BIRDS. 79 



The only bird of prey of the group is the short-eared owl (Asia 

 aocipitri litis Pall.), called by the natives "momo," "mongmo," or 

 "mongo." Hartert doubts its occurrence as a resident of the Mari- 

 anne Islands " but it is a bird well known to the natives. They describe 

 it as having big eyes and a cat-like face, and say that it catches lizards. 

 It has not been collected in Guam, but is said to be common on the 

 island of Tinian. It was collected by the Freycinet expedition. 



Terrestrial kingfishers. — One of the commonest birds in Guam 

 is Halcyon Ginnamominus Swains., called "sihig" by the natives. It 

 is of a beautiful blue and tawny color, the female differing from the 

 male in having white on the belly. This bird is allied to the "tio- 

 tala" of Samoa (//. pealei Finsch & Hartl.). It feeds upon insects and 

 lizards and is said to eat young birds and to pick out the eyes of 

 young chickens. It utters a strident rattling note which is often 

 heard in the middle of the night. .An allied species. Halcyon aTbicilla 

 (Dumont) occurs in the northern islands of the group. 



Other birds are the edible-nest swift, Collocidia fuciphaga (Thunb.) 

 called "yayaguag" bj' the natives and "golondrina" by the Span- 

 iards, which in Guam makes nests of leaves stuck together with a secre- 

 tion from the mouth very diiferent from the typical nests used for 

 food by the Chinese; the fan tailed fl3r-catcher, Rhipiditra vran/ac 

 Oustalet, called " chichirika," or "chichirita," by the natives, a prettj^ 

 little bird which follows one along the road and spreads its tail as 

 though wishing to attract attention. Another little fly-catcher fre- 

 quenting shady -woodSy Myiagra freycineti Oustalet, called "chiguan- 

 guan;" the starling-like sali, Aplonis hittUtsl Finsch & Hartl., 

 closely allied to the Samoan miti-uli {^A. hrevirostris); a crow, Corvvs 

 kuiaryi Reichenow, called "aga," which is fond of Terminalia nuts 

 and does much damage to the maize crops of the natives; two honey 

 eaters, the little, red-and-black Myzomela ruhratra (Less.), called 

 " egigi," which frequents the blossoms of bananas, coconuts, and scarlet 

 hibiscus, and the olive-green and yellow Zosterops conspicillata (Kitt- 

 litz), called "nossak" by the natives. The only real song bird on the 

 island is the g^-karriso, or ga-piao, a reed warbler which is well named 

 Acrocephalus luscinia (Quoy & Gaim.). It nests among the reeds of 

 the large swamp near Agana, known as "la Cienaga," and has a song 

 of exquisite sweetness. 



Shore birds. — Among the shore birds are a peculiar bittern, Ar- 

 detta sinensis (Gmel.), called "kakkag" by the natives; the common 

 reef -heron of the Pacific, JDemigretta sacra (Gm.), called "chuchuk6," 

 which is not rare but wary and hard to approach; two rails called 

 "k6k6," Tlypotaen'ul'ia owstonl Rothschild, and Poliolimnas dnerens 

 (Vieill.), both of which are caught by the natives by means of snares 

 laid in paths; the widely distributed water hen or gallinule, GaUinula 



a Novitates Zoologies, Vol. V, p. 68, 1898. 



