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Birds Observed on Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides

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Birds Observed on Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides 862 Sco, BirdsObseed [Au• LIT•TURE CITED •E• f, ARTHUR CLEVELAND 1942. Life histories of North American flycatchers,•larks swallows,and their allis. U.S. Nat. Mus., Bull. 179. (Washington.) C•MAN, FRANK M. 1929. My tropical air castle. (New York.) GOSSE, PHILIP HENRY 1847. The birds of Jamaica. (London.) SKUTCH, ALaNDER F. 1943. The family life of Central American woodpeters. ScientificMon•ly, 56: 358-364. SU•ON, GEORGEMIKSCH, AND PE•INGILL, OLIN SEWALL,JR. 1942. Birdsof the G6mezFarias region, sou•western Tamaulipas. Auk, 59: 1-34. San Isidro del General Costa Rica BIRDS OBSERVED ON ESPIRITU SANTO, NEW HEBRIDES BY WALTER E. SCOTT, U.S. ARMY ON September24, 1944, the author landed on Espiritu Santo,the New Hebrides,possibly even a strangerland than the New Caledonia he had just left someseveral hundred miles closerto Australia. But the birds of the two localitieswere considerablyalike, so the knowl- edgegained in New Caledoniain the previousfive monthswas of great value. In the New Hebrides archipelago,Espiritu Santo is the largest island, with 875 square miles. It lies at approximately 15 degrees South Latitude, has a broad flat coastalplain and level plateaus severalhundred feet abovesea level, and a mountainousrange rising to 6,195 feet in the northwesternpart. Accordingto 'PacificWorld': "The climate is hot and humid throughoutthe year, more moderate along the coast.The wettestseason is from Novemberto May." That book also statesthat the forest vegetationextends to the beaches, including tropical hardwoods,fig trees,palms and tree ferns.' With thesefacts, especially the "hot and humid," the author thoroughly agrees. Becausethis one-manscientific expedition was sponsoredby the U.S. Army (althoughwithout their knowledge),observations of birds were entirely restricted to the southeasternportion of the island. Likewise,time was limited and althoughopportunities for studypre- sentedthemselves at every moment,it seemed,much too often they were neglectedbecause of more important duties. However, work in reconnaissanceand trail mapping and training in newly-opened Vol.1946 63'1/ SCO•I',Birds Observed onEspriitu Santo, New Hebrides 363 jungleareas took the authorout amongthe forestbirds practically all of his 51 dayson the island. Exceptfor one day when watch- ing shorebirds,binoculars were not availablefor use,but fortunately severalbird specimenswere secured from huntersand others,all of which were sent to the Milwaukee Public Museum. The only referenceavailable for this report is Dr. Ernst Mayr's 'Birds of the SouthwestPacific,' published by the Macmillan Com- pany,New York,in 1945. Thereinhe states:"All literatureon birds of the New Hebrides is either strictly technical or refers only to a singlespecies." As thisbook was not yet availableduring the period of these field observations, the work was done without reference ma- terial in the field. Therefore, more detailed notes on all strange birds were taken, but many valuable facts could have been secured had previousknowledge been available. Mayr's listsof neededeco- logical and life-history data for South Pacific birds is a valuable featureof his book. They would have inspiredmuch more complete field recording. Besidesthe evident dearth of knowledgeof even commonspecies in this area, somediscoveries were not impossible. The Whitney South Sea Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History as recentlyas 1926had found a new speciesof bird, the Thicket Warbler (Cichlorniswhitneyi Mayr, 1933), in the pri- meval mountain forest above 2,400 feet on Santo. Birds of new sub- speciesor thosenot previouslyrecorded for the area are a challenge to all students in the southwest Pacific. Of the 54 native land and fresh-waterbirds listed by Mayr for this region (the New Hebrides and Banks Islands),48 have been reportedfrom Santo. The author recorded31 of theseand, in addi- tion, two from adjacent islandsand two kinds of shorebirds. Pecul- iarly, neither English Sparrowsnor Indian Mynas were seen, but five of a speciesof introducedEstrilda, either the Red-browedWax- bill (Estrilda temporalisLatham) or Astrid (œstrildaastrild Lin- naeus),were noted near Luganville. It shouldbe mentionedhere that even with binocularsit is not always possibleto distinguish in the field betweenthe three typesof swiftletsor the two species of fantail flycatchersand white-eyes. Therefore, except when I was reasonablypositive of the exact species,all other observations were attributed to what seemed to be the most common species of thesegroups, i.e., the GlossySwiftlet (Collocaliaesculenta uro- pygialisGray), the CollaredFantail (Rhipidura [uliginosabrench- leyi Sharpe)and the YellowWhite-eye (Zosterops flavffrons brevicauda Murphy and Mathews). [Auk 364 Scour,Birds Observed on EspirituSanto, New Hebrides tJuly Throughoutthis paperan attemptwill be madeto recordobserva- tionsespecially in regardto the ecologicaland life-historyquestions listedby Mayr. As the author lived in a coconutplantation on what mightbe calledthe lowerplateau, many of the bird recordsare from that locality. But frequent trips were taken throughplantations of cocoa,coffee and coconutpalms, mixed with groupsof papaya,bread- fruit and bananas,and surroundedby a lowland hardwood œorest with towering crownsand an understoryof smaller trees crowded with hangingvines. In this plantation region it was not uncommon to see acresof dead trees purposely'ringed' to kill them and dry out the vegetationbelow preparatory to clearing. Only ten dayswere spent in what might be called natural jungle forest at an elevation of 750 to 1,000 feet where only trails used by the natives were previouslyknown. Here were huge banyan-liketrees with hundreds of roots,clumps of bambooso thick they were impenetrable,and a sea of vegetationforming a wall on all sidesof roadsand openings that couldbe invitingonly to a bird or a naturalist.Another type of habitat wasvisited only occasionally--thegrassland and gardenopen- ings near the seabeaches. Birds preferringcertain of theseareas, or restrictedto them, will be so noted under four habitat groups,that ! will call H1, H2, H3 and H4: (H1) coconutplantations, (H2) lowland mixed plantation and open forest, (H3) higher natural jungle forestand (H4) grassland,beach and clearedroadway. Most roadwayson Santo pass through coconutplantations for miIes on end exceptin inhabited beachareas where there are some grasslandclearings. Many roads built recently now passthrough native jungle giving the impressionof a canyonwall on either side. Out of these dark interiors birds dash to cover on the other side be- fore passingvehicles. These new roads should prove inviting to future scientificexpeditions wishing to studythe ecologyand habits of little-known speciesof this and other South Pacific islands. Although the abovedescription of the island of Espiritu Santo and the areasin whichthese birds were seen seems inadequate, further detailswill have to be mentionedwhen necessaryin regardto the individualspecies. ! appendthe more importantrecords for Sep- tember24 to November13, 1944,inclusive, for the southeasternpor- tion of the islandand within a radiusof twenty-fivemiles of Lugan- ville, the principalsettlement. The two shorebirdsobserved are listed at the end so as not to interrupt the order of land and fresh-water species. Specificdates will be given only when deemedadvisable as on migratorybirds or more importantobservations. Vol.1946 631J Scour'r,Birds Observed onF. splrltu Santo, New Hebrides 365 REEFHEmON (Demigretta sacra Gmelin).--Birds in the gray phasewere observed on severaloccasions. A singlebird wasseen over the SarakataRiver, and at other times in November one or more were noted over high trees near Surundu Bay where it seemedthat a rookery could have been located at a point where a stream entered the sea. There was no opportunity to investigatefurther. No white- phase individuals were noted. TANNAFRUIT DOVE (Ptilinopus tannensis Latham).--Records of this bird could be confusedwith the similar but smaller Red-bellied Fruit Dove (Ptilinopusgreyii Bonaparte)which is also found on Santo,but of five birds seenon four different daysfrom October12 to 17, three certainlywere of the larger Tanna Fruit Dove. On October 12, two took off from treetopsin a lowland wooded area near the plantationsin such a hurry that they broke branchesas they flew, giving several loud, piercing call notes at the same time. As they usually flush from treetops in H2 and seemquite wary, they never could be inspectedcarefully. PACIFICPIGEON (Ducula p. pacificaGmelin).--Throughout the period of these field observations, this bird was seen five times in H2 and four times in H3. Seldom were single birds observed,but usually two or three and once four together,and alwayson the wing, flying above treetop level or through forest openings. Going in a straight line with constantwing beat, they looked sleek in their contrasting gray-blackcolor. Most noticeablein flight was the gray head and neck, while the rest of the body lookeddarker throughout. A pair of wingsbelieved to have beenfrom this or the White-throatedPigeon (½olumba vitiensis leopoldi Tristram) were found on the edge of a coconutplantation. Allowing for a body width of six inches,the bird would have a 24-inch wingspread. RUFOUS-BROWNP•EASANT DOVE (Macropygiarn. rnackinlayiRamsay).--Seen only three times as single birds flew acrossthe road, startled by passingtrucks, but it is impossibleto forget their long tail and thrasher-likeappearance. In all cases the situation was a roadway through impenetrablesubstage
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