_Remarks._--The Micronesian Megapode was first taken in the Marianas by
the expedition of the Uranie. Bérard, a member of the expedition,
obtained the bird at Tinian in December, 1820. Quoy and Gaimard
(1824:27), who studied the birds of this expedition, reported that
according to native tradition the species was in former times widely
distributed in the Marianas and domesticated by the ancient people of
the islands, but that in 1819 and 1820 the birds were not numerous on
Tinian and not found on Guam and Rota. Marche (in Oustalet, 1896:27)
obtained twenty-three birds at Saipan, one from Rota, two from Agrihan,
and five from Pagan in 1887, 1888, and 1889; it is apparent that Quoy
and Gaimard missed the bird at Rota. Marche was of the opinion that the
megapodes were never domesticated and that they would probably not last
much longer at Saipan and Rota owing to the incessant hunting for them
by the natives. As in the Palaus, the natives apparently prefer the eggs
to the adults. The latest collections of these birds in the Marianas
were made by the Japanese. Yamashina (1932:411) obtained eggs in 1931 at
Pagan and Agrihan, and again in 1940. He (1940:679) reported birds at
Assongsong (Asuncion). Takatsukasa (1932:12) says, "A collector, working
for Marquis Yamashina and myself, lately procured many specimens in
Saipan and Pagan." Linsley (1935:249, 250) in searching for the megapode
at Guam found little evidence of the birds. He interviewed people
between the ages of forty-five and eighty and only two or three
remembered seeing the bird. He said he saw one or two cross the road;
but I suspect that they might have been rails (_Rallus owstoni_).
Service personnel stationed at various islands in the Marianas during
the late war have not reported the birds. The NAMRU2 party found no
trace of the bird at Guam or Rota. Joe T. Marshall, Jr. (1949:203), did
not find the bird at Saipan, Tinian, or Guam in 1945. Its status on
Agiguan is unknown; isolated Japanese troops present on this small
island from the time of the American invasion (1944) until the armistice
(1945) may have used the birds for food and depleted the population
seriously. At present the birds apparently still occur on islands in the
northern Marianas. It seems that if these birds are to survive, they
must be given some protection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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