_Erythrura trichroa clara_ Takatsukasa and Yamashina, Tori, 7,
1931, p. 110. (Type locality, Ruk Island.)
_Erythrura trichroa_ Finsch (part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p.
290 (Ponapé, Hügeln = Truk); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc. London,
1880, p. 576 (Ruk); _idem_ (part), Ibis, 1881, pp. 104, 110, 112,
115 (Ponapé); Schmeltz and Krause (part), Ethnogr. Abth. Mus.
Godeffroy, 1881, p. 353 (Ruk); Salvadori (part), Ornith. Papuasia,
2, 1881, p. 442 (Ponapé); Sclater (part), Ibis, 1881, p. 545
(Ponapé, Ruk); Sharpe (part), Cat. Birds British Mus., 13, 1890,
p. 385 (Carolines = Truk, Ponapé); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl.
und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 42
(Ponapé, Ruk); Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers, 1899, p. 122 (Ruk); Matschie
(part), Journ. f. Ornith., 1901, p. 112 (Ruk, Ponapé); Dubois
(part), Syn. Avium, 1, 1902, p. 583 (Carolines = Ponapé);
Takatsukasa and Kuroda (part), Tori, 1, 1915, pp. 55, 64 (Ponapé);
Mayr, Proc. 6th Pacific Sci. Congr., 4, 1941, p. 204 (Ponapé).
_Erythrura trichroa trichroa_ Hartert (part), Novit. Zool., 7,
1900, p. 6 (Ruk, Ponapé); Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, pp. 27, 28, 29, 78 (Ponapé, Ruk); Mayr (part),
Amer. Mus., Novit., no. 489, 1931, p. 4 (Ponapé, Ruk).
_Chloromunia trichroa_ Mathews, Birds Australia, 12, 1925, p. 208
(Ruk).
_Chloromunia trichroa trichroa_ Mathews (part), Syst. Avium
Australasianarum, 2, 1930, p. 840 (Carolines = Truk, Ponapé).
_Erythrura trichroa clara_ Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932,
p. 170 (Truk, Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p.
189 (Truk, Ponapé); Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 302
(Truk, Ponapé); Baker, Smithson. Misc. Coll., vol. 107, no. 15,
1948, p. 74 (Truk).
_Lobospingus trichroa clara_ Mathews, Ibis, 1933, p. 96 (Ruk,
Ponapé).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Truk, Ponapé,
Lukunor?
_Characters._--Adult: Resembles adult of _E. t. trichroa_, but
slightly larger with underparts more yellowish and less greenish;
blue on head slightly paler; sides of neck tinged more strongly
with yellowish. Birds from Ponapé are slightly paler than those
from Truk.
_Measurements._--Measurements are listed in table 53. Birds from
Ponapé and Truk differ but little in measurements.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 39 (22 males, 16 females, 1
unsexed), as follows: Caroline Islands, USNM--Truk, 2 (May 5,
Dec.); AMNH--Truk, 15 (March, June, Nov.)--Ponapé, 22 (Dec.).
_Molt._--Birds taken in March and June are not in molt. Some of the
specimens obtained in November and December are in molt.
_Remarks._--The differences between _E. t. trichroa_ at Kusaie and _E.
t. clara_ at Ponapé and Truk are slight. Takatsukasa and Yamashina
(1931d:110) separate _E. t. clara_ from _E. t. trichroa_ of Kusaie on
the basis of a paler blue coloring on head, body more yellowish green
and sides of neck more distinctly golden-yellow.
Coultas obtained specimens at Ponapé in 1930 and reports (field notes)
that the bird occurs in the extensive grassland areas of the island but
that the numbers are small. He estimates the population to be less than
100 individuals. He learned that the Japanese had trapped them for
shipment to Japan as caged birds. Coultas writes that the finch at
Ponapé "is very shy and flies readily when he is disturbed. As soon as a
call of alarm is uttered the whole flock flies up from the ground and
heads for the true forest where they will hide. They will also work
along in the grass, and make a getaway. The bird has a little hissing
sybilation that it utters when on the wing." He found the bird in flocks
of 3 to 20; immatures were frequently found alone.
McElroy of the NAMRU2 party obtained a female at Moen Island in the Truk
Atoll in December, 1945. He found small flocks of these birds in dense
vegetation along streams.
=Erythrura trichroa pelewensis= Kuroda