Birds of Nusa Tenggara islands 
177 
Crested Darkeye. The Flores Green Pigeon and 
Nicobar Pigeon favour small islands. Both are very 
localised in distribution and are the target of 
trappers. The Yellow-crested Cockatoo is now very 
rare on Sumbawa and moderately common on 
Moyo Island. On Sumbawa it has declined greatly 
through habitat destruction and persecution for the 
cage bird trade. Wallace's Scops Owl is restricted 
to Sumbawa and Flores and appears to be rare on 
both islands. The Sumba Cicadabird was 
previously only known from Sumba and Flores, 
and the Sumbawa birds may represent an 
undescribed subspecies Butchart et al. (1993). The 
Russet-backed Rhinomyias was also only 
previously known from Flores and Sumba and 
records from Sumbawa are an important extension 
of range. The Crested Darkeye is restricted to 
Sumbawa and Flores and like the Russet-backed 
Rhinomyias occurs mainly in mid-level semi¬ 
evergreen rainforest. Mid-level forest is being 
destroyed at an alarming rate on both Flores and 
Sumbawa and both species do not appear to 
tolerate degraded forest. 
Overall Sumbawa shares eight endemic species 
with Flores namely: Wallace's Scops Owl, Little 
Minnivet, Russet-capped Tesia, Bare-throated 
Whistler, Golden-rumped Flowerpecker, Yellow- 
browed Darkeye, Thick-billed Darkeye and 
Crested Darkeye. Sumbawa also contains six 
endemic subspecies namely: Tricboglossus 
haematodus forsteni, Tesia everelti sumbawana, 
Rhipidura diluta sumbawensis, Padkycephala nudigula 
ilsa, Lophozdsterops superciliaris hartertianus and 
Loplwzoslerops dohertyi dohertyi. 
Mayr (1944) and White and Bruce (1986) showed 
that from Bali east through the Lesser Sunda 
Islands to Alor there is a progressive decrease in 
birds of Asian affinities and an increase in species 
with Australian affinities. Sumbawa lies in this 
transitional zone between the Oriental and 
Australasian faunas. Although primarily Oriental 
the avifauna of Sumbawa contains a small Austro- 
Papuan element including the Grey Teal, Red¬ 
cheeked Parrot, Rainbow Lorikeet, Rainbow Bee- 
eater, Brown Honeyeater and Zebra Finch. 
The migrant species visiting Sumbawa, Moyo 
and Sangeang can be divided into three main 
groups: 
1. Non-breeding winter visitors from the 
Palaearctic e.g. Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola, 
Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus, 
Common Sandpiper Tringa hypoleucos, Spine¬ 
tailed Swift Hirundapus caudacutus and Barn 
Swallow Hirundo rustica ; 
2. Passage migrants including many waders e.g. 
Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes and Bar¬ 
tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica; 
3. Winter visitors from Australia including 
Australian Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus and 
Rainbow Bee-eater Merops ornatus; 
4. South-east Asian migrants including the Lesser 
Adjutant Leptoptilos javanicns and Brown Shrike 
Lanius crislalus. 
The faunas of Moyo and Sangeang Islands are of 
interest because they would have been derived 
almost wholly from Sumbawa Island, and in both 
cases would have a history of extinction and 
acquisition caused by catastrophic volcanic 
eruptions. The massive eruption of Gunung 
Tambora in 1815 would almost certainly have 
devastated all the vegetation on Moyo Island, and 
the eruption of Gunung Api on Sangeang Island in 
1986 appears to have destroyed or burnt most of 
the vegetation there. A total of 70 species were 
recorded on Moyo Island, comprising 52 species of 
non-passerine and 18 species of passerine, and 33 
species on Sangeang comprising 19 non-passerine 
and 14 passerine species. Two additional species 
the Brahminy Kite Haliastur indus and the Great Tit 
Pams major are listed for Sangeang by Bruce (1987) 
from a brief visit of the yacht 'Marchesa' 
(Guillemard 1885). 
On Moyo Island as on many other Lesser Sunda 
Islands non-passerine species outnumber 
passerines by a ratio of about 2:1. An examination 
of the species lists for these islands immediately 
shows which species are successful colonists. Many 
species of bird are reluctant crossers of even the 
narrowest stretches of water, whereas others 
regularly cross water gaps of many kilometres 
(Diamond 1974). Discounting the migrant species 
on both islands, the lists comprise entirely of 
lowland species that have colonised not only these 
islands but many others in the Lesser Sundas. One 
interesting omission from Moyo Island is the 
Golden Whistler. This species is widespread and 
moderately common on Sumbawa Island and has 
successfully colonised hundreds of other oceanic 
islands. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
We thank Mr N. Kolichis whose grants to the 
Western Australian Museum defrayed the costs of 
R.E. Johnstone's two field expeditions to Sumbawa. 
We are also grateful to B.R. Lees for bird 
observations from Moyo Island. 
We gratefully acknowledge the support given to 
us by our Institutions, the Western Australian 
Museum (WAM), Perth, and the Museum 
Zoologicum Bogoriense (MZB), Bogor. We also 
thank the past and present Directors Dr S. 
Kadarsan and Dr Soetikno Wirioatmodjo 
respectively, of Puslitbang Biologi, Lembaga Umu 
Pengetahuan Indonesia and Dr D.J. Kitchener of 
the Western Australian Museum for facilitating this 
collaborative project. 
