of the Polynesian
area. I have compared _A. pelzelni_ with other starlings of the
Southwest Pacific, including _A._ _feadensis_, _A. cantoroides_, and
_A. zealandicus_, but see no close resemblances.
=Aplonis corvinus= (Kittlitz)