Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy 123

Expeditions to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands 85
labeling. Despite their tribal taboos on hawks, owls, doves and pigeons, the natives
turned in examples of such species and a wealth of other material. Each hunter
received eight large and ten small cartridges per day with the understanding that
each man return his unexpended cartridge cases at the end of the day.
When on the late afternoon of 13 December one of the hunters arrived with
his catch, Mayr noticed at once that it contained a bird totally unknown to him
and which he considered to be very rare, perhaps a new genus of ground birds.
Terribly excited he said: “Look, today is Friday, the 13th. Naturally, a day on which
we would have good luck.” He nearly fainted with delight and excitement and “had
to lay off from work the rest of the day; the thrill was too much for his constitution
which otherwise is generally quite sound” (W. Eyerdam, expedition notes, p. 11).
Alfred Russel Wallace had a similar experience with a most gorgeously colored
butterfly (Ornithoptera croesus) on Batjan Island in the Moluccas in 1858: “The
beauty and brilliancy of this insect are indescribable, and none but a naturalist
can understand the intense excitement I experienced when I at length captured it.
On taking it out of my net and opening the glorious wings, my heart began to beat
violently, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more like fainting than
Ihavedonewheninapprehensionofimmediatedeath.Ihadaheadachetherestof
the day, so great was the excitement produced by what will appear to most people
a very inadequate cause” (Wallace 1869: 257–258).
William Coultas in his expedition notes commented the incident of 13 December:“Itistruewithpeople,whohavebeensometimeintropicalcountriesand
subjected to malarial fever, that they will come down with nervous disorders and
malarial fever after a few moments of unusual excitement. I have noticed this with
both Hamlin and Mayr and later with myself” (p. 69).
The bird that had caused Mayr’s “nervous relapse” was the first specimen of
the endemic ground-living San Cristobal Thrush (Zoothera margaretae). It did
represent a new genus for Mayr because he had not collected any member of this
group in New Guinea. Zoothera [Oreocincla] dauma papuensis was known from
Sattelberg, but not found there despite much effort (Mayr 1931l: 692). No wonder
the bird representing this group on San Cristobal gave him such a thrill. During the
following days, the natives collected four additional individuals so that there are
five specimens in New York today (LeCroy, Bull. AMNH no. 292 [2005], p. 35). Mayr
(1935h, 1936b) later named this new species of ground thrush for his young wife
Margarete. The San Cristobal Thrush (Zoothera margaretae) isnotasubspecies
of Z. dauma or of Z. talaseae; the ratio between wing length and tarsus length
characterizes it as a distinct species.
Greenway (1973: 316) and Olson (1975: 1) erroneously attributed Mayr’s excitement
on 13 December 1929 to the collecting of the forest rail Edithornis [Pareudiastes]
silvestris, another outstanding discovery on this island. However, the only
individual of this species obtained during the expedition was collected on 4 December,whennobodygotoverlyexcitedaboutit.Also,itwasnot“Stupe”who
brought into camp the new thrush, as Eyerdam stated in his diary but “Charlie”
(on which point both Mayr and Coultas agreed in their notes). “Stupe” appeared to
be the village idiot who, as a joke, was given a gun one day. To everybody’s surprise