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4

BULLETIN

of the

BRITISH
ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB

EDITED BY

Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 96
1976

PRICE: FOUR POUNDS FIFTY PENCE

PREFACE

It has been possible to maintain Vol. 96 at 144 pages and the waiting time for publication
of submitted papers usually at six months or less. Costs have continued to rise, but every
effort will be made to avoid reducing the size of Vol. 97.

The Editor is glad to be able to thank his predecessor, Sir Hugh Elliott, for making his
introduction to the editorial chair so painless and for providing such detailed advice on the
running of the Bulletin for its continued ease of production. Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Benson
and Mrs. M. Hawksley are to be generously thanked for their time-consuming work in
preparing the lists, index and corrigenda, and Mr. C. W. Benson for the considerable work
entailed in supplying relevant matter from the International Trust for Zoological Nomen-
clature, who kindly allow us to reprint it from the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature for the
benefit of our readers.

Mr. K. E. Wiltsher and his staff have withstood the editorial change and hand-wrtiting
without sign or sound of impatience and have as ever published the Bu//etin punctually each
quarter, for which I am most grateful.

‘JAMES F. MONK

COMMITTEE

1975—76
Prof. J. H. Etcoon, Chairman (1974)
P. Hoce, Vice-Chairman (1974)
Sit HuGu Exuiorr (1975)
Dr. J. F. Monk (1976)
R. E. F. Peat, Hon. Secretary (1971)
M. St.J. Succ, Hon. Treasurer (1974)
J. H. R. Boswatt (1973)

} Editors

Mrs. J. D. BRADLEY (1975)
Dr. C. J. O. Harrison (1974)
C. E. WHEELER (1975)

1976-77
Prof. J. H. Excoop, Chairman (1974)
P. Hoce, Vice-Chairman (1974)
Dr. J. F. Monk, Editor (1976)
R. E. F. Pear, Hon. Secretary (1971)
M. St. J. Succ, Hon. Treasurer (1974)
Dr. G. BEVEN (1976)
Mrs. J. D. BRADLEY (1975)
Dr. C. J. O. HARRISON (1974)

-C. E. WHEELER (1975)

ill
LIST OF MEMBERS: AMENDMENTS UP TO 31st DECE ER;1976 ‘
(Compiled by the Hon. Secretary and Hon. Treasurer) |

New Members
Arira, Ichiro, Forest Ecological Laboratory, College of Agriculture, Kyoto University,
Kitashirakawa, Sakyo, Kyoto 606, Japan.

Austin, George T., Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Nevada, Las Vegas,
Nevada 89154, U.S.A.

BrEckING, Dr. J-H., I.T.A.L., Postbus 48, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Brrr, T., Tawside, 30 Park Avenue, Barnstaple, Devon.
BELMAN, P. J., 107 Grange Road, Ealing, London Ws 3PH.

Bynon, J., Doct. és Ling., School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London,
London WC1E 7HP.

Care, J. A. D., Kapsumbeiwa Estate, P.O. Box I, Nandi Hills, Kenya.

CoxureR, Gerald, pH.p., Dept. of Zoology, San Diego State University, San Diego,
California 92182, U.S.A.

Davties, Miss H. M., B.sc., 43 Endcliffe Glen Road, Sheffield S11 8RW.
Dirks, Mrs. J. M., P.O. Box 30601, Nairobi, Kenya.

DooremMans, H. P., P.O. Box 1659, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
FrsHer, D. J., 9 Hurford Place, Cyncoed, Cardiff CF2 6QZ.

Gatswortny, A. C., M.A., 1 Kingsthorpe Court, Raymond Road, Wimbledon, London
SWi9 4AE.

Goster, A. G., 24 Baronsmede, Ealing, London W5.

KENDALL, Marion D., pu.p., Dept. of Anatomy, St. Thomas’s Hospital Medical School,
London SE1.

Lewis, A. D., px.p., Dept. of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton
Keynes, Bucks.

Lucey, R. G., 35 Sandpiper Street, Yellow Wood Park, Durban 4001, Republic of South
Africa.

Massey, M. J., 85 Park Avenue East, Ewell, Epsom, Surrey KT17 2PA.
Nicuots, Mrs. Holly A. J., 10611 Mt. Boracho, San Antonio, Texas 78213, U.S.A.
O’Manony, B., Kelvin, Well Road, Cork, Ireland.

Orr, I. C., M.A., B.PHIL., Resident Clerk’s Flat, Downing St. West, Foreign and Common-
wealth Office, London SW1A 2AH.

Parrott, J. R., Aberdeen University Bird Club, Zoology Dept., Tillydrone Avenue,
Aberdeen ABg 2TN, Scotland.

REDMAN, P. S., Redwings, Crowhurst, Battle, Sussex.
RricHARDsON, M. E., M.R.C.G.P., 48 Silverknowes Crescent, Edinburgh EH4 5 JB, Scotland.

SMALLEY, M. E., pH.p., M.R.C. Laboratories, Fajara, P.O. Box 273, Banjul, The Gambia,
West Africa.

Snow, D. W., D.sc., Zoological Museum, Tring, Herts.

THIBAULT, J-C., 15 rue Daubenton, Paris 75005, France.

Virrery, A., Maputo, c/o F.C.O., King Charles Street, London SW1A 2AH.

Voous, Prof. Dr. K. H., V.D. Duyn Van Maasdamlaan 28, Huizen, N.H., The Netherlands.
Witson, R. T., 21 Westfield Grove, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Woop, J. B., B.sc., Zoology Dept., University College, Gower Street, London WC1E 1BT

iv

Resignations
Duptatx-HAt., Mrs. N. TEMPLETON, R. K.
Mowunrrorp, A. R. TREE, A. J.

NercuHesour, Lieut.-Col. J. R.

Removed from Membership

BRIGHTEN, R. PLowDEN Warp.aw, W. J.,

Coss, S. J. W. Campbell of Craigie

Forses-Watson, A. D. Prescott, K. W.

FULLAGER, P. J. Start, A. N.

Matco.rm, N. S. Wo.LsTENcROoFT, J. A.
Youne, K. B.

MERIWANTI, Y.

Vv

LIST OF AUTHORS AND CONTENTS

ACCOUNTS, 1975 2 ot wh i _ -. 42-43
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (84th) . “E a A if * _ 41
Benson, C. W.

Symposium on African birds (in part) . “A iy + v4 41

Specimens of Neodrepanis eats in Dresden i i * be 144
Books RECEIVED ; ne 36 bis oe 2 os 144
Britton, P. L. and BRITTON, HLA.

The nest and eggs of Tauraco fischeri ot és . deez be .. 134-136
Britton, P. L. and Osporng, T. O.

The race of Sterna bergii in Kenya - is ite ax we .. 132-134
Brooks, R. K.

Morphological notes on Acridotheres tristisin Natal .. + % st 8-13

Buccal colours of sunbirds as an age character .. 58-59

Layard’s extralimital records in his Birds of South Africa and in the South

African Museum 7 a re i ae i .. 75-80

Brown, L. H.

Observations on Pel’s Fishing Owl] Scotopelia peli re 49-53

Breeding records of Hemprich’s Hornbill Tockus hemprichii in Tigrai, Ethiopia 81-82
Brown, L. H. and THorocoop, K. M.
Ecology and breeding habits of the White-billed ie eg es albi-

rostris in Tigrai, Ethiopia os 60-64
BROWNING, M. RALPH
Remarks on the validity of Carpodacus roseus sachalinensis Portenko .. 2. 44-47

Bruce, Murray D.
Earliest record of the Torres Strait Pigeon Ducula spilorrhoa from Lord Howe
Island, with comments on the subspecies me/villensis a m9 ~. 97-99
See also ORENSTEIN
BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE
Opinions 1037 and 1046 .. be oe iy ae ae - .. 142-143
Direction 107 ia 0 ae mae xa an wi Ke vy 143
Burton, P. J. K.
See McLouGHLIN
CHEKE, R. A.
Notes on a nesting female Variable Sunbird Nectarinia venusta. . “ie ie 5-8
Grancey, P. A.
The subspecific status of the southern African Se as of Streptopelia

semitorquata (Ruppell) . 34-38
Subspeciation in the Marico Flycatcher Melaenornis mariquensis (Smith) of
Southwestern Africa .. 53-57

Further on subspeciation in the Red-billed Oxpecker Buphagus erythrorh wynchus 102-105
CoLEBROOK-ROBJENT, J. F. R. and StjERNSTEDT, R.
Chaplin’s Barbet Lybius chaplini: first description of BBs, a new host record

for the Lesser Honeyguide /ndicator minor .. 3 i .. LO9Q-I11
CoMMITTEE, 1975 REPORT OF .. 23 ay eg i ne i * I
Dean, W. R. qe
Sympatric Cisticola spp. and the competition exclusion principle. 38-39
Breeding records of Crex Br egies Myrmecocichla nigra and Cichladusa ruficanda
from Angola, ..; : a S: a ste “ ay .. 48-49
DICKERMAN, RosBEerrT W.
Caprimuleus Ssericocaudatus mengeli subsp. nov. .. a eh. ar ad 80
Brmorr, G.-G-H,
Symposium on African birds (in part) .. re = a a ox 41
Exxurotr, Sir HuGH
Symposium on African birds (in part) .. are aus by; es ra 41
Erarp, C

Comments on the races of Lybius melanocephalus (Cretzschmar) in Ethiopia.. 107-109
ForsBEs-WAtTson, A. D.
See TURNER

vi

GILLMOR, ROBERT

An address on Bird Illustrations. . Me 3 3% us =) oe 81
Gorton, Eric

On a variety of the Moorhen Gallinula chloropus from Northern England .. 47-48
Grimes, L. G.

The vocalizations of the Green Longtail Urolais epichlora .. ie UGG 191

The duets of Laniarius atroflavus, Cisticola discolor and Bradypterus barratti .. 11 3-120
biAEL B. P.

Symposium on African birds (in part) .. a de ay gs mae 41
Harris, M. P.

An illustrated address on Puffins on St. Kilda .. 2 oi : Bis 113

Harrison, C. J. O.
An illustrated addtess on eggs .. ke) rf 4I
The wing proportions of the Eocene Diver Colymboides anglicus ie 64-65
The tendinal canals of the hypotarsi as a taxonomic character of water birds 82-88
Harvey, W..G.

Caprimuleus apinis as an urban species in Indonesia... a of ». 122-123
Harvey, W. G. and Hotes, D. A.

Additions to the avifaunas of Sumatra and Kalimantan, Indonesia .. ee GO-92
Homes, D. A.

A record of White-winged Wood Duck Catrina scutulata in Sumatta. . 2s © 88-89

See also HARVEY
HoryoaK, DD. 1:

Halcyon ‘ ‘ruficollaris” hs ne '[ na 40

Additional notes on the status of Hos goodfellowi ae ne ot .. 120-122
Karr, JAMEs R.

Weights of Atticat bitds\ “55 2 as “3 oH am os .. 92-96
Kear, J.

An addtess on the role of zoos .. o% i, vy 5% v4 7 1-2
KNox, ALAN G.

The Taxonomic Status of the Scottish Crossbill Loxia sp... ie .. I§-19

LAck) Prrer :C.
The first tecorded nest of the Pink-breasted Lark eles poecilosterna
(Reichenow)> 7). . we ae bi = oe i. MEET Le
LurtHErR, JOHN S.
See REMSEN
McLoueu.uin, E. and Burron, P. J. K.

Notes on the Hawk-headed Parrot Deroptyus accipitrinus a wi $47 68272
MeEapD, C. J.

See PEIRCE
MeEpway, Lorp

See WELLS
O’NErLL, JOHN P. and Parker, III, THEODoRE A.

New subspecies of Schizoeaca fuliginosa and Uromyias agraphia from Petru .. 136-141
ORENSTEIN, RONALD I. and Bruce, Murray D

Comments on the nesting and plumage of the Orange Dove Péé/inopus victor 2-4

OsBorRNng, TJ. O.

See BRITTON
Parker, III, THEODORE A.

See O’ NEILL
PARKES, KENNETH C,

The status of Avratinga astec melloni Twomey .. i 22 i 56 MERE T'5
Perrce, M. A. and Mzap, C. J

Haematozoa of British birds. I. Blood parasites of birds from Dumfries and

Lincolnshire .. os as v tt at: ie 3 a cy

PRIGOGINE, A.

Occurrence of the Madagascar Squacco Heron Ardeola idae in Central Africa 96-97
REMSEN, J. V., LurHER, JOHN S. and RoBERson, DoN

A Ringed Woodpecker Celeus torquatus in Colombia .. if, iy f 40
RoOBERSON, DON

See REMSEN

vii

SmitH, A. P.

Vagrant Lapwings Vanellus spp. in Brunei... a ails = ee 80
Snow, D. W.

Agapornis swinderniana in Ghana .. ie +s a a2 a4 . 106
SOUTHERN, H. N

An illustrated address on a population of Tawny Owls... a8 ae 113

STJERNSTEDT, R.
See COLEBROOK-ROBJENT
THomson, A. LANDSBOROUGH
The name of Eleonora’s Falcon .. ee *r = se Ae ws 112
THOROGOOD, K. M.
See BRowN
Turner, D. A. and Forses-WarTson, A. D.

Additional Migrant Records from Seychelles .. cts Sis

Status of the White-crowned Starling Spreo albicapillus (Blyth) i in Kenya nie 58
We ts, D. R. and Mepway, Lorp

Taxonomic and faunistic notes on birds of the Malay Peninsula... a) a Oa
Wuirtes, C. M.N.

The problem of the cassowary in New Britain .. 5 - .. 66-68

Comments on the Dusky Moorhen Ga/linula tenebrosa. . ad PP .. 125-128
Wutson, R. T.

The Ostrich Struthio camelus in Darfur, Republic of Sudan .. wa .. 123-125

WooDELL, REBECCA
Variation in juvenile plumage of Centropus toulou toulou siinieaihe and Centropus
toulou insularis Ridgway a rv We shi ; ms aan PIS

Vill

INDEX TO SCIENTIFIC NAMES

(Compiled by C. W. Benson with the assistance of
Mrs. C. W. Benson and Mrs. M. Hawksley)

All generic and specific names (of birds only) are indexed. Subspecific names are included only if new
and are also indexed in bold print under the generic and the specific names. Any other new name is
indexed likewise in bold print. |

Abroscopus superciliaris 30 ambiguus, Palaeolodus 85
Acanthis cannabina 129 Amblyospiza albifrons 95

— flammea 129 americana, Mycteria 85
Accipiter rufitorques 3 amethystina, Nectarinia 59

— tachiro 94 Ampelion sclateri 136
accipitrinus, Deroptyus 68-72 Andropadus curvirostris 94
Acridothetes tristis 8-13 — latirostris 94
Actrocephalus schoenobaenus 129 — masukuensis 94

— scifpaceus 129 — virens 94
Acryllium vulturinum 77 anglicus, Colymboides 64-65
aequatorialis, Sheppardia 95 Anhinga anhinga 84
aequinoctialis, Procellaria 77-78 anhinga, Anhinga 84
Aerodtramus brevirostris 26 anna, Calypte 7

— francicus 79 Anous stolidus 79

— fuciphagus 26 — tenuirostris 79

— maximus 26 Anseranas semipalmata 85
aestiva, Amazona 70-71 antarctica, Pygostelis 85
aethereus, Phaethon 21, 84 Anthracoceros coronatus 27
aethiopicus, Laniarius 94 Anthreptes fraseri 95
Aethopyga mystacalis 31 — platura 7

— saturata 31 Anthus pratensis 129

— sipatraja 31 Apalis tot
affinis, Batrachostomus 25 — flavida 95

—, Caprimulgus 122 apivorus, Pernis 57

—, Curruca 142 approximans, Circus 3
africanoides, Buphaga 105 apricaria, Pluvialis 77
Agapornis cana 78 aquila, Fregata 84

— swinderniana 106 Aratinga astec 13-15
agilis, Uromyias 141 — mana 15
agraphia, Uromyias 136, 140-141 Ardea cinerea 21-22, 85-86
Ajaja ajaja 85 — leucoptetra 77-78
ajaja, Ajaja 85 Ardeola idae 77, 96-97
alba, Calidris 77 — talloides 77, 96-97

—, Gygis 79 atdeola, Dromas 77-78

—, Motacilla 129 ardesiaca, Egretta 78
albicapillus, Spreo 58 argentatus, Larus 85
albifrons, Amblyospiza 95 atidula, Cisticola 38
albipectus, Trichastoma 95 arquata, Numenius 77-78, 85
albirostris, Onychognathus 60-61 - assimilis, Puffinus 76
alboterminatus, Tockus 77 astec, Aratinga 13-15
Alca torda 85 —, Conurus 14
Alcedo leucogaster 94 ater, Parus 129
Alcyone ruficollaris 40 atra, Fulica 48
Alethe diademata 94 atricapilla, Estrilda 96

— poliocephala 94 —, Sylvia 129
alexandrinus, Charadrius 77 atrococcineus, Laniarius 119
althaea, Sylvia 142 atroflavus, Laniarius 113-114, 119
Amaurornis phoenicurus 48 Aviceda leuphotes 90
Amazona aestiva 70-71 ayresii, Cisticola 38-39

— guildingii 72 Aythya fuligula 85

bairdi, Prinia 95
Balaeniceps rex 84, 87
balasiensis, Cypsiurus 26
Balearica pavonina 89
banyumas, Cyornis 31
barbarus, Laniarius 114, 119
barbatus, Criniger 94

—, Pycononotus 94
barratti, Bradypterus 113, 117-118
batesi, Nectarinia 59
Bathmocercus cerviniventris 95
Batrachostomus affinis 25

— javensis 25
baumanni, Phyllastrephus 94
becki, Casuarius 67
bengalensis, Centropus 25
bennetti, Casuarius 66
bergii, Sterna 132-134
bernsteini, Sterna 24
bicolor, Nigrita 96
bifasciata, Nectarinia 59
bilineatus, Pogoniulus 94
Biziura lobata 85
Bleda canicapilla 94

— eximia 94

— syndactyla 94
blissetti, Platysteira 95
blythii, Onychognathus 60
borbonica, Phedina 131
borealis, Phylloscopus 30
borin, Sylvia 129
bornea, Eos 120
Botaurus stellaris 84
bourbonnensis, Terpsiphone 79
Brachypteryx leucophrys 29-30
brachyrhynchus, Oriolus 96
brachyurus, Micropternus 27
Bradornis mariquensis 56
Bradypterus barratti 113, 117-118
brehmeri, Turtur 94
brevicaudata, Camaroptera 95
brevirostris, Aerodramus 26
brunnescens, Cisticola 38
Bubo lacteus 50
Bubulcus 77

— ibis 79
Buccanodon duchaillui 94
Buphaga africanoides 105
Buphagus erythrorhynchus 102-105
Buteo 57
Butorides striatus 77-78

caetuleus, Parus 129
Cairina scutulata 88-89
Calidris alba 77

— ferruginea 77

— minuta 77

— ruficollis 90

— subminuta go
calliope, Selasphorus 7

ix

calurus, Criniger 94
calvus, Geronticus 85
Calypte anna 7
Calyptomena viridis 27-28
Camaroptera brevicaudata 95

— chloronota 95
camelus, Struthio 123
Campethera nivosa 94
cana, Agapornis 78
canicapilla, Bleda 94

—, Nigrita 95
cannabina, Acanthis 129
capense, Daption 76
Caprimulgus affinis 122

— sericocaudatus 80
catbo, Phalacrocorax 84
Carduelis carduelis 129
carduelis, Carduelis 129
Carpodacus roseus 44—46
caspia, Sterna 79, 134
castanea, Platysteira 95
castaniceps, Seicercus 25, 30
castro, Oceanodroma 84
Casuarius becki 67

— bennetti 66

— casuarius 66

— foersteri 67

— keysseri 67

— unappendiculatus 66-67
casuarius, Casuarius 66
caudacuta, Chaetura 26
Celeus 27

— torquatus 40
Centropus bengalensis 25

— toulou 25, 72-75
Cepphus grylle 85
Cercotrichas leucostictus 94

— quadrivirgata 94
Certhia familiaris 129
cerviniventris, Bathmocercus 95
Ceyx lecontei 94
Chaetodon punctatus 142
Chaetura caudacuta 26
chalybea, Nectarinia 59
chaplini, Lybius 109-110
Charadrius alexandrinus 77

— hiaticula 129
chilensis, Phoenicopterus 85
chinensis, Streptopelia 8
chloris, Nicator 94
Chlorocichla flaviventris 94

— simplex 94
chloronota, Camaroptera 95
chloronotus, Criniger 94
chloropus, Gallinula 47, 127
chloropygia, Nectarinia 95
Chordeiles 122
Chrysocolaptes validus 27
Chrysoenas 3—4
chrysostoma, Diomedea 76-77

chubbi, Cisticola 119
Cichladusa ruficauda 48
cinerascens, Circus 78
cinerea, Ardea 21-22, 85-86

— Motacilla 129
cinereus, Vanellus 80
Circaetus gallicus 77
Circus approximans 3

— cinerascens 78

— macrosceles 78

— maillardii 78

— pygargus 78

— spilonotus 78
citrocephalus, Larus 78-79
Cisticola aridula 38

— ayresii 38-39

— brunnescens 38

— chubbi 119

— discolor 113-116, 118-119

— erythrops 95

— exilis 91

— hunteri 115, 119

— juncidis 38, 91

— nigriloris 115, 119

—— textii 38-26
cleaveri, Trichastoma 95
Cochlearius cochlearius 84-87
cochlearius, Cochlearius 84-87
coelebs, Fringilla 129
Colius striatus 94
Collocalia esculenta 26
collurio, Lanius 77
Collyrio corvinus 77
Columba guinea 62

— livia 131

— palumbus 3, 131
columbianus, Cygnus 85
Colymboides anglicus 64-65

— minutus 65, 84, 87
communis, Sylvia 129
concolor, Hirundo 28

—, Macrosphenus 95
concreta, Platysteira 95
conures, Pyrrhura 72
Conurus astec 14
Coracina novaehollandiae 28

— _ typica 79
Coracopsis nigra 78
corax, Corvus 85-86
coronatus, Anthracoceros 27
corvinus, Collyrio 77
Corvus corax 85-86

— enca' 28

— macrorhynchos 28
corythaix, Tauraco 135
Cossypha cyanocampter 95

— natalensis 95
Crex egregia 48
Criniger barbatus 94

— calurus 94

Criniger chloronotus 94
crispus, Pelecanus 84
cristatus, Podiceps 84
croiseti, Gervaisia 87
crumeniferus, Leptoptilos 77—78
cucullatus, Ploceus 95
Cuculus poliocephalus 25

— saturatus 25
cuprea, Nectarinia 59, 95
Curruca affinis 142
curruca, Sylvia 129
curvirostta, Loxia 15-19
curvirostris, Andropadus 94
cuvieri, Dryolimnas 78
cyanea, Platysteira 95
cyanocampter, Cossypha 95
cyanomelas, Trochocetcus 95
Cygnus columbianus 85
Cyornis banyumas 31

— tubeculoides 31

— rufigastra 31

— tickelliae 31

— whitei 31
Cypsiurus balasiensis 26

dactylatra, Sula 21, 79, 84
Daption capense 76
debilis, Phyllastrephus 94
Delichon urbica 28, 129
Dendrobiastes hyperythrus 31
Dendrocygna viduata 78, 85, 87
Deroptyus accipitrinus 68-72
desolata, Pachyptila 77
diademata, Alethe 94
Dicaeum ignipectus 32

— trigonostigma 32
Dicrurus ludwigii 96
Diomedea chrysostoma 76-77

— exulans 76

— melanophrys 84

discolor, Cisticola 113-116, 118-119

Dissouta episcopus 85
domesticus, Passer 8
dominica, Pluvialis 77
Drepane 142-143
Drepanichthys 143
Drepanis 143
Drepanoptila holosericea 3—4
Dromas ardeola 77-78
Dryolimnas cuvieri 78
duchaillui, Buccanodon 94
Ducula spilorrhoa 97—98
duvaucelii, Harpactes 26

ecaudatus, Terathopius 77-78
edolioides, Melaenornis 95
egregia, Crex 48
Egretta 77

— ardesiaca 78

— gularis 78

eleonorae, Falco 112
Emberiza schoeniclus 129
enca, Corvus 28
Enixe 143
Eos bornea 120

— goodfellowi 120-121

— tfubra 120

— squamata 121
epichlora, Urolais 99-101
episcopus, Dissoura 85
Erithacus rubecula 129
erythrocephalus, Harpactes 26
erythrogaster, Laniarius 114, 119
erythrophrys, Turtur 37
erythrops, Cisticola 95
erythropus, Tringa 77
erythrorhynchus, Buphagus 102-105
erythrothorax, Stiphrornis 95
esculenta, Collocalia 26
Rstrilda atricapilla 96

— troglodytes 96
Eulampis jugularis 7
eurizonoides, Rallina 23-24
Eurystomus glaucurus 78
exilis, Cisticola 91
eximia, Bleda 94
exulans, Diomedea 76

falcinellus, Plegadis 85
Falco eleonorae 112

— peregrinus 3
familiaris, Certhia 129
famosa, Nectarinia 5
ferruginea, Calidris 77
Ficedula hyperythra 31

— hypoleuca 129

— solitaris 31
fischeri, Phyllastrephus 94

—, Tauraco 134-136
flammea, Acanthis 129
flavida, Apalis 95
flavipes, Notiochelidon 136
flaviscapis, Pteruthius 28-29
flaviventris, Chlorocichla 94

—, Prinia 91
foersteri, Casuarius 67
francicus, Aerodramus 79
Francolinus pintadeanus 79
fraseri, Anthreptes 95

—, Neocossyphus 95
frater, Onychognathus 60
Fregata aquila 84

— minor 79
Fregetta grallaria 76-77
Fringilla coelebs 129
fuciphagus, Aerodramus 26
Fulica atra 48
fuliginosa, Schizoeaca 136-139
fuligula, Aythya 85
Fulmarus glacialis 84

xi

Fulmarus glacialoides 77
fulvescens, Trichastoma 95
fuscata, Sterna 79

gallicus, Circaetus 77
Gallinula chloropus 47, 127
— haematopus 126
— tenebrosa 125-127
garrulus, Lorius 121
Gavia immer 84, 87
— stellata 65
Geronticus calvus 85
Gervaisia croiseti 87
gigas, Hydrochous 26
glacialis, Fulmarus 84
glacialoides, Fulmarus 77
Glareola maldivarum 57
— pratincola 57
Glaucidium perlatum 50
glaucurus, Eurystomus 78
goodfellowi, Eos 120-121
grallaria, Fregetta 76-77
griseogularis, Myioparus 95
griseus, Passer 95
grylle, Cepphus 85
guildingii, Amazona 72
guinea, Columba 62
gularis, Egretta 78
gunningi, Sheppardia 95
Gygis alba 79

haematina, Spermophaga 96
Haematopus ostralegus 85
haematopus, Gallinula 126
Halcyon malimbica 94
Halcyon mangaia, “om. nov. 40
Halcyon ruficollaris 40

— sancta 40
Harpactes duvaucellii 26

— erythrocephalus 26

— orrhophaeus 26
Harpochris 143
hartlaubi, Pteronetta 50

—, Tauraco 135
Hemispingus rufosupertciliaris 136
hemprichii, Tockus 81-82
hiaticula, Charadrius 129
Himantopus himantopus 85, 87
himantopus, Himantopus 85, 87
Hirundo concolor 28

— rustica 76, 129
holosericea, Drepanoptila 3-4
hunteri, Cisticola 115, 119
Hydrochous 25

— gigas 26
Hylia prasina 95
hyperythra, Ficedula 31
hyperythrus, Dendrobiastes 31
hypoleuca, Ficedula 129
hypoxantha, Neodrepanis 144

ibis, Bubulcus 79
icterinus, Phyllastrephus 94
idae, Ardeola 77, 96-97
ignipectus, Dicaeum 32
immer, Gavia 84, 87
incerta, Pterodroma 77
Indicator indicator 110

— maculatus 94

— minor 109-110

— variegatus I10
indicator, Indicator 110
Iridosornis jelskii 136

jambu, Ptilinopus 25
javanica, Mirafra 92
javensis, Batrachostomus 25
jelskii, Iridosornis 136
jugularis, Eulampis 7
juncidis, Cisticola 38, 91
Jynx torquilla 129

kempi, Macrosphenus 95
keysseri, Casuarius 67

lacteus, Bubo 50
Lagonosticta rufopicta 96

— senegala 96
Laniarius aethiopicus 94

— atrococcineus 119

— atroflavus 113-114, 119

— barbarus 114, 119

— erythrogaster 114, 119

— luhderi 119

— mufumbiti 119

— tuficeps 119
Lanius collurio 77
Larus argentatus 85

— cirrocephalus 78-79

— marinus 85

— novaehollandiae 78-79
latirostris, Andropadus 94
layardi, Ptilinopus 3-4
lecontei, Ceyx 94
Leptoptilos crumeniferus 77-78
lepturus, Phaethon 78
lessonii, Pterodroma 77
leucogaster, Alcedo 94
leucolopha, Tigriornis 50
leucophrys, Brachypteryx 29-30
leucopogon, Prinia 95
leucoptera, Ardea 77-78
leucostictus, Cercotrichas 94
leuphotes, Aviceda 90
Limonites minutella 90
livia, Columba 131
livingstonti, Tauraco 135
lobata, Biziura 85
Lonchura punctulata 92
Loriana 143
Lorius 143

xii

Lorius garrulus 121
Loxia curvirostra 15-19

— pytyopsittacus 15-19
ludwigii, Dicrurus 96
lugubris, Surniculus 25
luhderi, Laniarius 119
luteovirens, Ptilinopus 3-4
Lybius chaplini 109-110

— melanocephalus 107-108

— torquatus 111

macrorhynchos, Corvus 28
macroptera, Pterodroma 77
macrosceles, Circus 78
Macrosphenus concolor 95

— kempi 95
maculatus, Indicator 94
maillardii, Circus 78
Maina tristoides 9
major, Parus 129
Malaconotus sulphureopectus 94
maldivarum, Glareola 57
malimbica, Halcyon 94
mangaia, Halcyon 4o
Manura superba 86
marinus, Larus 85
mariquensis, Bradornis 56

—, Melaenornis 53-55
masukuensis, Andropadus 94
maximus, Aerodtamus 26
Melaenornis edolioides 95

— mariquensis 53-55
melanocephala, Pionites 69
melanocephalus, Lybius 107-108
melanophrys, Diomedea 84
melanospila, Ptilinopus 4
mertula, Turdus 129
Micropternus brachyurus 27
migrans, Milvus 77-78
Milvus migrans 77-78
minor, Fregata 79

—, Indicator 109-110
minulla, Nectarinia 59
minuta, Calidris 77
minutella, Limonites go
minutus, Colymboides 65, 84, 87
Mirafra javanica 92

— poecilosterna 111
modularis, Prunella 83, 86, 129
mollis, Pterodroma 77
montanus, Parus 129
monteiri, Tockus 82
morio, Onychognathus 60-64
Motacilla alba 129

— cinerea 129
mufumbiri, Laniarius 119
Muscicapa 31

— olivascens 95

— _ sethsmithi 95
Musophaga rossae 135

Mycteria americana 85
Myioparus griseogularis 95
Myrmecocichla nigra 48
mystacalis, Aethopyga 31

nabouroup, Onychognathus 60
nana, Aratinga 15
natalensis, Cossypha 95
nebularia, Tringa 77
Nectarinia amethystina 59

— batesi 59

— bifasciata 59

— chalybea 59

— chloropygia 95

— cuprea 59, 95

— famosa 5

— minulla 59

— olivacea 95

— pulchella 7

— senegalensis 59, 78

— sovimanga 59

— talatala 59

— venusta 5-7, 59

— vetticalis 95

— violacea 6, 78
Neocossyphus fraseri 95

— poensis 95
Neodrepanis hypoxantha 144
Neophron percnopterus 76
Nephelornis oneilli 136
Nicator chloris 94
nigra, Coracopsis 78

—, Myrmecocichla 48
nigricollis, Ploceus 95

—, Sturnus 31
nigriloris, Cisticola 115, 119
Nigrita bicolor 96

— canicapilla 95
nigromitratus, Trochocercus 95
nilotica, Sterna 134
Niltava sumatrana 31
nisoria, Sylvia 129
nitens, Psalidoprocne 94
nivosa, Campethera 94
Notiochelidon flavipes 136
novaehollandiae, Coracina 28

—, Larus 78-79
Numenius arquata 77-78, 85
Nycticorax nycticorax 85
nycticorax, Nycticorax 85

obscura, Psalidoprocne 94
occidentalis, Pelecanus 84
Oceanicus, Oceanites 78
Oceanites oceanicus 78
Oceanodroma castro 84
ochropus, Tringa 57
olivacea, Nectarinia 95
olivascens, Muscicapa 95
oneilli, Nephelornis 136

xiii

onocrotalus, Pelecanus 84, 87
Onychognathus albirostris 60-61

— blythii 60

— frater 6o

— morio 60-64

— nabouroup 60

— salvadorii 60, 64

— tenuirostris 60-64

— tristrami 60

— walleri 60
Oriolus brachyrhynchus 96
otrhophaeus, Harpactes 26
ostralegus, Haematopus 85

Pachyptila desolata 77

— vittata 77
pacificus, Puffinus 78-79
Palaeolodus 87

— ambiguus 85
palumbus, Columba 3, 131
Parmoptila woodhousei 95
Parus ater 129

— caeruleus 129

— major 129

— montanus 129
Passer domesticus 8

— griseus 95
Pastor peguanus 9
pavonina, Balearica 89
peguanus, Pastor 9
Pelecanoides 86

— urinatrix 84
Pelecanus crispus 84

— occidentalis 84

— onocrotalus 84, 87
peli, Scotopelia 49
percnopterus, Neophron 76
perergrinus, Falco 3
perlatum, Glaucidium 50
Pernis apivorus 57

— ptylorhyncus 22-23
persa, Tauraco 135-136
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota 131
Phaethon aethereus 21, 84

— lepturus 78

— trubricauda 79
Phalacrocorax carbo 84
Phedina borbonica 131
philomelos, Turdus 129
Phoenicopterus chilensis 85
Phoenicurus phoenicurus 129
phoenicurus, Amaurornis 48

—, Phoenicurus 129
Phyllastrephus baumanni 94

— debilis 94

— fischeri 94

— icterinus 94
Phylloscopus borealis 30

— trochilus 129
pintadeanus, Francolinus 79

xiv

Pionites 72 Pyrrhula pyrrhula 129

— melanocephala 69 pytrhula, Pyrrhula 129
platura, Anthreptes 7 Pyrrhura conures 72
Platysteira blissetti 95 pytyopsittacus, Loxia 15-19

— castanea 95

— concreta 95 quadrivirgata, Cercotrichas 94

— cyanea 95
Plegadis falcinellus 85 Rallina eurizonoides 23-24
plengei, Schizoeaca 137-139 ralloides, Ardeola 77, 96-97
Ploceus 78 Regulus regulus 129

— cucullatus 95 regulus, Regulus 129

— nigricollis 95 Reinwardtipicus 27
Pluvialis apricaria 77 rex, Balaeniceps 84, 87

— dominica 77 Ripatia riparia 131

— squatarola 77-78 riparia, Riparia 131
Podiceps cristatus 84 roseus, Carpodacus 44-46

— ruficollis 20-21 rossae, Musophaga 135
podiceps, Podilymbus 84 tubecula, Erithacus 129
Podilymbus podiceps 84 rubeculoides, Cyornis 31
poecilosterna, Mirafra 111 rubra, Eos 120
poensis, Neocossyphus 95 rubricauda, Phaethon 79
Poeoptera 61 rufescens, Trichastoma 95
Pogoniulus bilineatus 94 ruficapilla, Spermophaga 96

— subsulphureus 94 ruficauda, Cichladusa 48
poliocephala, Alethe 94 ruficeps, Laniarius 119
poliocephalus, Cuculus 25 ruficollaris, Alcyone 40
prasina, Hylia 95 —, Halcyon 4o
pratensis, Anthus 129 ruficollis, Calidris 90
pratincola, Glareola 57 —, Podiceps 20-21
Prinia 1o1 rufigastra, Cyornis 31

— bairdi 95 rufipennis, Trichastoma 95

— flaviventris 91 rufitorques, Accipiter 3

— leucopogon 95 rufiventer, Terpsiphone 95
Prionochilus thoracicus 91 rufocinerea, Terpsiphone 95
Procellaria aequinoctialis 77-78 rufopicta, Lagonosticta 96
Prunella modularis 83, 86, 129 rufosuperciliaris, Hemispingus 136
Psalidoprocne nitens 94 rustica, Hirundo 76, 129

— obscura 94 rusticolus, Scolopax 85, 87
Pterodroma incerta 77

— lessonii 77 salvadorii, Onychognathus 60, 64

— macropteta 77 sancta, Halcyon 40

— mollis 77 saturata, Aethopyga 31
Pteronetta hartlaubi 50 saturatus, Cuculus 25
Pteruthius flaviscapis 28-29 Saxicola torquata 90
Ptilinopus jambu 25 Schizoeaca fuliginosa 136-139

— layardi 3-4 Schizoeaca fuliginosa plengei, subsp.

— luteovirens 3-4 nov. 137-139

— melanospila 4 schoeniclus, Emberiza 129

— tannensis 4 - schoenobaenus, Acrocephalus 129

— victor 2, 4 schutti, Tauraco 135
ptylorhyncus, Pernis 22-23 scitpaceus, Acrocephalus 129
Puffinus assimilis 76 sclateri, Ampelion 136

— pacificus 78-79 Scolopax rusticolus 85, 87
pulchella, Nectarinia 7 Scopus umbretta 84, 86
punctatus, Chaetodon 142 Scotopelia peli 49
punctulata, Lonchura 92 scutulata, Cairina 88-89
Pycnonotus barbatus 94 Seicercus castaniceps 25, 30
pygargus, Circus 78 Selasphorus calliope 7
Pygostelis antarctica 85 semipalmata, Anseranas 85

pyrrhonota, Petrochelidon 131 semitorquata, Streptopelia 34-37

senegala, Lagonosticta 96
senegalensis, Nectarinia 59, 78
sericocaudatus, Caprimulgus 80
sethsmithi, Muscicapa 95
shelleyi, Turtur 37
Sheppardia aequatorialis 95

— gunningi 95
sibiricus, Uragus 46
simplex, Chlorocichla 94
siparaja, Aethopyga 31
solitaris, Ficedula 31
sovimanga, Nectarinia 59
Spermophaga haematina 96

— tuficapilla 96
spilonotus, Circus 78
spilorrhoa, Ducula 97-98
Spreo albicapillus 58
squamata, Eos 121
squamigera, Uromyias 140
squatarola, Pluvialis 77—78
stellaris, Botaurus 84
stellata, Gavia 65
Sterna bergii 132-134

— bernsteini 24

— caspia 79, 134

— fuscata 79

— nilotica 134

— sumatrana 79

— zimmermanni 24
Stiphrornis erythrothorax 95
stolidus, Anous 79
Streptopelia chinensis 8

— semitorquata 34-37
striatus, Butorides 77-78

—, Colius 94
Struthio camelus 123
Sturnus nigricollis 31

— vulgaris 129
subminuta, Calidris 90
subsulphureus, Pogoniulus 94
Sula dactylatra 21, 79, 84

— sula 79
sula, Sula 79
sulphureopectus, Malaconotus 94
sumatrana, Niltava 31

—, Sterna 79
superba, Manura 86
superciliaris, Abroscopus 30
Surniculus lugubris 25
swinderniana, Agapornis 106
Sylvia althaea 142

— atrticapilla 129

— borin 129

— communis 129

— curruca 129
_— Misoria 129
Sylvietta virens 95
syndactyla, Bleda 94

tachiro, Accipiter 94

Tadorna tadorna 89
tadorna, Tadorna 89
talatala, Nectarinia 59
tannensis, Ptilinopus 4
Tauraco corythaix 135

— fischeri 134-136

— hartlaubi 135

— livingstonii 135

—- persa 135-136

— schutti 135
tenebrosa, Gallinula 125-127
tenuirostris, Anous 79

—, Onychognathus 60-64
Terathopius ecaudatus 77-78
Terpsiphone bourbonnensis 79

— tufiventer 95

— rufocinerea 95
textrix, Cisticola 38-39
thoracicus, Prionochilus 91
tickelliae, Cyornis 31
Tigriornis leucolopha 50
Tockus alboterminatus 77

— hemprichii 81-82

— monteiri 82
torda, Alca 85
torquata, Saxicola 90
torquatus, Celeus 40

—, Lybius 111
torquilla, Jynx 129
toulou, Centropus 25, 72-75
Trichastoma albipectus 95

— cleaveri 95

— fulvescens 95

— tufescens 95

— rufipennis 95
trigonostigma, Dicaeum 32
Tringa erythropus 77

— nebularia 77

— ochropus 57
tristis, Acridotheres 8-13
tristoides, Maina 9
tristrami, Onychognathus 60
trochilus, Phylloscopus 129
Trochocercus cyanomelas 95

— nigromitratus 95
Troglodytes troglodytes 129
troglodytes, Estrilda 96

—, Troglodytes 129
Turdus philomelos 129

— metula 129
Turtur brehmeri 94

— erythrophrys 37

— shelleyi 37
typica, Coracina 79

umbretta, Scopus 84, 86
unappendiculatus, Casuatrius 66-67
Uragus sibiricus 46

utbica, Delichon 28, 129
utinatrix, Pelecanoides 84

Urolais epichlora 99-101
Uromyias agilis 141
— agtaphia 136, 140-141

Uromyias agraphia squamigera, subsp.

nov. 140

validus, Chrysocolaptes 27
Vanellus cinereus 80

— vanellus 80
vanellus, Vanellus 80
vatiegatus, Indicator 110
venusta, Nectarinia 5-7, 59
verticalis, Nectarinia 95
victor, Ptilinopus 2, 4

viduata, Dendrocygna 78, 85, 87
violacea, Nectarinia 6, 78
virens, Andropadus 94

—, Sylvietta 95
viridis, Calyptomena 27-28
vittata, Pachyptila 77
vulgaris, Sturnus 129
vulturinum, Acryllium 77

walleri, Onychognathus 60
whitei, Cyornis 31
woodhousei, Parmoptila 95

zimmermanni, Sterna 24

Corrigenda

p. 76, line 47: ‘“chrysostoma’, not ‘chrysostomus’

p. 78, line 26: ‘striatus’, not ‘triatus’

p. 79, line 1: ‘francicus’, not ‘francicaus’
. 84, line 2 (caption): ‘Diomedea’, not ‘Diomedia’
p. 4, p A
. 84, line 6 (caption): ‘aethereus’, not ‘aethureus’
Pp. 4, p :

p. 85, line 2 (caption): ‘Dissoura’, not ‘Dissouria’
p. 94, line 25: ‘Psalidoprocne’, not ‘Psalidoprogne’
p. 94, lines 29, 31, 33, 35: “Andropadus’, not ‘Andropadis’
p. 94, line 35: ‘masukuensis’, not "mazukuensis’

p. 94, line 40: ‘calurus’, not ’caluras*
p. 94, line 46: ‘fischeri’, not ‘fisheri’
p. 94, line 55: ‘Malaconotus’, not ‘Malconotus’

p. 95, line 4: “cyanocampter’, not ‘cyanocompter’

p. 95, line 7: ‘aequatorialis’, not ‘aequitorialis’

p. 95, line 36: ‘edolioides’, not “edoloides’

p. 95, line 55: ‘olivacea’, not “olivacia’

p. 115, line 10: ‘nigriloris’, not ‘nigricolis’

p. 118, line 1: ‘discolor’, not “discolour’

p. 119, line 9: ‘nigriloris’, not “nigricolis’

p. 119, line 29: ‘wufumbiri’, not ‘mufumberi’
p. 129, line 39: ‘Carduelis’, not “Cardeulis’
p. 134, line 37: ‘fischeri’, not ’fischceri’

The Caxton & Holmesdale Press, Sevenoaks

Bulletin of the

British Ornithologists’ Club

Edited by
Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 96 No. 1 March 1976

The Annual Genetal Meeting of the lab will ‘e held in the Senior Gitte Room,

South Side, Imperial College, Seals s Gardens, London S.W.7 at 5.45 p.m. on Tuesday
4 May 1976. Se

AGENDA

x

1. Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting.

Repott of the Committee and Accounts for 1975.

The Bulletin. .

Election of Officers :—

(a) The Committee proposes that Mr. M. St. J. Sugg, m.a., be re-elected Honorary
Treasuret.

(b) The Committee proposes that Mr. R. E. F. Peal be re-elected Honorary Secretary.

(c) The Committee proposes Dr. G. Beven, M.D., to serve on the Committee vice
Mr. J. H. R. Boswall, who retires by rotation.

5. Any other business of which notice shall have been given in accordance with Rule (7).

qs suv Nv

By Order of the Committee,
RONALD E. F. PEAL,
Honorary Secretary.

Forthcoming Meetings:
(oe)

Tuesday, 4 May 1976 at 6.15 p.m. for 6.45 p.m. dinner (seven hundredth meeting of the
Club). In the Senior Common Room, South Side, Imperial College, South Kensington
(entrance Prince’s Gardens, S.W.7, off Exhibition Road and N. of Victoria and Albert
Museum); a short symposium on African birds, speakers Mrs. B. P. Hall, Sir Hugh Elliott,
Bt., o.8.E., and Mr. C. W. Benson, 0.3.x. Cheques for the cost of dinner (£2-95 a head)
must be sent to the Hon. Secretary before the meeting. Please note this meeting starts earlier
than usual. i ‘a

Tuesday, 20 July, 1976 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. at the Goat Tavern, 3 Stafford Street,
London W.1. Mr. Robert Gillmor will speak on Bird Illustration.

Tuesday, 21 September, 1976. Speaker to be arranged.

Tuesday, 16 November, 1976. Dr. H. N. Southern will speak on the Tawny Owl.

Committee:
J. H. Elgood (Chairman) P. Hogg (Vice-Chairman)
R. E. F. Peal (Hon. Secretary) M. St. J. Sugg (Hon. Treasurer)
Dr. J. F. Monk (Editor) J. H. R. Boswall
Mrs, J. D. Bradley : Dr. C. J. O. Harrison

C. E. Wheeler

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

Bulletin of the
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB

Vol. 96 No. 1 Published: 20 March, 1976

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR 1975

The past year has been marked by escalating costs due to raging inflation.
Postage rates for the Bulletin rose 83% and there was a very heavy increase
in the price of dinners, whilst the charge for printing the Bu//etin rose by
124% at the beginning of 1975.

There were 20 new members in the year but there were eight resignations
and nine members were struck off under Rule (4). The Committee much
regrets to report the deaths of three members: F. A. Bak, Lord Hurcomb,
G.C.B., K.B.E., and Captain C. R. S. Pitman, c.B.E., D.s.0., M.c. (Vice-Chairman
1956-59, Chairman 1959-62). There were eight new non-member subscribers
to the Bulletin. At the end of the year there were 252 members and 126 non-
member subscribers who were up to date with their subscriptions; these
together show a slight increase on the corresponding figures at the beginning
of the year and are highly satisfactory bearing in mind the increase in sub-
scription rates, which came into force for 1975.

The attendances at meetings totalled 168, a reduction on the three previous
years, almost certainly attributable to rising prices. Meetings were held at the
Café Royal in January, March and May, but in the middle of the year we were
informed of an increase approaching 50% in the cost of dinners. We were
fortunate in being able to hold our July, September and November meetings
in the Senior Common Room at Imperial College, South Kensington, where
the catering and facilities proved excellent; in July there was a buffet supper
and at the other meetings dinner of equally good character. The first two
meetings in 1976 have been arranged to take place at the Goat Tavern in
Stafford Street, Mayfair, where less expensive fare is available, but where
numbers are limited to 40 by space. We would welcome, at the Annual
General Meeting, or by letter, the comment of members upon venues for
meetings, bearing prices of meals and private rooms in mind,

The size of the Bulletin was maintained under the eminent editorship of Sir
Hugh Elliott, whose term of office concluded at the end of the year. News
was teceived of an increase of about 50% in charges for printing the Bulletin
and 7°% in postage rates from January 1976. In view of this it was decided
slightly to reduce the size of the Bulletin in 1976; however smaller type will be
used if the supply of papers justifies publication of a greater amount of
material than could otherwise be included.

The audited accounts for 1975, which are not yet available, will be tabled
at the Annual General Meeting and published in a later number of the
Bulletin.

* * *
The six hundred and ninety-eighth meeting of the Club was held at the Goat
Tavern, 3 Stafford Street, London, W.1, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 January,
1976.
Chairman: Mr. P. Hogg: present 17 members and 13 guests.
Dr. Kear has kindly sent the following précis of her talk.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] Re

Zoos ate here to stay—their popularity can be gauged from the fact that
150 million people visit annually the 500 zoos and aquaria listed in the Inter-
national Zoo Yearbook. They provide mainly leisure and education, but
zoos ought also to have important roles in biological research and in con-
servation.

It is fashionable to say, of zoos’ conservation role, that they can act as
reservoirs of species threatened with extinction in the wild. In the event of
extinction, the suggestion goes, captive-bred animals can be reintroduced
into the natural habitat. Examples where reintroductions have been success-
ful (defined as third generation individuals being produced and the “‘new”’
population being self-sustaining in the wild) are, of course, extremely few—
it’s a novel concept, and there hasn’t been much time.

Zoos ate only just beginning to realise and combat the problems of breed-
ing, for generation after generation, a species of which only a few captive
individuals remain. Problems include the adaptation to abnormal diets and
breeding seasons, loss of fear of predators including man, a lowering of
natural levels ofaggression, the bringing together of many deleterious recessive
genes, and the lack of immunity to a variety of diseases.

Perhaps a surer conservation role for zoos involves their undoubted
research and education facilities. They can often obtain, with ease, facts that
are indispensible to the field worker; for example, gestation or incubation
periods, oestrus cycles, indicators of maturity, and bones of known age. They
can also interpret the field workers’ findings to the public, who will then be
able to see, and appreciate, the animals whose conservation they increasingly
are asked to support. Thus zoos may, by acting as “honey pots” and drawing
large numbers of humans away from the fragile wilderness, help to preserve
the security of the habitats on which every species ultimately depends.

Good zoos whose ultimate goal is to exhibit, in natural surroundings,
individuals that are, almost without exception, captive-bred, and exploit
animals only to the extent that they can provide pleasurable interest, edu-

cation and scientifically useful knowledge, need support. The large scale

capture of wild creatures for exhibition at a profit, is an activity that many
will regard with distaste.

Comments on the nesting and plumage of the
Orange Dove Ptélinopus victor
by Ronald I. Orenstein and Murray D. Bruce

Received 10 November 1975

On 17 June 1974, the authors discovered a nest of the Orange Dove Piéilin-
opus victor at approximately 490 m elevation in forest on the Waitavala estate
neat Waiyevo, Taveuni, Fiji. The nest was 2-5 m up in a small (subcanopy).
tree, about 1:5 m from the trunk on a horizontal branch. Its structure was
extremely flimsy: a platform of twigs approximately 10 cm across and 1-5 cm
thick, with some sticks protruding several centimetres further out. The
network was so loose that a finger could have been inserted through the
bottom of the nest in several places. When discovered, the female bird was
sitting; indeed, her departure drew our attention to the nest. There was a
single rather large nestling, showing only the beginnings of fledging—the

ne

3 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

wing quills just starting, the dorsal feather tracts outlined with sheathed
feathers on the back and to a lesser degree on the head.

In the only previously published account of nesting in this species, Layard
(1876) reported breeding from November to December, and described the
clutch size as two. However, it is not clear from his account whether or not
Layard himself ever actually found a nest. Goodwin (1970: 377) pointed out
that this clutch size of two reported by Layard differs from the single-egg
clutch of other Pt/inopus species for which information is available, but
agrees with that of the Cloven-feathered Dove Drepanoptila holosericea of New
Caledonia. Our finding of a single nestling, however, suggests that the Orange
Dove may have the typical clutch size of the genus. It seems unlikely that any
nest predator would have removed one chick and left the other, although
Goodwin (i# /itt.) points out that he has on rare occasions found nests of
the Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus with but a single chick though the clutch
size of this species is almost invariably two. There is no nesting information
for the Golden Dove P. /uteovirens and the Velvet Dove P. /ayardi (Goodwin
1970: 378-9), the other two members of the superspecies P. /uteovirens (once
considered to constitute the genus Chrysoenas Hartlaub(185 4) (not Chrysoena)?).
Confirmation of our recorded single-egg clutch is desirable.

The male Orange Dove is the most vividly coloured of its family, its
brilliance being matched by few other birds. Further, its pattern is most
unusual for the genus P/i/inopus. Nearly all fruit doves are brightly coloured
but most of them are largely green, other colours being confined to the head
or underparts or both. This pattern allows the birds to be most inconspicuous,
particularly to an overhead avian predator (Orenstein 1973). The absence of
such a pattern in the Orange Dove would not be so puzzling if hawks were
absent on Fiji. However, the Fiji Goshawk Aceipiter rufitorques, Swamp
Harrier Circus approximans and Peregrine Falco peregrinus occur on Taveuni.
The Goshawk was particularly common in the Waiyevo area (Orenstein &
Bruce, MS). It would thus seem that the brilliant orange body of the male
dove would render it an obvious target for these predators, especially since
it is largely a bird of the canopy. However, we noted that in the field the dull
green head blends into the foliage, while the rounded orange object re-
remaining (the body) resembled one of the large dead leaves scattered through
the forest canopy. When viewed from below at least, it was easy to pass the
dove by as just such a leaf, a fact also noted by Layard. Whether this would
be.the case from above, where the leaves are viewed by reflected rather than
transmitted light and may not appear as orange, is difficult to say. However,
our observation does suggest that a pattern such as that of the Orange Dove
may not be incompatible with a need for camouflage, though the striking
sexual dimorphism of this species, with the female plumage replacing the
orange with green—unusual in the genus P//inopus—suggests that the orange
of the male may still render it more liable to predation than would a less
striking body colour. It would be valuable to learn the details of the court-
ship and mating system in this species. |
1 The use of the name Chrysoena Bonaparte (1854: 871, 879), not “Chrysaena’’ Bonaparte
(1855: 28—not 1857, cf. Zimmer 1926: 69), follows Peters (1938). However, Bonaparte’s
name of 1854 (6 November) is predated by Chrysoenas Hartlaub (1854: 166; “‘before August”’,
cf. Mathews 1927: 42). Both names originated from Bonaparte’s usage, and he intended
Chrysoena to replace Chrysoenas (ased by him in correspondence, although Hartlaub’s
adoption of this name precedes the formal proposal of C’hrysoena by Bonaparte). Mathews

chose to use Chrysoenas, and if the Fijian doves are recognised as a distinct subgenus, this
name should be adopted.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 4

The explanation proposed above may also apply to patterns in other
Pitilinopus species, such as the Golden Dove of Viti Levu which also has the
body colour brighter than that of the head. The Velvet Dove of Kadavu has
a yellow head contrasting with a green body, while several other species (e.g.
the Black-naped Fruit Dove P. melanospila) also have a colourful head con-
trasting with a largely green body. In all these birds the total effect may well
be disruptive, with either the body or the head resembling a leaf, flower or
fruit separate from the rest of the bird, which is coloured to blend into the
background. Whether the body or the head appears more conspicuous
seems unimportant from a taxonomic point of view; both variations occur
within the “Chrysoenas” group.

A further conclusion from this discussion is that the presumably adaptive
nature of these patterns renders them highly likely to have evolved more than
once, and hence of little use in determining relationships. Thus, Mayr (1940)
apparently considered the Silver-shouldered Fruit Dove P. tannensis of the
New Hebrides to be the nearest relative of “CArysoenas’’, presumably because
of its resemblance in plumage pattern to P. /ayardi. Observations by the
junior author on the New Hebrides and New Caledonia, however, indicate
that P. ¢annensis resembles P. /uteovirens and P. victor, the two species of this
group which we have observed, less than does the quite differently patterned
Cloven-feathered Dove Drepanoptila holosericea (Bruce, MS). The “‘crest”’ of
the latter species resembles closely the high, domed foreheads of the Fijian
birds. The chunky, rounded body shape of these birds is quite different from
the more slender appearance of P. sannensis. The Fijian doves, indeed, may
be quite close to Drepanoptila (whether or not they have a similar clutch size),
and, with it, may represent relict survivors of an early wave of colonisation
by Ptz/inopus stock into the Pacific area (cf. Amadon 1943).

We are grateful to Max Ohlsson of Burns Philp (Fiji) Pty. Ltd. for his kindness and
assistance in providing accommodation on the Waitavala estates. Derek Goodwin of the
British Museum (Natural History) kindly commented on our nesting information. Dr.
Robert W. Storer of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, criticised the
manuscript.

References:

Amadon, D. 1943. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition, 52. Notes on
some non-passerine genera, 3. Amer. Mus. Novit. 1237: 1-22.

Hose C. L. 1854. Coup d’oeil sur ’ordre des Pigeons. Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., Paris
39: 869-880.

— 1855. Conspectus Generum Avium 2: 1-232. Lugduni Batavorum: E. J. Brill.

Bruce, M. D. MS. Bird notes from New Caledonia and New Hebrides.

Goodwin, D. 1970. Pigeons and Doves of the World. 2nd ed. London: Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.).

Hartlaub, G. 1854. Zur Ornithologie Oceanien’s. Journ. f. Orn. 2: 160-171.

Layard, E. L. 1876. Notes on some little-known birds of the new colony of the Fiji Tania.
Ibis (3) 6: 137-152.

Mathews, G. M. 1927. Systema Avium Australasianarum, Patt 1: 1-426. London: BOU.

Mayr, E. 1940. The origin and the history of the bird fauna of Polynesia. Proc. 6th Pac. Sci.
Congr. (1939) 4: 197-216.

Orenstein, R. I. 1973. Colourful plumage in tropical birds. Avicult. Mag. 79: 119-122.

Orenstein, R. I. & Bruce, M. D. MS. Notes on the birds of Taveuni, Fiji Islands.

Peters, J. L. 1938. Generic limits of some fruit pigeons. Proc. 8th Int. Ornith. Congr. (1934):
371-391.

Zimmer, J. T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Part 1.
Field Mus. Nat. Hist. , Zool, Ser. 16: x + 364 pp.

5 [Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

Notes on a nesting female Variable Sunbird
Nectarinia venusta
by R. A. Cheke

Received 29 November 1975

As examples of ecological equivalence, sunbirds (Nectariniidae) are often
compared with hummingbirds (Trochilidae). In both groups the amount of
time spent foraging for food varies between 10% and 35 % of daylight, al-
though small changes in the volume of nectar available per flower can produce
major changes in birds’ partitioning of time (Wolf et a/. 1975). Compared with
hummingbirds under equivalent conditions, sunbirds have greater energy
requirements but lower foraging costs, partly due to the hovering habit of
hummingbirds in front of their food plants, in contrast to sunbirds which,
with some exceptions (Williams 1951, Coe 1961, Broekhuysen 1963, Cheke
19714), perch while feeding. The similarity in time budgets of the two groups
appears to be the result of a balance between these two factors. The com-
plexity of sunbird energetics has been emphasised by the observation that
one of two male Malachite Sunbirds Nectarinia famosa studied by Wolf (1975)
regularly took in less energy, in terms of the calorific value of the nectar it
consumed, than it expended. This result implies that supplementary energy
provided by the bird’s invertebrate diet or possible savings of energy by
regulated nocturnal hypothermia, which occurs in Malachite Sunbirds at high
altitudes (Cheke 1971b), are of considerable importance. Since there are few
accounts of the activities of nesting sunbirds the following data obtained in
July 1974 on the behaviour of a female Variable Sunbird NV. venuséa, nesting
at sea-level in an equitable environment, may be of interest for comparative
purposes in nectarivorous species.

The data may be somewhat atypical owing to the protected nature of the
nest-site, which was studied during a brief, but crucial, part of the nesting
cycle, inside a bungalow at sea level at Tiwi beach, 20 km S.W. of Mombasa,
Kenya. The house had been empty for some weeks permitting the bird,
which entered through gaps between the corrugated iron roof and the top of
a wall, to construct its nest undisturbed. The nest incorporated some string
hanging from a thick wire, intended for holding up mosquito nets, which
was suspended from a roof beam. The main body of the nest was 17-5 cm
from top to base, with pieces of grass and leaves straggling 17 cm below it.
Its base was 183 cm from the floor and its top was 45 cm below the beam.
The oval entrance hole to the nest chamber was 4 cm in height, 2-7 cm wide
and its base was 3:8 cm above the base of the nest. The rear of the chamber
itself was 4-7 cm inside the nest, which was 6-5 cm wide at its broadest. This
type of nest structure, pear-shaped and typical of sunbirds, clearly provides
more protection for the young than the open nests characteristic of humming-
birds. The entrance hole faced into the room, away from the window which
was covered with a wire grill of 5 cm square mesh. When this window was
open the bird returned to the nest through it, pausing on the wire mesh on
its way, but it always departed in the opposite direction via one of its exit
holes underneath the roof.

The nest was first seen on arrival at the house on the evening of 24 July
1974, after dusk. The sitting bird was disturbed as little as possible and,
despite occasional electric lighting and human occupation of the room, she

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 6

remained in the nest until the next morning when it was found that she was
incubating two eggs. These measured approximately 1-6 x 1-0 cm and were
heavily mottled with dark brown ona paler brown background, the mottling
being most dense at the wider ends of the eggs.

When returning to incubate after a foraging session, the bird hovered
briefly in front of the nest, perching on it below the entrance hole before
entering and turning around to settle on the eggs. Two eggs remained
throughout 25 and 26 July but at 10.05 hrs. on 27 July the bird was moving
excitedly within the nest before flying away and returning five minutes later.
During this interval the nest was examined revealing that one egg had
hatched. At 10.10 hrs. when the bird returned she perched as usual below the
entrance hole but instead of then entering the nest at once she remained
probing into the hole with her bill for 2 minutes 25 seconds. This behaviour
was noted twice more, when only one young had hatched, for periods of
I minute 35 seconds and for 2 minutes 4o seconds. Later that morning some
high-pitched squeaking, presumably from the chick, was heard and the adult
stood up inside the nest and, probing beneath her, also piped but at a higher
frequency. The second egg had still failed to hatch by 18.05 hrs. on 27 July.
When at 07.25 hrs. on the following day the adult returned to the nest, she
paused briefly at the entrance hole before entering, making piping noises
(described in notes as “‘tseep, did-dee-did, oh, oh”’). After entering and turn-
ing around she then uttered, with her head protruding from the entrance
hole, a sub-song described as “‘did, dee, did, da, deee, dee, dee didyou”’. This
was followed by chirps, interspersed with high-pitched piping from the
young which continued for 25 minutes. After this active and noisy brooding
session the adult departed at 08.00 hrs. and the nest was then found to contain
two young. Later that day the adult attended to the young continuously from
outside the nest for 3 minutes 10 seconds, the longest such session recorded.
At 09.30 hrs. egg shells were found beneath the nest.

After a hypothermic night, and at high altitudes, hummingbirds have been
recorded to leave their nests as much as 20 minutes before sunrise on clear
days (Calder & Booser 1973) and Broekhuysen (1963) records that the
Orange-breasted Sunbird Nectarinia violacea departs from its nest from 6 to
32 minutes before sunrise. Although dawn was at 06.00 hrs., the Variable
Sunbird did not leave the nest before 06.55, 06.45 and 06.43 hrs. on 26, 27
and 29 July respectively. Similarly, with dusk at 19.00 hrs., the bird remained
in the nest after 17.50, 18.21 and 18.35 hrs. on 25, 27 and 28 July.

The times for sessions of incubation or brooding and for absences from
the nest by the female NV. venusta ate given in Table 1. Table 2 contains details
of five continuous observation periods, of brooding sessions, only two of
which were of any length.

TABLE I

Incubation and brooding sessions and intervals of absence from the nest of a female
Variable Sunbird Nectarinia venusta according to nest contents.

Incubation or — Intervals of absence
Nest contents brooding sessions from the nest
(minutes) (minutes)
Mean Range Mean Range

Two eggs ao 5-70 29°5 10-50
One egg and one chick 11°78 5-35 8°5 4-16
Two chicks t2"7 I-39 9°9 3-17

7 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

TABLE 2

Brooding sessions of female Variable Sunbird Nectarinia venusta during periods of con-
tinuous observation with known nest contents.

Nest Date Observation No. of Brooding Mean % time Time
contents time brooding sessions brooding brooding brooding
sessions per hour time per per hour
Session (mins.)
(mins.)
One egg and 27 July 1000— 8 2°4 18-5 74 44°4
one chick 1320
Two chicks 28 July oc800— 9 2°6 I2‘I 53 32°0
1125
Two chicks 28 July 1505— 2 3°4 12°5 71 43°1
1540
Two chicks 28 July 1715— 2 1°5 26-0 65 39°1
1835
Two chicks 29 July 0643— 3 3°4 5°6 31 19°5
0748

The Variable Sunbird, like the Orange-breasted Sunbird (Broekhuysen
1963), in general tends to be absent for longer periods and to remain on the
nest for longer sessions than hummingbirds (Orr 1939, Calder 1971, Wolf
& Wolf 1971, Snow 1974, Smith et a/. 1974). Since female Variable Sunbirds
weigh 5-3 + 0-3 g (Fry 1970) and the conditions for breeding were good,
this is not surprising in comparison with hummingbirds such as Anna’s
Hummingbird Calypte anna (body-weight 3-4—5-8 g) and the Calliope
Hummingbird Se/asphorus calliope (body-weight 2:6 — 3:4 g) studied
at high altitudes (see Calder 1971, Smith e¢ a/. 1974); but it is also true of the
larger Purple-throated Carib Hummingbird Exlampis jugularis (body-weight
7°9 + 0-4 g—Hainsworth & Wolf 1970) studied by Wolf & Wolf (1971).

No male Variable Sunbird was seen either near the nest or with the female.
However, little significance can be attached to this since there is often a time-
lag between the hatching of the young and any male partner, if present,
‘learning of this fact. Skinner (1969) records that both sexes of the Pygmy
Long-tailed Sunbird Anthreptes platura feed their nestlings, but it is the
famale which broods them at night, entering the nest at sunset (18.15 hrs.)
and leaving after 07.30 hrs., in northern Nigeria. The variability of the in-
cubation behaviour of sunbirds under different environmental conditions is
emphasised by the Beautiful Long-tailed Sunbird NV. pulchella which sits on
its eggs very little or not at all during daytime in the intense heat of the West
African sahel (Koenig 1956).

References:

Broekhuysen, G. J. 1963. The breeding biology of the Orange-breasted Sunbird Antho-
baphes viclacea (Linneaus). Ostrich 34: 187-234.

Calder, W. A. 1971. Temperature relationships and nesting of the Calliope Hummingbird.
Condor 73: 314-321.

Calder, W. A. & Booser, J. 1973. Hypothermia of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds during
incubation in nature with ecological correlations. Science 180: 751-753.

Cheke, R. A. 19714. Feeding ecology and significance of interspecific territoriality of African
montane sunbirds (Nectariniidae). Revue Zool. Bot. afr. 84: 50-64.

— 1971b. Temperature rhythms in African montane sunbirds. Jbis 113: 500-506.

Coe, M. J. 1961. Notes on Nectarinia johnstoni johnstoni on Mt. Kenya. Ostrich 32: 101-103.

Fry, C. H. 1970. Migration, moult and weights of birds in Northern Guinea savanna in
Nigeria and Ghana. Ostrich Suppl. 8: 239-263.

Hainsworth, F. R. & Wolf, L. L. 1970. Regulation of oxygen consumption and body
temperature during torpor in a hummingbird, Eulampis jugularis. Science 168: 368-369.

Koenig, L. 1956. Zum vorkommen einiger Sprinte zwischen Tessabit und Niamey (Fran-

zosich-West Africa). Journ. f. Ornithol. 97: 384-402.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 8

Orr, R. T. 1939. Observations on the nesting of the Allen Hummingbird. Condor 41: 17-24.

Skinner, N. J. 1969. Notes on the breeding of the Pygmy Long-tailed Sunbird Hedydipna
platura at Zaria. Bull. Niger. Orn. Soc. 6: 124-126.

Smith, R. K., Roberts, S$. W. & Miller, P. C. 1974. Calculating the nocturnal energy
expenditure of an incubating Anna’s Hummingbird. Condor 76: 176-183.

Snow, B. K. 1974. Lek behaviour and breeding of Guy’s Hermit Hummingbird Phaeth-
ornis guy. Ibis 116: 278-297.

Williams, J. G. 1951. INectarinia johnstoni: a revision of the species, together with data on
pinmages, moults and habits. /bis 93: 579-595.

Wolf, L. L. 1975. Energy intake and expenditures in a nectat-eating sunbird. Ecology 56:
92-104.

Wolf, L. L., Hainsworth, F. R. & Gill, F. B. 1975. Foraging efficiences and time budgets in
nectat-feeding birds. Ecology 56: 117-128.

Wolf, L. L. si Wolf, J. S. 1971. Nesting of the Purple-throated Carib Hummingbird. /bis
113: 306-315.

Morphological notes on Acridotheres tristis in Natal
by R. K. Brooke

Received 3 November 1975

The Indian Myna Acridotheres tristis was introduced into Durban, Natal,
South Africa, about 1900 (Kent 1927) and it was then believed that the
introduction was due to a consignment of these birds shipped to an animal
dealer in Durban escaping and establishing themselves prior to spreading
naturally over much of Natal (Calder 1953). It is known that the House
Sparrow Passer domesticus can produce the characters of new subspecies in
well under a hundred years on introduction to new countries (Johnston &
Selander 1964 on North America, Harwin & Irwin 1966 on southern Africa).
The Asiatic Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis introduced about a hundred
years ago into southern Australia now has substantially longer tarsi than any
Asiatic population (Frith & McKean 1975) though the actual figures are
uncertain since those given in their Table 6 appear to have been multiplied
by 10. That this does not happen to all birds was shown by Niethammer
(1971) in respect of some west Palaearctic species introduced about a hundred
years ago into New Zealand.

Having now assembled a substantial panel of Natal-taken specimens at the
Durban Museum it was decided to investigate whether Natal A. ¢ristis had
differentiated from those of Asia. For this purpose adult Asiatic birds were
borrowed from the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, and
the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.

Two forms of A. ¢ristis have long been recognized (see Sharpe 1890,
Hartert 1932, Vaurie 1959, Amadon 1962, Ali & Ripley 1972), namely A. 7.
tristis (Linnaeus) 1766, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1: 167 (Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu,
India) throughout continental Asia and A. ¢. melanosternus Legge, 1879, Ann.
Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 5, 3: 168 (Sri Lanka) in Sri Lanka. All populations
introduced elsewhere, mostly in the southern hemisphere, are attributed to
the nominate race (Benson 1960, Amadon 1962). The accepted arrangement
of natural Asiatic populations must be considered before it is possible to
assess local differentiation in Natal ¢ristis. Of the discreteness of melanosternus
there is no doubt. But the material examined of nominate /ris/7s shows it to
be composite. Birds from peninsular India are paler and duller below and less
reddish on the back than birds from Burma and Nepal. This may be expressed
more accurately in the capitalized colour nomenclature of Ridgway (1912) as

9 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

upper abdomen Avellaneous in India, Verona Brown in Burma; throat and
breast Deep Mouse Gray in India, Dark Mouse Gray in Burma; back pale
Prout’s Brown in India, dark Snuff Brown in Burma. Plate X(4) in Smythies
(1953) gives a good idea of the dark, rich colouring of Burmese birds. The
four birds seen from China and Thailand are slightly darker than those of
peninsular India but are closer to them in colour than they are to those of
Burma and Nepal.

There are two names available for the birds of Burma and Nepal (Sharpe
1890, Hartert 1932): Pastor peguanus Lesson, 1831, Traite Orn. 1: 404, Pegu,
southern Burma, and Maina tristoides Hodgson, 1836, Journ. Asiat. Soc.
Bengal 5: 771, Nepal. Through the kindness of Dr. Ben King of the American
Museum of Natural History I have received photocopies of both proposals.
I agree with Sharpe (1890) that Lesson’s name is indeterminate since it is not
clearly a description of A. ¢ris#is or any other known bird. I therefore
propose that A. ¢. ¢ristoides (Hodgson), 1836, be recognized as the sub-
specific name of populations in central and northern Burma and Nepal, and
also of those introduced populations overseas which are indistinguishable in
colour and which may well have been derived from stocks trapped in Burma
for the overseas bird trade.

TABLE 1
Mensural data (mm and g) on Acridotheres tristis
A
A, ¢. melanosternus (Sri Lanka)
Ad. 33 Ad. 9°
Range Range Average
Culmen 25, 28 26-28 (4) 26-8
Wing 140, 143 132-140 = (4) 1355
143-149 (5)? 134-138 (3)?
Tail 82, 85 74-82 (4) 78°5
82-96 (5) 76-82 (3)?
(Crest 17, 19 12-16 (4) 14:0
B
A, ¢. tristis (India and China)
Aad. and immature 83 Ad. and immature 29
Range Average KD. Range Average Aho A
Culmen 24-28 (9) 26°1 I'l 24-27 (6) 26-0 1
Wing 134-147 (9) 139°9 4°0 133-143 (6) 139°2 3°4
138-1537 138-147}
133-149" (16) 144°6 131-143" (21) 13674
Tail 77-91 (8) 82:8 ed, 78-88 (5) 82:6 4°3
81-957 79-86"
Crest ae-2t (8) 17°1 g-2 13-16 =(6) 14°5 I°I
Both sexes together
Wing 130-140 (16) Delacour & Jabouille (1931)
136-148 Hartert (1932)
Tail 83-90 Hartert (1932)
Weight 82-138 (20)!
Localities India.

Awjat (Baroda, Gujerat), Bhachau (Kutch, Gujerat), Gorakhpur (U.P.),
Hoshiarpur (Punjab), Jamwala (Junagadh, Gujerat), Kanchraparai (Bengal),
Khuri (Sunguja), Lake Khurjar (Sind, Pakistan), Lucknow (U.P.), Nichlaul
(U.P.), Mudumalai (Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu).

China.
Chienchuan (Yunnan) at 2440 m a.s.l., Ndamucho (Yunnan) at 4270 m a.s.l.,
Youngning Mts. (Yunnan) at c. 3810 ma.s.l. in Nov. or Dec. 1928.

Thailand.

Pak Chong.

[Bull, B.O.C. 7976: 96(1)]

10

C
A. t. tristoides (central and northern Burma and Nepal)

Aid. and immature 33 Aad. 22
Range Average A DN Range
Culmen 250-2775. (5) n26°3 I'o 26,26
Wing 133-145 (5) 139°6 4°5 137,140
Tail 80-88 (5) 83°4 3.2 82
Crest 17-18 (Sea 7h2 O°5 14, 14
Localities Mandalay, Sittwe (Arakan), Thankote (Nepal).
D
A, t. tristoides (St. Helena)
Ad. 3 Culmen 29, Wing 149, Tail 89, Crest 17
Ad. 2 Culmen 26, Wing 1q40, Tailor, Crest 12
E
A, t. tristoides (Natal, South Africa)
Range Average Sz? Range Average S.D.
Ad. 338 Ad. 29
Culmen 25-31 (10) 27°6 1°8 24-29 (13) 2687 r*2
Wing 135-143 (12) 139°9 2°8 13I-14t (12) 135°1 3°3
Tail 78-90 (11) 83-8 3°6 75-88 (8) 80-0 4°5
Crest 14-18 (12) 199 1-2 13-185 (13) 14°9 1°8
Weight 106-134 (4) 121°3 98-116 (5) 108-6 73
Imm. 83 Imm. &&
Culmen 25-30 (10) 28°1 I°5 25°5-28 (12) 26°8 0:8
Wing 133-144 (10) 139°7 3°9 129-137 (11) 133°1 2°8
Tail 74-86 (7) 79°4 5°4 74-80 (8) 77°3 2°3
Crest 12-18 (10) 15°1 2° 12-16"5 (12) 14°70 Iv 5
Weight 118-134 (4) 129-2 102-116 (3) 11E-e
Ad. amd imm. 33 Ald. and imm. 22
Culmen 25-31 (20) 27°9 1°6 24-29 (25) 26-8 I*O
Wing 133-144 (22) 139°8 3°3 129-141 (23) 134°1 3°2
Tail 74-90 (18) 82:1 4°7 74-88 (16) 78-6 ZF
Crest 12-18 (22) 15°5 LF 12-18+5 (25) 14°4 |
Weight 106-134 (8) .123°3 9°5 98-116 (8) 109°5 meee,
Juvenal 33 Juvenal SP
Culmen 23-28 (9) 25:8 I°5 26-28 (3) 2770
Wing 124-135 (9) 130°8 3°9 121~133 (3) 128°3
Tail 63-69 (6) 66°8 m2 60-67 (3) 63°5
Juvenals of both sexes
Culmen 23-28 (14) 26°1 I°4
Wing 121-135 (14) 130°0 4°1
Tail 60-69 (9) 66:2 20
Eggs Natal
27°5-33°0 1°6
x (16) 29-4 X 21°3 S.D,
1072-22 4] 0:8
Soviet?
28+7-32°4
x
20*4-23°0 (16) 30°1-21°6
Indian?
27°6-35°0 (100) 30:8 X 21-9
x
19*2-23°2
Localities Camperdown, Durban, Inanda, Marianhill, Pietermaritzburg, Pinetown,
Umhlanga Rocks.
NOTES 1Ali & Ripley (1972)

*Dement’ev & Gladkov (1970)
Culmens have been measured from the skull.

The crest is the length of the feathers in the second last row of elongated,

lanceolate feathers on the occiput.

II [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

The first point that emerges from study of the Natal birds is that nearly all
of those in fresh plumage are the darker, more richly coloured ¢ristoides and
that very few resemble nominate /r7stis. 1 conclude that the trade consign-
ment sent to Durban was composite but that the majority of the birds were
-tristoides and that this is the subspecific name that should be applied. I would
add that of 21 Natal adults and immatures (not juvenals) in fresh plumage all
eight from Pietermaritzburg in the less humid interior are /réstoides and that
it is only among the specimens from the humid coastal regions that three
birds resembling nominate ¢r/sts have been found.

The three specimens seen from the island of St. Helena are clearly ¢ristozdes.
Tam told by a friend who recently visited the Seychelles archipelago that

the A. ¢ristis there are clearly duller in appearance than those he is accustomed

to seeing in Durban, 1.e. the stock there is nominate /risi7s.
_ The linear measurements of A. /ristis are unusually variable for a bird of
its size (Table 1), the tail length in particular. The wing lengths (Table 13)
are longer in Soviet birds than in Indochinese birds: but only the examina-
tion of large series will clarify the extent of geographical and sexual variation
in linear measurements. Naik & Naik (1969) deny that there is sexual
dimorphism in wing and tail measurements after examining 112 specially
collected birds from Gujerat, India, but they do not give figures to support
their statement. However, Natal females (Table 1£) are highly significantly
shorter winged than males: a “‘t”’ test on the means for adults and immatures
taken together gives a value of 5-88, P < -oor. A similar test on tail length
gives 2°39 which is just significant, P < -o5. The figures for the culmen are
2°82, P < -o1; for the crest 2:21, P < -05; for weight 3-31, P < -o1. Thus
Natal females are generally lighter than males and smaller, particularly in
wing length. Culmens have been measured from the skull. The crest is the
length of the feathers in the second last row of elongated, lanceolate feathers
on the occiput.

TABLE 2

ithe differences between adults and juvenals of Natal Acridotheres tristis tristoides
(see also measurements in Table 1B)

Adult
sides of lower mandible dark

palate black

crown and occiput feathers lanceolate and
Black.

occipital feathers 11 mm or longer

dorsal skin dark

back dark Snuff Brown

primaries dull Black

primary 10 does not reach the end of the
White basal section of primary 9

outer greater upper primary coverts White

secondaries 7 and 8 uniform Fuscous

alular 2 with White outer web

rump Snuff Brown

oil gland with sparse black down

upper sides of rectrices Black
_ throat Dark Mouse Gray

breast Dark Mouse Gray

- upper abdomen Verona Brown
_ under sides of retrices Black tipped with

White, including the shafts

~ claws horn coloured

Juvenal

pale and concolorous with the rest of the
bill.

yellow

not lanceolate and Chaetura Black slightly
tipped with brown.

less than to mm long

pale

Auburn

Fuscous Black

reaches to at least the base of Fuscous
Black distal section

marked with dusky

tipped with Mikado Brown

dusky with White patch

Cacao Brown

no down

Chaetura Black

Wood Brown

Mouse Gray tipped with pale Cacao
Brown

Mikado Brown

Chaetura Black and Pale Vinaceous Fawn
with dark shafts to the end

yellow

Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 12

The descriptions of the juvenal plumage in the standard works under-
estimate the distinctiveness of this plumage, at least in Natal birds. The
points of difference are set out in Table 2, in which the capitalized colour
names are those of Ridgway (1912). But more curious is that juvenals moult
the tail about a fortnight after leaving the nest and thus most juvenal speci-
mens have second generation tails which are moulted with the remainder of
the juvenal plumage at the end of summer, in Natal between January and
June. The first generation of tail feathers are Chaetura Black and narrow
with slightly pointed tip. The pale ends of the rectrices are Pale Vinaceous
Fawn and the pale section of the sixth or outermost measures c. 10°5 mm
in width by 6 mm in depth. The second generation of tail feathers are Black
and broader, though not longer, with a slightly pointed tip. The pale ends
are White with a dark shaft and the outermost measures c. 13 mm in width
by 14 mm in depth. The third and subsequent generations of tail feathers are
Black and even broader, with scalloped ends to the inner webs. The pale ends
are White, the outermost measuring c. 17 mm in width by 18 mm in depth.
Within the white sections in third generation feathers part or all of the shaft
may be black but it is always white in the fourth and subsequent generations.

The post juvenal moult leads to a plumage which is scarcely distinguishable
from that of adults. In some birds the three or four outermost greater upper
primary wing coverts are lightly marked with dusky instead of being plain
white, and in some birds some or all of the shafts of the rectrices are at least
partly black within the white terminal sections. Naik & Naik (1969) comment
that nominate /ris/zs in very fresh plumage have light grey tips to all dark
feathers and that these soon abrade, leaving the plumage at the start of the
breeding season brighter than it was when fresh. This is not true of Natal
birds though here the Dark Mouse Gray breast feathers have Verona Brown
tips when very fresh. In an immature female the palate was not black as in
adults or yellow as in juvenals but dusky pink: more immature birds must be
examined to see if this character is constant. The testes of one male collected
in immature plumage in the breeding season were (left) 13 x 5, (tight) 12 5
mm and thus of a size to be fully functional. It appears that in Natal A. ¢rists
starts breeding when it is just under a year old.

There are three alular quills as stated by Naik & Naik (1969) and this is the
commonest number in the Passeriformes. Quills 1 and 2 (no. 1 being the
innermost as recommended by Van Tyne & Berger 1959) are pied but do
not match the adjacent upper primary coverts. This lack of matching is the
less common situation in birds. Quill 3 is totally black, perhaps to strengthen
it as being the longest quill and the one most subject to abrasion through
use. There is no subalular aptertum but the feathering here is sparser in
juvenals than in adults, a situation which is probably widespread in birds
which do not have this apterium in adults and of some slight advantage in
reducing the number of feathers that the nestling has to grow in a very short
period. Likewise, in juvenal A. ¢ristis the oil gland is nude but in adults it is
sparsely covered ‘with black down.

Naik & Naik (1969) have elucidated the moult patterns of nominate
tristis in western India. Natal ¢ristozdes reflect the patterns they have detected,
including the marked tendency to a jumbled mode in the rectrices, irrespective
of generation. Egg laying continues into January in Natal (Dean 1971) and
an adult female collected on 5 February had started to moult at least a fort-
night earlier. As in India, there is no clear demarcation between the breeding
and moulting seasons.

13 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

As in many starlings, plain white feathers may be found in tracts which are
normally pigmented. I have seen three Asiatic specimens with white occipital
feathers and a Natal specimen with a pure white outer left rectrix. One
Chinese bird in fresh plumage had white tips to the first five primaries and
the first seven secondaries.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am obliged for the loan of material to the authorities of the Field Museum of Natural
History, Chicago, the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, the National
Museum of Rhodesia, Bulawayo, the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria. I would also thank
Dr. B. Stuckenberg for facilities for study in the Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, and Mr.
G. Indelicato for obtaining a series of 17 birds at Marianhill at my request. Mr. P. A.
Clancey has kindly commented on a draft of this paper which arises out of his observations
to me on material available in 1973.

References:

Ali, S. & Ripley, S. D. 1972. Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan, 5. Bombay: Oxford
University Press.

Amadon, D. 1962. in Check-list of birds of the world, 15 (Ed. Mayr & Greenway). Cambridge
(Mass.): Museum Comparative Zoology.

Benson, C. W. 1960. The birds of the Comoro Islands. [bis 103b: 5-106.

Calder, D. R. 1953. The distribution of the Indian Myna. Bokmakierie 5: 4-6.

Dean, W. R. J. 1971. Breeding data for the birds of Natal and Zululand. Durban Mus.
Novit. 9: 59-91.

Delacour, J. & Jabouille, P. 1931. Les oiseaux del’ Indochine Francaise, 4. Paris: Exposition
Coloniale Internatn.

Dement’ev, G. P. & Gladkov, N. A. 1970. Birds of the Soviet Union, 5. Jerusalem: Israel
Program Scientific Translations.

Frith, H. J. & McKean, J. L. 1975. Races of the introduced Spotted Turtledove, Strepto-
pelia chinensis (Scopoli), in Australia. Austral. Journ. Zool. 23: 295-306.

Hartert, E. 1932. Die Vogel der paldarktischen Fauna suppl. Berlin: Friedlander.

Harwin, R. M. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1966. The spread of the House Sparrow, Passer domesticus,
in south-central Africa. Arnoldia (Rhod.) 2: 24.

Johnston, R. F. & Selander, R. K. 1964. House Sparrows: rapid evolution of races in
North America. Science 144: 548-550.

Kent, C. C. 1927. The Indian Myna. S. Afr. Journ. Nat. Hist. 6: 127-129.

Naik, N. L. & Naik, R. M. 1969. On the plumages and moults of some Indian starlings.

~) Payouy:.47-73.-

Niethammer, G. 1971. Zur Taxonomie europaischer, in Neuseeland eingebiigerter Vogel.
Journ, f. Orn. 112: 202-226.

Ridgway, R. 1912. Color standards and color nomenclature. Washington: Author.

Sharpe, R. B. 1890. Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum, 13. London: Trustees British
Museum.

Smythies, B. E. 1953. The birds of Burma. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

Van Tyne, J. & Berger, A. J. 1959. Fundamentals of ornithology. New York: Wiley.

Vaurie, C. 1959. The birds of the palearctic fauna. London: Witherby.

The status of Aratinga astec melloni Twomey
by Kenneth C.. Parkes

Received on 12 December 1975

Since the description of Aratinga astec melloni by Twomey in 1950, only two
authors, to my knowledge, have commented on this alleged Honduran
subspecies of the Olive-throated Parakeet. Twomey described me//oni as
differing from A. a. astec in being “decidedly paler on the breast, abdomen
and flanks, the green being duller and more suffused with a grayish undertone,
the olivaceous cast to the breast and throat duller; the back is paler with an
olivaceous cast on the crown, back and interscapular regions in contrast to
the brighter green of Aratinga astec astec’’. Montoe (1968) examined a large

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 14

series of this species from southern Mexico and Central America, and could
find no significant variation in colour. Forshaw (1973) gave melloni a full
numbered entry, but stated that it was “‘doubtfully distinct” and “probably
not separable” from astec, citing Monroe.

Both these latter authors overlooked the fact that Twomey’s comparative
material of astec contained only specimens from Costa Rica, although the
type locality of Conurus astec Souancé is “Mexico”. Twomey had no Mexican
specimens other than one of A. a. vicinalis (Bangs & Penard) from Tamau-
lipas. If Honduran specimens were indeed separable from those of Costa
Rica as claimed by Twomey, one would expect them to resemble those of
Mexico, and Twomey would thus have named the wrong population. On the
other hand, Twomey considered seven specimens from British Honduras to
be “intermediate between Aratinga astec vicinalis and Aratinga astec melloni’’.
As vicinalis is presently considered to be a subspecies from Tamaulipas and
northern Veracruz, intergradation in British Honduras between this form
and the alleged Honduran form me/loni would place in question the range and
characters of nominate as¢ec, from an unspecified locality in Mexico.

Although Marien & Koopman (1955) considered the two specimens of
vicinalis they examined to be “exceedingly similar” to astec, the limited
number of specimens I have examined indicate that it is quite recognizeable,
an opinion which is shared by, among others, Monroe (1968) and Allan R.
Phillips (pers. comm.). Forshaw (1973) accepts it without comment.

As is clearly indicated by a series of specimens from Veracruz in the U.S.
National Museum of Natural History, intergradation between vicinalis and
astec extends through much of that state. A specimen from Potrero, less than
150 km south of Altamira, Tamaulipas, the type locality of vicinalis, is
intermediate between the two subspecies. Farther south, two of six from
Tres Zapotes and one of two from Motzorongo clearly show some influence
of vicinalis. Of the other four Tres Zapotes specimens, two are so badly worn
and stained that colour evaluation is impossible, and two are within the
range of variation of Middle American asec. This is also true of the second
Motzorongo specimen and the two from farther south, at Paso Nuevo.

It would appear to be desirable to restrict the type locality of Conurus astec
Souancé to some place in Mexico from which specimens are well removed
from any influence of vicinalis, and from which early specimens may plausibly
have been received. Accordingly, I designate the restricted type locality of
astec as Mérida, Yucatan. An old Mérida specimen and two old specimens
from Chichén Itza (about 100 km east of Mérida) in the U.S. National Museum,
and a recent specimen from Kopomé (about 50 km southwest of Mérida) in
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, are all good matches for Central
American specimens. This parakeet is abundant on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Returning now to the question of me//oni, the Carnegie Museum series has
been augmented by four additional specimens collected by Twomey at
Coyoles, Honduras, subsequent to his description of me//oni, and we have
also acquired several specimens from various localities on the Yucatan
Peninsula. Study of this series leads me to accord with Monroe’s opinion,
based on a larger sample, that the Honduran specimens have no distinctive
characters of their own. Monroe stated that “There is much variation in the
intensity of green coloration due to wear (or fading)”, and I may add that
many of the specimens are also badly stained. Of the series originally studied
by Twomey, all are still at Carnegie Museum of Natural History except for
the Coyoles paratype of me/loni, which is now in the Peabody Museum of

1§ [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

Natural History, Yale University. Five of the six specimens from Manatee
Lagoon, British Honduras, and all four of the specimens from Guapiles,
Costa Rica, are so badly discoloured ventrally as to be almost valueless for
colour comparisons. Enough clean specimens are available, however, to
indicate that individual variation is rather marked, and transcends any
supposed geographic variation within the range traditionally assigned to
astec. It is clear that me/loni Twomey is to be considered a synonym of astec
Souancé.
In listing his paratypes, Twomey inadvertently repeated one catalogue
number. The specimen collected at Trujillo, Honduras on 30 March 1948
should be no. 132,506 rather than no. 132,540.
__ Finally, it should be noted that Bond (1945 and subsequent publications),
Marien & Koopman (1955), and Forshaw (1973) have all considered Ara-
tinga astec to be conspecific with A. nana of Jamaica (nana being the senior
name). After examining the series in the U.S. National Museum of nana (a
form lacking in Carnegie Museum of Natural History), I agree with these
authors that the differences between nana and astec, at least those visible in
study skins, are so minor that the most reasonable taxonomic treatment is to
consider them conspecific. It follows, therefore, that I advocate the recog-
nition of three subspecies: Aratinga nana nana (Vigors) of Jamaica; A. n.
vicinalis (Bangs & Penard) of Tamaulipas and northernmost Veracruz,
| Mexico; and A. n. astec (Souancé) of southern Veracruz, Mexico, south to
| Panama.

| References:
Bond, J. 1945. Check-list of birds of the West Indies. Philadelphia: Academy of Natural
Sciences.

| Forshaw, J. M. 1973. Parrots of the world. Melbourne: Lansdowne.

| Marien, D. & Koopman, K. F. 1955. The relationships of the West Indian species of
Aratinga (Aves, Psittacidae). Amer. Mus. Novit. No. 1712: 1-20.

| Monroe, B. M. Jr. 1968. A distributional survey of the birds of Honduras. Ornith. Monogr.
No. 7: 1-458.

| Twomey, A. C. 1950. A new race of paroquet of the species Aratinga astec from the Republic
of Honduras. Amn. Carnegie Mus. 31: 297-298.

The Taxonomic Status of the Scottish Crossbill Loxéa sp.
by Alan G. Knox

Received 3 December 1975

For many years now there has been controversy over the affinities of the
Scottish Crossbill, described as Loxia curvirostra scotica, but sometimes placed
as a race of the Parrot Crossbill L. pytyopsittacus. The problem centres on
scotica’s morphological intermediacy between nominate L. ¢. curvirostra and
L. pytyopsittacus, and the fact that the race maintains itself in the face of
repeated invasions of ¢. curvirostra, some of which remain to breed alongside
the residents (for details and references see Knox, 1975). Sympatric breeding
without any significant hybridisation (if any) indicates that reproductive
isolation exists, and thus prevents the treatment of ¢. curvirostra and c. scotica
as conspecifics. On the other hand, placing L. ¢. scotica with L. pytyopsittacus
assumes absence of reproductive isolation, and that the two are directly
related. Both assumptions lack evidence. It is just as likely that L. c. scotica
‘and L. pytyopsittacus arose from ancestral L. curvirostra independently, and
) even if L.. pytyopsittacus did arise from ancestral L. ¢. scotica, their differences

|
t

i

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 16

would strongly suggest they are now isolated. With the. above problem in
view an investigation was made into the morphology of L. ¢. scotica and its
closest relatives.

METHODS

From the skins of full grown L. pytyopsittacus, c. scotica, c. curvirostra, ¢.
guillemardi and c. poliog yna, mandibular profile photographs were taken.on the
side to which the lower mandible crossed, and the following measurements
made: culmen length (taken as a chord from the base of the feathering to the
bill tip), lower mandible length (taken as a chord from the notch where the
rami join to the tip), lower mandible width (maximum width where the rami
enter the skin), and combined mandibular depth (at the base of the man-
dibles), as well as the wing length (flattened and straightened). Using the
photographs and a camera lucida, the outline of each upper mandible was
enlarged within a standard grid consisting of two parallel upright lines, one
5 cm long, perpendicular to the ends of a 7 cm horizontal baseline. The image
of the base of the culmen at the feathering (A on Fig. 1a) was placed at the
distal end of the 5 cm line on the grid (B on Fig. 1a), and the image was
enlarged until the tip of the upper mandible fitted into the corner formed by
the baseline and the other perpendicular (C on Fig. 1a). The outline was then

“komogsuw

Jom > q@cegit
Figure 1a. Grid used for obtaining the Figure 1b. The grid with the fitted outline
index of curvature and index of depth, and of the upper mandible of a crossbill.
the outline of the bill of a crossbill. For Distances measured (in mm) and summed
further explanation see the text. ~ . to give the index of curvature represented

by dotted lines (a-b, c-d, e-f to w-x), ID=

distance (in mm) used as index of depth.
drawn. For about half the birds it was necessary to reverse the grid as the
bill crossed to the other side. From points at 5 mm intervals along the 7 cm
baseline, starting 1 cm from the 5 cm line, and excluding the final point, the
perpendicular distance from the baseline to the outline of the culmen (a-b,
c—d, e-f to w—x) was measured in mm. These twelve measurements were
then summed to give an index of curvature, a figure quantifying the culmen
curvature. An index of depth (an indirect measure of upper mandible depth in
relation to culmen length) was found by estimating the perpendicular
distance of the proximal part of the upper mandibular tomium to the top of
the 5 cm line (ID on Fig. rb). From this index of depth, a corrected index of
depth (taking into account variations in culmen length) was calculated thus:

index of depth x culmen length
7o
The value of the divisor has no special significance; in this case it is taken
from the length of the grid baseline (in mm).

= corrected index of depth

17 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

Although Witherby e/ a/ (1938) claimed that the bill depth for scotica was
12*5-14*5 mm compared to 10-5—12 mm in ¢. curvirostra, it was evident in
_my series that an overlap existed and that none of the measurements would
distinguish all of ¢. curvirostra from all of ¢. scotica (Tables 1-8). The ¢. curvi-
rostra|c. scotica assemblage was therefore divided into two geographical
classes: (i) birds from the “Highland” area (the main range of ¢. scotica: the
former counties of Perth, Aberdeen, Banff, Moray, Nairn, Inverness and
Ross), and (ii) those from the remaining parts of the British Isles and Europe
(excluding Spain and Asia Minor, where there may be other races involved).
By treating the sexes separately, and plotting the width of the lower mandible
/ against the index of curvature, it was found that the points representing
/birds from the two areas formed overlapping, but diagonally opposed

12

—

=
oO

width of lower mandible (in mm)

40 60 80 100
index of curvature (-400)

Figure 2. Width of lower mandible plotted against index of curvature for full grown male
crossbills. Open squares, L. ¢. scotica; filled squares, L. ¢. curvirostra collected in the High-
lands; filled circles, L. ¢. curvirostra collected in other parts of Britain and Europe.
| clusters, with the exception of some points representing ¢. curvirostra im-
migrants collected in the “Highlands” (Fig. 2). The clusters were subjec-
tively separated, and the averages and ranges of measurements for the
groups calculated. The measurements of each bird collected in the British
| Isles were in turn repeatedly compared with those of the groups, to see into
which the bird best fitted, and, if necessary, the averages and ranges of
| measurements for the groups then recalculated. Using this method, most
| birds were easily assigned to either ¢. scotica or ¢. curvirostra, though mis-
| identification possibly occurred in a few cases.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 18

TABLES 1-8 Linear and derived measurements of crossbills
L.c. scotica L.c.curvirostra L.c. poliogyna L. c¢. guillemardi

3d 3d = OG OG SS APES 2F
TABLE I Wing length (in mm)
Mean = 1047 101°6 = 994 -96°6 = 977 :-95"3 Ss 96°0 -9472 97°55 94°00
Number 29 14 39 21 99 30 37 26 15 5
SD+ ZIG." eT 24) Zerg 7 Ha aS a: rer 28 2c '2°6
2SE+ 0°96 0°58 one! 1-08 0750 0°66 0*7O 0°90 T4062 202
Range I00— 100- 95- 90- 90-93 92— _-90- 95-. .9I-
LOG. a Tas 104 100 103 99 IOI 99 101 97
TABLE 2 Culmen length (in mm)
Mean 20% 3021057 18:9 18°8 18-8 18:6 L857 18 a2 1909. LES 7
Number 29 14 39 21 98 30 35 26 15 5
SD+ o*6: So*4 G0" > O=G Ons-\ o-' 8 IO: OF O96 .1*0
2SE+ Q*24, 0°20 0:20 0°26 Oy ie? Sr 0*3.2) 'omZe 0°48 0°94
Range 18*§— 18-5— 17°§— 180O- 17°0- 16*5— 17-0 17°0— 187§= 17°5-
22°O 20°5 20°O 20°0 2120. 2055 21°O 20°0 ZI" 5 -20°0
TABLE 3 Lower mandible length (in mm)
Mean 12°Gs 12\-'8 £2:2, D250 12°O), 12°,0 1L7 216 E2AF » 24
Number 29 14 39 21 97 30 37 26 15 5
SD+ ro fto~5 o*5 T0"4 o*6 08 Or "3 or6 “io"9
258+: 0°36 0°24 0°16 0°16 Oo" 15, O91 0°20 0°12 0°32 080
Range T2*O- TI°§— I1°O- II'O— If°O- I1°O— 10°§— I1°O- 12°O- TI'5-
LA*O. 235%5 1350 | 12-5 T4s0y T5*'5 igs0, 12°O 14°0 xe)
TABLE 4 Width of lower mandible (in mm)
Mean 12°23 9a 12°O 11°6 II*O f0°7 10°G 10:6 Lke4, WT
Number 28 13 3 Sl) ZI 93 29 34 25 15 4
SD+ OO \G-3 6-4; Ors O'5e 2hoo o*4, 0°38 O74, D4
2SE+ @"22, 10°20 Ors 0°23 O°1i FO"37 Q:07 0°07 G°22 4D*20
Range II‘§— 12°§— I1°O- 10°5- 9°5— 10°0- Q°O- 10°O— = TO" §— 10°5—
I4°§ 1 13°§ ¥3°O. 18R5 2-0 5 11 35 Il-O #11 1270 (HLS
TABLE 5 Depth of mandibles at base (in mm)
Mean £34, 2370 LueGo TLS 10°7 To5 10°6:. 10°45 Ibo: ID'S
Number 11 13 20 10 66 22 24 17 7 I
SD+ OPGi 2. OPH OG 074 ors" ors a4 (0-3 ag —
2SE+ 0°31 0°48 0°27 0°24 0-12 0°34 O*16.5 a7 o-22 =
Range 12*§— 12°§5- 11°O— I1‘oO— 9°§5- 9°5- 9°§- I0°O- I0°5- —
LAS... L3e'§ 1320) (2:30 12°O hiGk'§ lis §y-1L:o LE75
TABLE 6 Index of Curvature (—400)
Mean 88°4 73°1 68-5 69:4 42°5 46-2 70:5 60°7 69°6 51°6
Number 29 14 38 21 97 30 36 26 15 5
SD+ El AT) nS °F 14°7 / 1B. 5 13°9 12°4 1227 "(ris 14°70 18-2
2SE+ Ar i272 4°76 *8207 2°82 0.4253 4°24 4°§2 7 240 16 432
Range $3- = .53- 4I- 4§5- 8— -_22- 4O-- 42- 46-—_ 26-
107 103 93 109 74 ~=«68 92 85 9§ 72
TABLE 7 Index of Depth
Mean 34°3035°6 33°I 34°8 BE" Bs iter42 32°O 32°1 30°7 32°8
Number 29 14 38 21 97 30 36 26 15 5
SD+ 147 [AES 243) +6 2°12. A'gvG pepe ps 18-3
2SE+ 0°63 0:96 0°74 0°69 0°44 0°95 0°64 0:66 O93. 1°17
Range 32- °° 33- 29- .32- 28— 26- 29-- - 29- 27- + 31-
3939 40 39 ai, 221385 36; eas 34.34
TABLE 8 Corrected Index of Depth
Mean 9°9 I0°0 8-gnorg:3 SF Hc (iBHZ SAH ets 8-7 8-8
Number 29 14 38 21 97 30 35 26 15 5
SD+ 04 OF Or§ 0°4 0°6. ..0°5 O°4 O74 On Sas OES
2SE+ 0°16 0°25 o-i7 Ors O°1T , o°18 STs O-l7 0°26 0°40.
Range Pe Be y= T2 Ge Sa Thi mala po te ae i ee ae
II*r .10°9 10°6 10%3 TO" 3) f1gi2 Ss) Los 9°9 972

L. pytyopsittacus
Sots

19 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)}

TABLE 9

Coefficients of Difference (Mayr 1969: 189) for the measurements of male crossbills.

L. pytyopsittacus ¢. scotica and L. pytyopsittacus

and ¢. scotica ¢. curvirostra and ¢. curvirostra
wing length 1°06 oeg5 1°37
culmen length tig 0°07 1°07
width of lower mandible 0°30 tag Fee | . 1°18)
depth of combined mandibles 1°64 0-82 2°70
index of curvature 0°77 o'9gI 1°84
DISCUSSION

Tables 1-8 show that in wing length (which in crossbills is roughly pro-
portional to body size) and culmen length, ¢. scotica is very similar to c.
curvirostra, and in all measurements the degree of overlap is extensive
(further details in Knox 1975). L. pytyopsittacus, on the other hand, is quite
distinct, especially when two or more features are considered together. The
superficial similarity between Scottish and Parrot Crossbills extends only to
some aspects of bill shape (Table 9). Additional evidence for this morpho-
logical separation is found in comparing their respective song spectrograms,
that of ¢. scotica being more like ¢. curvirostra than either is to L. pytyopsittacus
(Knox, unpublished).

The large-billed L. pytyopsittacus (which feeds largely on pine P7nus)
probably arose in north-west Europe before the advance of spruce Picea (on
which L. curvirostra largely feeds) into the region. Since L. pytyopsittacus and
L. curvirostra became sympatric, character displacement has probably empha-
sised the differences between them. Nevertheless, with reproductive isolation
occurring between ¢. curvirostra and ¢. scotica (despite their similarities), it
seems unlikely that ¢. scotia and L. pytyopsittacus are not also isolated. Since,
additionally, there is no evidence at present to support the proposal that L. c.
scotica and L. pytyopsittacus are directly related, it is recommended that the
Scottish Crossbill be treated as a monotypic species, Loxia scotica Hartert, as
previously suggested by Salomonsen (1963: 415). It is further suggested
that there may be other forms of crossbill, at present designated subspecies,
which should be likewise treated.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank I. C. J. Galbraith and I. H. J. Lyster for their hospitality when I
visited the British Museum (Tring) and the Royal Scottish Museum (Edinburgh) respec-
tively. Dr. F. Salomonsen (through Dr. W. R. P. Bourne) kindly provided a translation of
his 1963 reference quoted here. I am particularly grateful to Professor V. C. Wynne-
Edwards for advice, and for criticising a draft of this paper.

References :

Knox, A. G. 1975. Crossbill Taxonomy. Pages 191-201 in Pine Crossbills, by D.
Nethersole-Thomspon. Poyser, Berkhampstead.
Mayr, E. 1969. Principles of Systematic Zoology. New York.
Salomonsen, F, 1963. Systematisk Oversigt Over Nordens Fugle. Volume 7 of Lordens
: Fugle I Farver, edited by N. Blaedel. Ejnar Munksgaard, Skandinavisk Bogforlag. .
_ Witherby, H. F., Jourdain, F. C. R., Ticehurst, N. F. & Tucker, B. W. 1938. The Handbook
: of British Birds, Volume 1, Witherby, London.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 20

Taxonomic and faunistic notes on birds of the
Malay Peninsula
by D. RB. Wells and Lord Medway

Received 5 December 1975

The fifth and concluding volume of The Birds of the Malay Peninsula (Medway
& Wells 1976), the text of which was completed on 20 May 1972 and closed
to further amendment in proof on 31 December 1973, includes systematic
citation of all birds known in the region at the latter date. For most taxa a
skeleton synonymy indicates the authority for nomenclatural usage, but the
arrangement of the book (which follows the general format of previous
volumes) made it inappropriate to discuss purely taxonomic decisions. All
new or possibly controversial nomenclature to appear is accordingly ex-
plained in the present paper. Other matter herein is faunistic, and includes
the correction of previously published misidentifications which could distort
the true picture of geographical distribution, range of habitats or status. We
also take the opportunity to remark on changes in nomenclature introduced
since 1973, and on some important revisions of range and two additional
species discovered by recent fieldwork. Medway & Wells (1976) is referred
to frequently merely by page number.

As in the book, the region denoted by the term “Malay Peninsula” (or in adjectival form
Peninsular”) comprises the Republic of Singapore, the states of Peninsular Malaysia and
the provinces of Southern Thailand north to precisely 10° N, including politically associated
islands. All localities mentioned are listed in the gazetteer and/or shown in the maps in
Medway & Wells (1976). The English and systematic nomenclature and the sequence of
species follow the book; additional species are inserted according to their position in
Deignan (1963).

Specimens were examined from the collections of the following institutions, cited in the
abbreviated form indicated: Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia (ANSP); American
Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH); private museum of Dr. Boonsong
Lekagul, Bangkok (BLM); British Museum (Natural History), Tring (BMNH); Muzium
Negara, Kuala Lumpur (MNKL); Peninsular Malaysian Game Department (PMGD);
Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden (RNH); Singapore national collections, late
of the National Museum, now at the Zoology Department, University of Singapore
(ZDUS); Thai national collections, Applied Scientific Research Corporation of Thailand,
Bangkok (TNC); United States National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.
(USNM); University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge (CMZ); and Zoology Department,
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur (ZDUM).

Measurements were made of the wing flattened and straightened, the tail flattened and
measured from the base of the central rectrices, and the gape as a chord from the angle of
the mouth to the tip of the longest mandible.

Little Grebe Podiceps ruficollis

Little Grebes may for long have bred undetected in Tale Noi, Tale Sap
and other natural open waters or swamps in the Thai provinces of the Malay
Peninsula, but in the Malaysian states the presence of resident populations
has been confirmed only in artificial habitats of modern origin, suggesting
a recent extension of range. Peninsular birds were assigned to P. r. philippensis
by Robinson & Kloss (1921) and by later authors until Deignan (1963)
identified all Thai specimens (mentioning examples from the Peninsular
provinces of Trang and Phatthalung) as P. r. poggei. On this authority we
tentatively extended the range of pogge/ to include also the Malaysian states
(p. 77). Available comparative material shows no consistent plumage
differences between topotypes of poggei and philippensis, notwithstanding the

21 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

distinctions claimed by Reichenow (1902): the colour of the underparts
and extent of black on the chin are particularly variable. There are however
significant differences between the two races in the size of the bill, in which
all specimens from the Malay Peninsula conform with P. r. poggei (Table 1).

We noted that a bird in non-breeding plumage taken in the northern
winter on the small island of Pisang (which lacks freshwater habitat suitable
for a resident population) was probably a migrant. Sizeable flocks on Tale
Noi in February and September 1974 (Holmes & Wells 1975) also suggest
migration, which might therefore explain reports of subspecific intergrades
in extralimital peninsular Thailand (Robinson & Kloss 1921) and southern
Vietnam (Delacour & Jabouille 1931). From his description, however,
Riley’s (1938: 20) identification of P. r. albipennis (= capensis) in Trang
province is clearly wrong; it was ignored by Deignan (1963).

TABLE 1
Measurements (mm) of Little Grebes Podiceps ruficollis
Wing- Dimensions of bill Collection or
Locality No. length Gape Depth at angle reference
of gonys

P.r. poggei China 10 97-108 25 *0-29°6 5*1-6°6 BMNH
Malay 5 97-102 24 -29 §°O-5°2 BMNH,

Peninsula CMZ},

ZDUS,
PGMD,

USNM

P.r. philip- Luzon? 4 97-110 29*2-33°3 5°4-6°4 BMNH

pensis
Notes: +4Specimen kindly examined by Mr. C. W. Benson
*Birds in nuptial plumage only

Red-billed Tropic Bird Phaethon aethereus

D. Goodwin (im /itt.) has confirmed that the only known specimen of a
tropic bird collected within the defined limits of the Malay Peninsula
(BMNH 1880.1.1.3423), although rather dirty and discoloured, is attribu-
table to P. a. indicus.

Blue-faced Booby Sw/a dactylatra

On visits in March and July 1973, Langham, Wells & Charles (1973, 1974)
found no Blue-faced (= Masked) Boobies on the island of Pulau Perak, the
only known nesting locality within the limits of the Malay Peninsula (p. 80),
and concluded that the former small breeding population is now extinct.
Thus it may now be impossible to check Gibson-Hill’s (1956) attribution of
this population on geographical grounds to the subspecies bedoutz, generally
regarded (e.g. Condon 1975) as a synonym of S. d. personata.

Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
The Grey Herons of Malaysia and Indonesia share the habit of nesting in
mangrove. Mees (1971) thought it likely that breeding birds of the west
coast of Peninsular Malaysia would prove attributable to A. ¢. altirostris, the
subspecies described by him from Java and Sumatra, rather than A. c. jouyi
(type locality Japan) in which they were placed by Vaurie (1965). Our series
together with ten BMNH specimens from various parts of China, show
overlap not only in the length of the bill but also in its depth, the character

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 22

considered critical by Mees. Of the five specimens from the Malay Peninsula
(Table 2), only those from Trang and Pulau Ketam, Selangor, are within the
size range of a/tirostris; the other three are too small, including one from
Matang, a district of extensive mangrove and a known breeding haunt.
Long-billed birds, with culmen 127-133 mm, have also been taken far inland
in northwestern Thailand on 24 March (ZDUS) and 7 August (Gylden-
stolpe 1916) and in Laos on 22 January (BMNH 1936.4.12.859). Eleven
other specimens taken in the Thai-Indochinese region during the northern
winter (BMNH, ZDUS) fall within the size range of jouyz. Some of these
may have been migrants from temperate latitudes: birds ringed in Russia
have been recovered in northern Thailand (McClure 1974) and all records
from northern and northwestern Borneo were attributed to migrants by
Smythies (1968). Yet there is at present no evidence that migrants reach the
Malay Peninsula and the dates of the two smallest specimens fall outside the
normal wintering sojourn of migratory ardeids in the area. If our sample is
representative of the resident Peninsular population, this is apparently to
some extent intermediate between jouyz and a/tirostris; but until a larger
number of authentic breeding adults is available we have retained existing
nomenclature (p. 84).

TABLE 2
Bill measurements (mm) of Grey Herons Ardea cinerea taken according to Mee’s (1971)
technique
Locality Number or Culmen Bill depth Date Collection or
SAX G8 reference
A, ¢. jouyi
China & Japan 17¢¢ 105-126 22°§-26°7 — Mees (1971)
& BMNH
Kapang, Trang o imm_ 129 25°5 31 Dec ANSP 138493?
Perak Co. aa 107 23°5 26 May ZDUS
Matang, Perak 2 ad 110 23°5 1 Jan ZDUS
Pulau Ketam? Gy (ad 114 24°5 3 Jan MNKL 587
Singapore S imm_ 108 24°0 26 Aug ZDUS
A. ¢. altirostris
Java & 28 3 111-137 24-29 Mar—Nov Mees (1971)
Sumatra

Notes: ‘Kindly measured by Dr. F. B. Gill
2A known breeding site

Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis ptylorhyncus

The identification of all migrants as the eastern Palaearctic subspecies
P. p. orientalis (p. 104) discounted Stresemann’s (1940) attribution of four
winter specimens from Trang, Perak and Malacca to P. p. ruficollis, the sub-
species breeding from India through subtropical Southeast Asia (Vaurie
1965). One of these (unsexed, labelled “Malacca, 7 January 1885’’) could well
have been a trade skin and is therefore of uncertain provenance (see Medway
& Wells 1976: xiv); two can be shown to conform with P. p. orientalis; only
one is potentially controversial.

No plumage characters satisfactorily distinguish the two races. Differences
in tail coloration asserted by Stresemann (1940) were not corroborated in a
larger sample (Vaurie & Amadon 1962). Stresemann’s statistic (100 x tail-
length/wing-length) is equally unhelpful. Some attention has been paid to an
average difference in the length and shape of the wing, which presumably
reflects comparative migratory performance. Stresemann’s use of the wing-
tip length (longest secondary to longest primary in the closed wing), however

23 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

was not critical because he excluded the small birds of Japan which at that
time he considered distinct from P. p. orientalis. Vaurie & Amadon (1962)
compared wing-tip as a percentage of total wing-length (wing tip index),
but computations from Stresemann’s figures do not support the clear-cut
separation claimed. In Table 3, measurements of orientalis (gathered from the
literature and from specimens in BMNRH) derive exclusively from examples
collected in the Palaearctic; the sample is large. Measurements of raficollis
were taken from specimens collected in the Indian subcontinent on nests and/
or between mid-May and late August. It is seen that by all criteria the Perak
birds conform with orientalis. The Trang male has a long wing but a short
wing tip (both absolutely and relatively) and is unidentifiable. The occurrence
of P. p. ruficollis in the Malay Peninsula therefore remains unconfirmed,
despite the fact that Vaurie & Amadon (1962) identified a long series of
winter birds from Java and most of their measurements fall within the limits
shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3
Measurements (mm) of Crested Honey Buzzards Pernis ptilorhyncus
Locality Number Wing- Wing-tip Wing tip Date Collection or
Sex length index references
P. p. orientalis
Palaearctic 363 410-476 100-161 24-38 See text See text
Palaearctic QQ 410-so1 100-172 23-36 See text See text
Trang 3 433 85 20 4 Jan Stresemann
(1940) & BMNH
Perak 3 414 105 25 7 Dec Stresemann
(1940)
Perak fe) 440 104 24 7 Dec Stresemann
| (1940)
P. p. rupicollis
India 53S 363-403 80-121 21-31 May-Aug BMNH
India 922 326-419 72-140 19-34 May-Aug BMNH

Philippine Banded Crake Ral/ina eurizonoides

Ripley (1961) and Ali & Ripley (1969a) recognised a single South and
Southeast Asian continental subspecies under the name A. e. amauroptera
(Jerdon), type locality “Northern India”, including in its synonymy Ra//us
superciliaris Eyton, type locality ‘‘Malacca’. Deignan (1963), however,
recognised two sub-species in Thailand: BR. e. amauroptera and, south of the
Isthmus of Kra, RK. e. te/matophila Hume, type locality “‘a few miles inland
from Malacca”. Comparative measurements (Table 4) do not support this
distinction, but they do separate the breeding birds of the Indian subconti-
nent. According to Ali & Ripley (19692) wing-lengths of R. e. amauroptera
of the subcontinent fall within the range 122-132 mm. Measurements of
material in BMNH show slightly greater variation but, excluding three
northeastern skins bracketed in Table 4, they still show very little overlap
with available specimens from all parts of Southeast Asia.

Deignan’s (1963: 30) specific mention of Trang only, which ignored other
records from the Peninsular provinces of Thailand certainly known to him
(see Riley 1938: 78-79), implies that he considered the male collected near
the base of Khao Nam Pliu on 9 March (Riley 1938; USNM) to have repre-
sented a resident Peninsular population, the others migrants. However, this

date is six weeks earlier than the latest interception of spring migrants at
Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia (Wells 1972; Medway & Wells 1976: 129) and is by
:

[Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 24

no means proof that the bird was in its breeding area. There are no dated
specimens or other records from any part of the Malay Peninsula between
17 April and 30 October (BMNH-—a date overlooked in the text of Medway
& Wells 1976), and thus no evidence of a resident population.

Since this rail does not occur in the Palaearctic region (Vaurie 1965), the
breeding grounds of the Peninsular population can only lie in more northerly
parts of Southeast Asia. Long-winged birds comparable in size to the
Peninsular sample and exceeding the limits of amauroptera have been taken
in Burma north to the Shan States and in northern and southern Thailand, in
Laos and central Vietnam (Table 4). There is adequate evidence of migratory
behaviour at least in the west of this area: the bird from Doi Angka (USNM
472372), taken at 4,500 ft, was almost certainly on passage at that altitude;
that from Thaunggyi (BMNH 1928.9.18.3) is labelled ‘‘On migration”; and
one from Theyetmyo was said by Oates (1883) to have flown into a house
verandah. The February record from Bhutan (BMNH 97.12.10.1850) may
indicate extension into the eastern Himalayas, but amauroptera has been
reported nesting in the outer Himalayas (Ali & Ripley 1969a) and this bird,
together with the specimen collected in Bengal in January (BMNH 97.12.10.
1851) and the undated skin from Nepal are all likely to be wintering migrants.

TABLE 4
Measurements (mm) of Philippine Banded Crakes Rallina eurizonoides
Locality ° Number Wing- Date Collection or
. . Sex length reference
A. e. amauroptera
Assam, Sikkim, 24 120-135 (Assam: BMNH?
India & Ceylon Jun, July)
Bhutan oO 145 Feb BMNH
Nepal fe) 141 — BMNH
Barrackpore, Bengal o 141 Jan BMNH
Thaunggyi, Burma oo 143 4 May BMNH
Theyetmyo, Burma oo 142 6 May BMNH
Theyetmyo, Burma oo 140 — BMNH
Ok Yam, Laos o 141 3 Jan BMNH
Quang Tri, Vietnam o 145 —- Delacour
& Jabouille (1931)
Thua Luu, Vietnam o 136 15 Feb BMNH
Doi Angka, north 2 138? 14 Apr USNM
Thailand
Ban Tha San, south o 137 28 Mar BMNH
Thailand
Malay Peninsula 1292 134-143 30OQOct-17 Apr Robinson & Kloss
| (1919b), Riley (1938),
Medway & Wells
(1970), Wells 8 (1972);
BMNH, ZDU
Malay Peninsula 80 134-151 undated BMNH

Notes: 1The only examples from the Indian subcontinent ins BMNH
which have wings exceeding this range are the three bracketed
together.

*Kindly measured by Dr. R. L. Zusi.

Chinese Crested Tern Sterna zimmermanni
The Chinese Crested Tern was listed under this name (p. 165), now
superseded by S. bernsteini Schlegel (Mees, in press).

25 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96()]

Jambu Fruit Dove Prilinopus jambu |

Evidence was given (p. 169-70) that birds cross the sea on nocturnal flights.
The extent of dispersal has since been demonstrated by the recovery of a
Malaysian-ringed bird in mid Sumatra (Wells 1975).

Himalayan Cuckoo Cuculus saturatus
The grounds for transferring the taxon /epidus from Cuculus poliocephalus
to C. saturatus have been explained by Becking (1975) and Wells & Becking

| (1975).

Drongo Cuckoo Surniculus lugubris
Robinson (1928: 249) claimed that a young Drongo Cuckoo was found in
the nest of the Chestnut-crowned Flycatcher Warbler Secercus castaniceps at
Fraser’s Hill, a hill station generally above 3500 ft elevation. The male foster
parent was collected and is not in question; there are however good reasons
for rejecting the identification of the cuckoo. The host warbler has not been
| recorded in the Malay Peninsula below 2700 ft (p. 326), while the Drongo
_ Cuckoo—except on migration—has not been found above this height (p.
_ 187). Evidently the normal altitudinal ranges of warbler and cuckoo are
_ exclusive. Neither in the Malay Peninsula nor elsewhere (Hoogerwerf 1949,
| Smythies 1953, Ali & Ripley 1969b) do known broodhosts of the Drongo
Cuckoo include warblers of the genus Sezcercus. S. castaniceps moreover is now
_ recognised as the regular local foster of the Himalayan Cuckoo which is
| montane in distribution in the Malay Peninsula, occurs at Fraser’s Hill and
was presumably the species involved on this occasion.

Lesser Coucal Centropus bengalensis

_ Deignan (1963) followed Grant & Mackworth-Praed (1939) who united in
_ one species the Lesser Coucals of Asia, Africa and Madagascar, for which
_ the name /ou/ou has priority. However Parkes (1957) noted that Asian and
_ African forms are more similar to each other than either is to Malagasy birds,
_ and Benson ef a/. (1970) drew attention to differences in habitat and voice
separating African and Malagasy birds. From field experience in both regions,
_ D.R.W. can confirm that the calls and preferred habitat of African and Asian
birds are similar. It thus appears correct to separate the Malagasy population
(C. toulou) from the remainder, for which the prior specific name is bengalensis.

Javan Frogmouth Batrachostomus javensis

Additional measurements (TNC; living birds) not available to Stresemann
_ (1937) have shown that there is no gap in size between the apparently
| parapatric taxa affnis and continentalis, and they are accordingly treated as
conspecific (p. 200). The allocation of both taxa to B. javensis forces the re-
moval from this species of cornutus, which is sympatric with affnis in the
lowlands of Sumatra and Borneo. That cornutus, with /ongicaudatus of the
Kangean islands (Java Sea), may constitute a separate mid-Sundaic species
| is indicated on morphological grounds.

Swiftlets

_ Brooke (1970) proposed the subgenus Hydrochous for the Giant Swiftlet,
_ and later (Brooke 1972a) separated the swiftlets into three full genera. The
' evidence of the capacity to echolocate, or lack of it, supports this arrange-
_ ment (Medway & Pye, in prep.). Among Peninsular swiftlets, only the

[ Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 26

species esculenta remains in the genus Collocalia (of which it is the type). The
revised nomenclature of the remainder is as follows:

Giant Swiftlet Hydrochous gigas
Edible-nest Swiftlet Aerodramus fuciphagus
Black-nest Swiftlet Aerodramus maximus
Himalayan Swiftlet Aerodramus brevirostris

White-throated Spinetail Swift Chaetura caudacuta

From Java, Mees (1971) has reported one specimen of the eastern Palae-
arctic C’. ¢. caudacuta (collected on 14 Nov.) and two of C. ¢. nudipes (both 26
Dec.). Both subspecies evidently may be expected to occur on passage in the
Malay Peninsula, where no examples have yet been collected. The normal
wintering grounds of C. ¢. caudacuta are in Australasia (Condon 1975). The
collection date of wudipes is a full month after the latest observation of the
species in the Peninsula and supports the suggestion of Bartels & Stresemann
(1929) that nadipes may winter in Java.

Asian Palm Swift Cypsiurus balasiensis

We have accepted Brooke’s (1972b) argument that African and Asian palm
swifts are separate species, although Ledger (1971) has found on both the
feather louse Dennyus cypsiurus, and feather lice are normally extremely host-
specific. The correct spelling of the name ba/asiensis has been investigated by
Medway (in press).

Cinnamon-rumped Trogon Hlarpactes orrhophaeus

A female from Surat Thani (USNM 330231) identified with some reser-
vation by Riley (1938: 166) has proved on re-examination to be an immatute
Red-rumped Trogon H. duvaucelii. This was presumably noticed by Deignan
who did not list 7. orrhophaeus from Thailand (Deignan 1963).

Red-headed Trogon Harpactes erythrocephalus

As briefly noted (p. 214), a male and two females collected on Khao Luang,
Nakhon Si Thammarat, in May 1965 by Ben King provided the first records
of this trogon from the Thai provinces of the Malay Peninsula. These were
identified as H. e¢. chaseni (type locality in the Malaysian Main Range) after
compatison also with specimens of the neighbouring subspecies Hi. e.
erythrocephalus, LH. e. annamensis and H. e. klossi in BMNH and ZDUS.

Measurements are not diagnostic. Previous authors (Robinson 1915a;
Robinson & Kloss 19194; Riley 1934; Schauensee 1934) based distinctions
on the shade of the upperparts and/or barring of the wing-coverts. The Khao
Luang birds are darker above than examples of k/ossi and erythrocephalus in
ZDUS, but comparison of BMNH material including both sexes of all four
subspecies showed no convincing differences in these characters; it is
assumed that long exposure to heat and high ambient humidity has affected
the coloration of Singapore specimens. Final identification was based on the
male (USNM 534644) in which the vinaceous shade of the head and breast,
distinct from the red of the underparts, closely matches a series of H. e.
chaseni. Male annamensis are not dissimilar, but the geographic lly interposed
subspecies A/ossi has the head much brighter red, concolorous with the
underparts, and H. e. erythrocephalus of peninsular Burma is intermediate in
this respect.

27 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros coronatus

As noted (p. 229), differences in the tail pattern among Pied Hornbills of
the southern portion of the Malay Peninsula are attributable to individual
variation and do not support a separation into two species. We have recog-
nised as the boundary between subspecies the line along which the purported
species were claimed to meet (Deignan 1963), north and west of which there
is no variability in tail pattern. South and east of this line, some birds have
the four outer pairs of rectrices all white, as does the type of convexus (Tem-
minck & Lauguier 1838: pl. 530), while others have varying amounts of
black on the basal parts of these feathers, often highly irregularly and
asymmetrically distributed. Robinson (1927: 104) suggested that the black
pigmentation in these feathers is a juvenile character in this population.
However, while it is true that of seven specimens from Peninsular Malaysia
in BMNH, only the three with the largest casques (denoting old age) have all
white outer rectrices, the sample with black basal pigmentation includes
/ undoubted adults as well as immature birds. It is possible that the elimination
_ of black from these feathers is progressive throughout a bird’s life, and
| finally complete at an extreme age, but there is certainly no special juvenile
_ plumage involved. Since examples occur also in Java (AMNH 645095 ; kindly
| examined, with other specimens, for us by Dr. L. L. Short), variability in
_ tail pattern is evidently a character of the subspecies convexus (type locality
| Java). However, our data are insufficient to test for clinal variation in the
| frequency of occurrence of black in the outer rectrices; should the southern
| Peninsular population prove separable, the name intermedius Blyth (1847)
appears to be available.

| Rufous Woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus
Short (1973) submerged Microprernus into the otherwise neotropical genus
Celeus, of which he considers brachyurus a typical member (pers. comm.).

_ Orange-backed Woodpecker Chrysocolaptes validus
Short (1973) has allocated this species to a monotypic Sundaic genus
| Reinwardtipicus Bonapatte.

_ Green Broadbill Calyptomena viridis

Robinson & Kloss (1923a) demonstrated a cline of increasing average size
_ from south to north among the Green Broadbills of the Malay Peninsula and
distinguished their new subspecies continentis (type locality Chumphon
province) from viridis (type locality Benkulen, Sumatra) solely by its longer
wing. Subsequent collection has provided larger samples, reducing the
overall metrical difference, and successive authors (Robinson & Kloss 19234;
| Chasen 1935; Riley 1938; Gibson-Hill 1949; Deignan 1963) have differed in
_ their positioning of the boundary between these subspecies. Measurements
available to us (Table 5) show that the range of variation in wing-length of
_ birds from the extreme south of the Peninsula is smaller than elsewhere and
falls largely within the zone of overlap between viridis and continentis. The
abrupt disappearance of long-winged birds between Negri Sembilan (where
some measure 110 mm) and Malacca may prove spurious, but present data
justify tentative taxonomic separation of the population of these southern
states (p. 251).

[Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 28

TABLE 5
Measurements (mm) of Green Broadbills Calyptomena viridis
Locality Number Wing- Collection or
Sex length reference
C. v. continentis
Chumphon O(typey > *rrz Robinson & Kloss (1923a)
~ Chumphon . 3 (type) 106 Robinson & Kloss (19234)
Ranong & Chumphon 8 100-112. Robinson & Kloss (1919b,
south of Phuket (av. 107) 1921)
All Thai provinces 13 99-112. Robinson & Kloss (1923a)
of Malay Peninsula
' Pahang, Selangor & 77 96-112 Mist-netted birds, 1961-72
Negti Sembilan (av. 103)
Malacca, Johote & 15 97-104 BMNH?
Singapore (av. 100)
C. v. viridis
Sumatra 5 93-103 BMNH

Note: ‘4Excluding 19th century trade skins, recognised by their labelling
and cylindrical shape.

Dusky Crag Martin Hirundo concolor

Since completion of our text, Holmes & Wells (1975) and Wells (1975) have
reported first records of this species from the Malay Peninsula on islets off
Phangnga, at Ao Luk, Krabi province, and near Gopeng, Perak state. Sub-
sequently, small groups were seen near Kuala Kangsar, Perak, in September
and at Batu Caves, Selangor, in February, March and September 1975 (D.R.W.),
establishing a new geographical limit inthe Peninsula and extending the known
range of the Dusky Crag Martin in Southeast Asia south by 1300 km. The local
status of the species is not yet clear; in India it is sedentary (Ali & Ripley 1972).

House Martin Delichon urbica dasypus

Flocks of House Martins were seen by D.R.W. near Bukit Tinggi, Padang
Highlands, Sumatra, on 6 March 1974, adding this island to the known
wintering range in Southeast Asia (p. 259).

Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike Coracina novachollandiae

A male, said by Riley (1938: 277) to have been collected by H. M. Smith in
Nakhon Si Thammarat province on 11 March 1929, was actually taken in
eastern Thailand, possibly on the Korat plateau (see Riley’s account of
Smith’s collecting trips). The discrepancy was evidently noted by Deignan
(1963) who did not list the species south of the Isthmus of Kra.

Slender-billed Crow Corvus enca

Specimens from Kedah and the Yala-Pattani border reported by Bonhote
(1901) are in fact Large-billed Crows Corvus macrorhynchos, with character-
istically arched mandibles and heavy beaks, 21 and 22 mm deep, respectively,
at the anterior margin of the nostril (CMZ). The erroneous identification has
not been repeated in the regional literature, but we have not seen it formally
corrected.

Red-winged Shrike Babbler Preruthius flaviscapis

Chasen (1935) allocated all Peninsular populations to the subspecies
aerulatus (type locality Tenasserim), noting that “some specimens” from the
Malaysian states were intergrades with cameranoi (type locality Sumatra).

29 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

Subsequently Deignan (1946) separated the population of the Surat Thani-
Nakhon Si Thammarat mountains, under the name schauenseei, and assigned
Malaysian birds to cameranoi (Deignan 1964).

TABLE 6
Measurements (mm) of Red-winged Shrike Babblers Preruthius flaviscapis
Locality Number Wing- Collection or
e» Sex length reference
P. f. schauenseei
Surat-Nakhon >8 3g 3} 66-77 Deignan (1946), BMNH,
mountains USNM, ZDUS
Surat-Nakhon G9! 69-75 Deignan (1946), BMNH,
mountains USNM, ZDUS
P. f. cameranoi
Sumatra 633 73-78 BMNH, RNH
Sumatra rae 72-78 BMNH, RNH
Peninsular Malaysia 1636 75-81 BMNH, ZDUS
Peninsular Malaysia 8O¢ 75-78 BMNH, ZDUS

Note: !Deignan (1946) did not list the number of specimens he measured.

Peninsular Malaysian birds are distinctly darker coloured and also larger
in size than P. f. schauenseei (Table 6). They are also distinguishable from
Sumatran birds by small but appreciable colour differences, Malaysian males
being slightly lighter underneath and slightly less pink on the flanks and
females slightly less warm buff on the lower breast and abdomen. In wing
length, however, our samples showed 50% overlap between males and 87%
between females. Clearly, birds of the Peninsular Malaysian mountains are
closer to those of Sumatra than to those of the Peninsular provinces of
Thailand, and formal separation under another name would obscure this
affinity.

Lesser Shortwing Brachypteryx leucophrys

In all collections from the Surat Thani-Nakhon Si Thammarat mountains
(Robinson 1915b; Robinson & Kloss 1923b; coll. B. King 1965, USNM) the
males are hen-plumaged. This population was considered indistinguishable
from B. /. leucophrys (type locality Java) and listed under that name by Robin-
son (1928) and Chasen (1935) but, presumably on geographical gounds, was
transferred to B. /. wrayi (type locality Malaysian mountains) by Deignan
(1963).

While the males of at least one extralimital form are dimorphic, existing in
both blue and brown phases (Ali & Ripley 1973), in our experience of
Peninsular Malaysian wray7 all males are invariably at least partly blue, even
among the populations of outlying peaks where selection for sexual di-
morphism might conceivably be reduced. Malaysian birds are also on average
slightly smaller than examples from Peninsular Thailand (Table 7). Javan
birds do not differ in size from the Thai sample and some can be exactly
matched in colour. But among 26 males from West Java (RNH), 11 have
slate-blue lores, with a variable spread of this colour along the upper edge of
the supercilium, round the eye to the ear-coverts and sides of the throat and
face (an extreme condition present only in RNH 67017); some also have the
pectoral band distinctly slaty. The progressive extension of blue colour is
assumed to develop with age. Birds with blue in the plumage are also
distinguished by the comparative whiteness (rather than rusty buff) of throat

[Bull. B.O.C. 7976: 96(1)| 30

and abdomen and the prominence of the white supercilium. Precisely similar
differences in ventral colour and the conspicuousness of the supercilium are
apparent between fresh males from Khao Luang (USNM 535052 and —54);
yet the presumably older male has no trace of blue on the head or breast.

These Thai birds are clearly distinct from B. /. wrayi. Yet our attribution
to B. /. leucophrys (p. 314), while following precedent, is no more than a
provisional expedient. Their true affinity seems likely to be with more
northerly populations. It is significant that among Burmese males (identified
as B./. nipalensis) “the blue phase is rare (if indeed it occurs at all)” (Smythies
1953: 107), and the male B. /. caro/inae in northern Thailand “‘seems never to
acquire a slate-blue plumage” (Deignan 1945: 407).

TABLE 7
Measurements (mm) of Lesser Shortwings Brachypteryx leucophrys
Locality Number, Sex Wing-length Collection
B. 1. wrayi
Peninsular Malaysia 11g3 58-63 ZDUM, ZDUS
Peninsular Malaysia 5¢Q 55-60 ZDUM, ZDUS
B. 1. leucophrys
West Java 2635 60-65 RNH
Surat-Nakhon ~ 63d 61-64 USNM, ZDUS
mountains
Surat-Nakhon 429 58-62 USNM, ZDUS
mountains

Chestnut-crowned Flycatcher Warbler Seicercus castaniceps

Of eight birds collected by Ben King on Khao Luang peak, Nakhon Si
Thammarat, in April-May 1965, three match the description of adult S. ¢.
youngi (Robinson 1928: 247-248). The other five are in a different plumage,
presumably juvenile, which was not described by us (1976), namely: white
eye-ring and wing and tail coloration as adult; mesial crown stripe and
supercilium dull olive-orange, separated by blackish lateral crown-stripes;
back, chin, throat, breast and flanks grey, faintly washed olive-yellow; vent,
thighs and under tail-coverts bright yellow; iris dark brown; upper mandible
dark brown, lower yellow or dull orange. The bird illustrated by Grénvold
(Robinson 1928: pl. 20) in fact is similar, although not described in the text;
it was collected on Khao Luang in March. It is notable that the juvenile
S. ¢. youngi, with yellow in the plumage of the underparts, resembles J. c¢.
butleri more closely than does the adult.

White-throated Flycatcher Warbler Abroscopus superciliaris
Deignan (19474, 1963) misplaced the type locality of A. s. bambusarum,
Khao Phanom Bencha, which is in Krabi province.

Arctic Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus borealis

Vaurie (1954) showed that Parkes & Amadon (1948) and, following them,
Gibson-Hill (1950) were not justified in attributing short-winged birds
wintering in parts of Southeast Asia (including the Malay Peninsula) to P. b.
kennicotti. Separation is possible by the length of the bill, but we are aware of
no authentic identifications of kennicotti from the Peninsula and accordingly
have omitted this subspecies (p. 328).

31 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)|

White-fronted Flycatcher Ficedula hyperythra

Deignan’s (1947b, 1963) broad concept of the genus Muscicapa has not
been universally accepted, and we are not alone in partially rejecting it
(e.g. Vaurie 1965; King, Woodcock & Dickinson 1975). There is one
nomenclatural consequence of our arrangement. Within the genus Ficedula
as we recognise it, the name ma/ayana Ogilvie-Grant, which was used for the
Peninsular population of the White-fronted Flycatcher by Chasen (1935) and
Gibson-Hill (1949), is a junior homonym of F. so/taris malayana Sharpe.
Under Deignan’s (1947b) scheme the synonym (Dendrobiastes hyperythrus)
sumatranus Hachisuka was not available, being preoccupied by N//tava
sumatrana Salvadori; accordingly he provided a new name, o/iga Deignan.
Since we believe that the distinctions are sufficiently marked to justify
retention of the genus Né/fava (including the Malaysian Niltava NV. sumatrana)
the problem of homonymy no longer arises and Hachisuka’s name thus
becomes available in priority to Deignan’s (p. 347).

Blue-throated Flycatcher Cyornis rubeculoides

A specimen taken in Kelantan on 28 August (Bonhote 1901, CMZ) proved
on re-examination to be an adult male Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher Cyornis
| tickelliae. Although the misidentification has not passed into the regional
literature, we take this opportunity to correct it as it precedes by a month the
known first date of autumn arrival.

Hill Blue Flycatcher Cyornis banyumas
! A blue flycatcher (USNM 170508) taken on Singapore island tentatively
identified by Riley (1938: 451) as Cyornis whitei caeruleifrons (—C. b. coerulifrons)
proved on re-examination to be an adult male Mangrove Blue Flycatcher
Cyornis rufigastra. Again, the misidentification has not passed into the regional
literature, but still requires correction.

— Black-collared Starling Sturnus nigricollis

This starling has recently been added to the Peninsular list with records

_ from Surat Thani and Phangnga provinces in February and October 1974
(Holmes & Wells 1975).

_ Black-throated Sunbird Adethopyga saturata

One of each sex was collected by Ben King on Khao Luang in May 1965
(providing the first records for Nakhon Si Thammarat—p. 377), but un-
_ fortunately the specimens are inadequate for subspecific identification. The
_ male is at an early stage of post-juvenile moult, and although the female
_ matches some specimens of A. s. anoma/a racial differences are slight in this
i sex.

Yellow-backed Sunbird Aethopyga siparaja

A specimen from inland Kelantan (Bonhote 1901, CMZ) proved on re-
_ examination to be a male Scarlet Sunbird Aeshopyga mystacalis in post-juvenile
moult, and thus does not invalidate our observation (p. 378) that in the
_ Malaysian states the Yellow-backed Sunbird is confined to the coastal strip
| and islands.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)| 32

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker Dicaeum ignipectus

Robinson (1928: 278) doubted the records published by Bonhote (1901)
from the lowlands of Phatthalung and Kelantan (cf. Gibson-Hill 1949). On
re-examination the specimens proved to be juvenile or female Orange-
bellied Flowerpeckers Dicaeum trigonostigma (CMZ). Although finding no
other basis for Deignan’s (1963) inclusion of Phatthalung in the range of the
Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, we have retained the record (p. 386). Examples
have been collected on the Trang side of the dividing range (Riley 1938: 514)
and the species can hardly be absent from Phatthalung.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The taxonomic content of this paper would not have been possible without access to
study material via numerous loans from the museums listed in the introduction. We are
indebted to the staff of these various institutions for their willing co-operation, and particu-
larly to Mr. C. W. Benson and Drs. F. B, Gill, G. F. Mees, L. L. Short, S$. Somadikarta and
R. L. Zusi who at various times examined specimens or provided other data on our behalf.

References:

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Vol. 3; 1972, Vol. 5; 1973, Vol. 8. Bombay: Oxford University Press.

Bartels, M. & Stresemann, E. 1929. Systematische tibersicht der bisher von Java nach-
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Becking, J. H. 1975. New evidence for the specific affinity of Cuculus lepidus Miller. Ibis
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— 1972b. Geographical variation in palm swifts Cypsiurus spp. (Aves: Apodidae).
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The subspecific status of the southern African
populations of Streptopelia semitorquata (Ruppell)
by P. A. Clancey

Received 18 December 1975

The large collared dove, the Red-eyed Dove Streptopelia semitorquata (Ruppell),
of the Ethiopian Region ranges widely from Senegal in West Africa, east to
Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, as well as Yemen in the southwest of the
Arabian Peninsula, and south through Africa to the Cape. It was first shown
as exhibiting geographical variation by von Erlanger (1905) and later by
Grant (1915), who was the first worker to review the species as a whole.
Among later authors who dealt with the geographical variation of this dove
in depth were Gyldenstolpe (1924), Friedmann (1930), Roberts (1935) and
Chapin (1939). Friedmann believed only two subspecies warranted recog-
nition: JS. 5. semitorquata (Rippell) 1837: Taranta Mts, Acchele Guzai,
Eritrea, and S. s. minor (Erlanger) 1905: Fanole and Kismayu, Somalia. His
findings were in the main endorsed by Chapin, and both authors found little
justification for the continued maintenance of a West African form, S. s.
erythrophrys (Swainson) 1837: Senegal, as initially advocated by Grant and
some later workers. Recent authors, notably White (1965) and very recently
Nowak (1975), have gone so far as to maintain that, despite the readily
demonstrable variation, races are not admissible. In turn, I do not find this
latter view acceptable in the light of some recent work of my own.

Examination of a large body of material from southern, central and eastern
Africa effected in the Durban Museum indicates that individual variation in
this dove is not inordinately high and has been seriously overstated by many
workers. Characters assessed as of importance in arranging the populations
in subspecific taxa are often quite well marked and geographically correlated.
Variation in S. semitorquata affects general size, the level of saturation of both
the upper- and under-parts and the extent of grey over the distal wing
surfaces, but only the latter two constitute subspecifically significant para-
meters. Wear and insolation result in a general browning and darkening
of the plumage with the loss of the waxy greyish patina of the newly moulted
feathering. Most marked is the loss of the bluish grey over the rump and
upper tail-coverts. Many museum skins are now both foxed and affected by
subtle grease staining.

Roberts (1935) arranged the South African populations of the Red-eyed
Dove in two subspecies on mensural characters, recognising a widely

35 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

distributed race, J. s. australis Roberts 1932: Sekororo, Leydsdorp, eastern

Transvaal, and a far western representative based on a singleton with a wing
of 212 mm (S. s. maxima Roberts 1932: Toten-Maun road, northwestern
Botswana). In proposing maxima Roberts appears to have been unduly
influenced by incorrect wing-length data provided by Bocage in the case of
the Angolan population (see Traylor 1960). Peters (1937) merged australis
with the nominate subspecies, but recognised maxima as “known only from
the type locality”. Both australis and maxima wete treated as synonymous
with S. 5. semitorquata in my Catalogue (Clancey 1965) and in the S.A.O.S.
Check List of the Birds of South Africa (1969) pending a reappraisal of their
Status.

Roberts stated in 1932 that eastern southern African birds were sufticiently
larger than topotypical semtorquata from Ethiopia as to warrant segregation
under the name JS. s. australis. In his later exposé (Roberts 1935) he gives
the wings of southern African birds (both gg and 99) as ranging from
183-204 mm. My own measurements for southern African specimens (from
Rhodesia and Mogambique, south to the Cape) are: Jf 185-201, 99 181+ 5—203
mm. Ethiopian birds are not subspecifically different in size from those of
southern Africa, averaging only slightly smaller, the wings of gj being
180-195°5, 99 176-1865 mm (Table 1). On the basis of the criterion laid
down in the original diagnosis, australis cannot be maintained by wing-
length as discrete from semitorquata. However, my series shows that the
relatively stable populations present over the plateau of Rhodesia and
in extreme eastern Botswana, the Transvaal, Mocambique south of the
Limpopo R. (with single examples of S. 5. semitorquata cropping up in the
littoral populations present as far south as Durban and the Transkei),
Swaziland, the Orange Free State, the lowlands of Lesotho, Natal and Zulu-
land, and the Cape (mainly in the east and south, locally west to the Berg R.)
differ sufficiently in various colour characters to justify their recognition as
a subspecies, for which Roberts’ S. s. aastra/is can be employed.

J. 5. australis as here defined is seen as being paler than S. s. semiforquata, in
this respect resembling S. s. nor of southern Somalia and the coast lands of
Kenya and northeastern Tanzania. Compared with semitorquata, australis is
whiter over the forehead and face, the hind and lateral surfaces of the head
and neck are paler vinaceous, the rest of the dorsum is distinctly lighter and
greyer in newly moulted condition (about the greyish Drab of Ridgway
(1912) (pl. xlvi), as against Olive-Brown (pl. xl)), and the rump and upper
tail-coverts are lighter and bluer, less leaden, grey. Ventrally, the chin and
throat are whiter, and the lower fore-throat, breast and sides are more
lavender, less markedly vinaceous or vinous pink (close to Light Vinaceous
Drab (pl. xlv), as against Brownish Drab), while the grey of the abdomen,
flanks, crissum and under tail-coverts is again markedly paler. In the wings,
the general facies is paler with more extensively distributed and lighter blue-
grey over the lesser, median and secondary coverts and tertials, while the
axillars and under wing-coverts are less blackish slate.

Viewed in series, paler general colouration, whiter chin and upper fore-
throat, paler grey under tail-coverts, and more extensively distributed grey
in the wings differentiate australis from semitorquata. Its range is as defined
above.

Nominate S. semitorquata replaces australis in Mocambique from north of
the Limpopo R. and from the Zambesi R. valley of Rhodesia, northern

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)] 36

Botswana in the Okavango Swamp region and the Caprivi Strip northwards.
As noted above, the influence of this dark race is evident as far south as
Durban, Natal, and the humid coastal region of the Transkei (Pondoland).
In placing the Botswana and Caprivi element with nominate semitorquata 1
have given careful consideration to the probable validity of S. 5. maxima,
named on a single skin procured during the course of the Vernay-Lang
Kalahari Expedition of 1930. Table 1 shows that this population ranges
much longer in wing-length than any other, as first demonstrated by Roberts
and confirmed in the main by Irwin & Benson (1967). While the wing-lengths
of 196-210 for §¢ and 193-203 mm for 99 of the “maxima” population

TABLE.

The wing-length (mm) in selected populations of the Red-eyed Dove Streptopelia semi-
torquata arranged in a south-north sequence.

Population n. Range mean S:D. SE,
S. 5. australis
E, Cape & Natal 10) 69d) 186+5-201 192°6 4°22 1°34
12); G9... .t82-§—195 185°6 4°39 ba27
S. Mogambique & 7 33 191-199 193°2 2°98 15 g2
E. Transvaal 4 ¢2 187-191 189-2 2°06 O752
Transvaal (except E. lowlands) 16 gd 185-200 19371 4°54 I*I4
Ly. eer FEO ik =203 192°0 4°15 1-20
Rhodesia 9 3 186-199 190°6 eee, 126
Ge 9O'" aRA-T97 189°1 4°52 1°84
S. 5. semitorquata
N.W. Rhodesia, Caprivi, 11 gd 196-210 202°0 3°93 1°18
N. Botswana, etc. 8 22 193-203 LO5*5 2° ae om
“maxima?
Zambia 5 dd 189-199 192-0 4°06 1°81
5 ee 86-195 19I°5 = aa
S.E. Zaire (mainly ex 20 Sd 182-198 190°9 4°07 O91
Verheyen 1953) 10 692-180-196 186-1 4°86 1°54
Angola (ex Traylor) 17 dd 180-200 192-0 — —
8 2 177-194 186-0 — —_—
Malawi (ex Irwin & Benson) 10 $f 179-192 183-0 — =
6 1G Ps 2732093 182°7 = Fs
Tanzania & Kenya 14 Gd 178-191 Leer 3°86 1°03
12 ¢2 172-186 176°6 4°23 1722
Ethiopia (mainly ex Il gd 180-195°5 188-7 4°§2 1°36
Friedmann) Ir QQ 176-186°5 181°4 3°29 0°99

show a considerable overlap with many neighbouring and even with distant
populations, especially those of S. s. australis, the means ate significantly
greater than those of any other population of the species (gf 202-0, 99
195°5 mm). Skins with wings in excess of 198 mm from beyond what
appear to be the limits of maxima are all from immediately contiguous regions
such as central Angola, Zambia and southeastern Zaire. The geographical
sector occupied by maxima contains other large-sized avian subspecies, and
the Red-eyed Dove appears simply to be following a similar trend for reasons
not yet obvious.

It is worthy of note that the population named maxima in the first instance
is deeply coloured, resembling in this regard nominate semitorquata, in
contradistinction to the populations occurring further south.

37 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

Statistically, maxima just fails to attain the critical (75%) limit for the
recognition of mensural subspecies (Amadon 1949). Compared with Ethiopian
specimens (topotypical of 5. s. semitorquata), using a student’s t-test, males of
maxima have a value of 7-38 and females 9-14, in both instances P ‘being far
below :oo1: showing that males do not meet Amadon’s requirements for
formal subspecific recognition, whereas females do, though their standard
ranges indicate too much overlap to justify recognition of “‘*vaxima’’ on the
basis of large size in the female alone. The prudent course of action in the
present case appears to be to merge S. 5. maxima with S. 5. semitorquata, in so
doing recognising only semtorquata and australis from the South African

Sub-Region.

With the recognition of a southern African race of the Red-eyed Dove, the
species is now comprised of three subspecies: S. 5. semitorquata, S. 5. minor
and S. 5. australis. The present nominate subspecies may be divisible into
western and eastern elements along the lines originally laid down by Grant,
as it is noted that S. s. erythrophrys is admitted by Mackworth-Praed & Grant
(1952). The races and their synonyms will now stand as follows:

(a) Streptopelia semitorquata semitorquata (Ruppell), 1837. Synonyms: Turtur
erythrophrys Swainson, 1837, Turtur shelleyi Salvadori, 1893, Turtur
semitorquatus intermedius Erlanger, 1905, Streptopelia semitorquata
elgonensis Granvik, 1923, Streptopelia semitorquata maxima Robetts,

1932;
(b) Streptopelia semitorquata minor (Erlanger), 1905 ;
(c) Streptopelia semitorquata australis Roberts, 1932.

I am grateful to Dr. A. C. Kemp of the Transvaal Museum, Pretoria and
Mr. M. P. Stuart Irwin, National Museum of Rhodesia, Bulawayo, for the
loan of additional specimens.

References:

Amadon, D. 1949. The seventy five per cent rule for subspecies. Condor 51 (6): 250-258.

Chapin, J. P. 1939. The Birds of the Belgian Congo, part II. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.
75: 162-164.

Clancey, P. A. 1965. A Catalogue of Birds of the South African Sub-Region, part II.
Durban Mus, Novit. 7 (10): 321.

Erlanger, C. F. von. 1905. Journ. f. Ornith. 53: 124, 125.

Friedmann, H. 1930. Birds collected by the Childs Frick Expedition to Ethiopia and Kenya
Colony, Part I. Bull, U.S. Nat. Mus. 153: 216-219.
Grant, C. H. B. 1915. On a collection of Birds from British East Africa and Uganda pres-
ented to the British Museum by Capt. G. S. Cozens. /bis. 1oth ser. 3 (1): 41, 42.
Gyldenstolpe, N. 1924. Zoological results of the Swedish Expedition to central Africa 1921.
Kungl. Svensk. Vetenskap. Handlingar, Tredje ser. 1 (3): 308-310.

Irwin, M. P. S. & Benson, C. W. 1967. Notes on the Birds of Zambia, part 1V. Arnoldia
Rhod. ZAS) >: §. 6.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1952. Birds of Eastern and North Eastern Africa,
‘2 AT1,-472- London.

Nowak, E. 1975. Zur Systematik oe Gattung Streptopelia (Columbiformes, Aves). Bonner
zool. Beitr. heft 1-3, 26: 135-

Peters, J. L. 1937. Check-List of Birds of the World, 3: 93. Cambridge, Mass.

Ridgway, R. 1912. Color Standards and Color Nomenclature. Washington.

Roberts, A. 1932. Preliminary descriptions of sixty-six new forms of South African Birds.
Amn. Transv. Mus. £5( ad) 24, 125.

-— 1935. Scientific results of the Vernay—Lang Kalahari Expedition, March to September,

1930. Amn. Transv. Mus. 16 (1): 82, 83.

[Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)| 38

S.A.O.S. List Committee. 1969. Check list of the Birds of South Africa: 103. Cape Town.

Traylor, M. A. 1960. Notes on the birds of Angola, non-passeres, Pub. cult. Co. Diam. Ang.
Lisboa, 51: 149.

Verheyen, R. 1953. Exploration du Parc National de ’Upemba, Mission G. F. de Witte,
fasc. 19: 298=300.

White, C. M. N. 1965. A Revised Check List of African Non-Passerine Birds: 156, 157.
Lusaka,

Sympatric Cisticola spp. and the
competition exclusion principle
by W. B. J. Dean

Received 20 December 1975

Although the atatslind warblers of Africa, C7sticola spp. are morphologically
very similar, they differ in choice of habitat in most cases. However, in the
‘Transvaal, South Africa, five species of C7stico/a occur in open grassland
(Bankenveld, or Cymbopogon-Themeda Veld—Acocks 1953). Although they
can be found together, three of the species have distinct habitat preferences ;
Cisticola juncidis occurs in moist grassland, C. brunnescens in short moist
grassland, and C. aridu/a in dry grassland. The remaining two, C. ayresi and
C.. textrix occur inshort dry grassland, and do not have obvious differences
in habitat preference. Further, apart from distinctive displays of the breeding
males, they are virtually impossible to distinguish in the field. These two
species possibly represent an exception to the ecological principle of com-
petitive exclusion.

Measurements of culmen, wing and tarsus of museum specimens of C.
ayresit and C. textrix were obtained for birds from the area of sympatry in
the Transvaal and from areas of allopatry. The measurements were tested
with a Students “‘t’’ test to show whether differences between the species and
between sub-species were statistically significant, with the following results:

(a) Males of C. ¢extrix are larger than males of C. ayresii in an area of
sympatry (Table 1). The differences are consistent but never more than 12%.

TABLE 1
Differences in culmen, wing and tarsus measurements (mm) of C. ¢exfrix major and C.
ayresil.

C. t. major C. ayresti

mean S.D. *“n mean re apie Difference

Males Culmen- 12°6 + 0°58 24 IT*T “=f “o°47y” £5 P<-oo!1
Wing $4°0 + I°49 26 49° + 1°46 15 P<-ooI

Tarsus 20*'6" “a0 'O"97" “22 os Ss FO tras P<-oo1

Females Culmen 12:2 + 0:65 22 II°4 + 0°67 16 P<:oo1
Wing 49°6 + «1°18 a1 46°5 + 2:1 16 P<-:oor1

Tarsus 18-9 + 0°98 18 I7*I + o8 16 P<-oo1

Male C’.. ayresii tested against female C. textrix major: Culmen P<-oo1, Wing
not significant, Tarsus P<-o2.

(b) C. textrix major of the Transvaal is generally larger, statistically so in
the case of wing measurements, than C. ¢. textrix of the Cape province
(Table 2), but there is no significant difference in the culmen and wing sizes
of C’. ayresiz from different parts of Southern Africa (Table 3).

39 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(1)]

TABLE 2°

Differences in culmen, wing and tarsus measurements (mm) of C. textrix textrix tested
against C. textrix major.

Males Females
mean S.D. n Difference mean S.D. .i2 ,~ Difference
Culmen 12*t + 0°66 12 P<-o02 11°'7 + 0°66 9g n.s.
Wing Oe eS ae a eee, P<-oo1 47°70 + 1°58 9 P<-oo1
Tarsus 20°2 + t1°0 7 n.s. 19° c=. 102...6 n.s.
n.s. = not significant .
TABLE'3

Differences in culmen and wing measurements of C. ayresii collected in Rhodesia, Natal’
and the eastern Cape.

Culmen Wings
Males Females Males Females.
mean S.D.n mean S.D. n mean S.D.n mean S.D.n
Rhodesia I1°3+0°59 33 11°2+0°60 19 49°3+1°9 33 46°6+1'0- 19
Natal I1°5+0°44 8 49°4+0°8 8
E. Cape 11°7+0°68 26 I1°3+0°51 15 49°3+1°5 26 44°64+2°1- 15

Total including 11-4+0°53 82 I1°3+0°§1 50 49°2+1°4 82 45°91°7 50
Transvaal

These mensural differences neither support nor give exception to the
competitive exclusion principle, but the premises that morphological
measurements reflect the ecology of a species must be accepted if inferences
about competitive exclusion are to be made from such measurements. The
latter may reflect gross differences in ecology, but are clumsy and do not
show up subtle differences in structure, and indeed may mask differences
between similar species. Further, there are no standards defining the degree
of mensural difference which is sufficient to indicate lack of competition.

The exclusion principle depends, at least partly, upon competition between
species for limited resources. The limiting factors operating upon Cisticolas
in the Transvaal grasslands may occur at times other than when the two
species are observed together in the breeding season. In open grassland
where the food supply may be super-abundant in the breeding season,
neither food nor space may be a limiting factor then, though possibly so at
another stage in the life cycle. Alternatively, the populations of the two
species of C7sticola may somehow be being maintained at a low level so that
_ they do not come into competition, as for example in sessile marine inverte-
brates (Paine 1966) and for ungulate mammals (Wagner 1969).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For the loan of specimens and the opportunity to measure Cisticolas, I am grateful to the
Directors of the following institutions: National Museums of Rhodesia, Salisbury and
Bulawayo; Transvaal Museum; Durban Museum; East London Museum and the South
African Museum. Dr. S. M. Hirst provided advice on statistical tests. I thank C. J. Vernon
and I. A. W. Macdonald for advice and criticism of a draft of this note.

References:

yes J. H. P. 1953. Veld types of South Africa. Bot. Surv. Mem. 28. Pretoria: Govt.
rinter.
Paine, R. T. 1966. Food web complexity and species diversity. Amer. Nat. 100: 65-75.
Wagner, F. H. 1969. Ecosystems concepts in fish and game management. Jn “The ecosystem
bees a Natural Resource Management” (Ed. G. M. van Dyne). Academic Press,
ew York,

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976:°96(1)] 40
IN BRIEF

(a) A Ringed Woodpecker Celeus torquatus in Colombia

The Ringed Woodpecker Ce/eus torguatus has been recorded widely in low-
land tropical South America east of the Andes but curiously from only one
locality in Colombia (Meyer de Schauensee 1964, 1966): two females and a
male at rio Guapaya at the eastern base of the Sierra Macarena, Meta (Blake
1962).

On 19 July 1975, we found a female Ce/eus torquatus about six km north of
Leticia, Amazonas, Colombia in mature “tierra firma” forest about two km
from “La Carretera”. It was foraging 30 m above ground near the canopy on
a main trunk of a living tree in an area where there had been some tree-
felling in the past and 200 m from a man-made clearing in the forest. The
bird was studied with a 20-power telescope for ten minutes by ourselves and
eight other ornithologists. Several photographs were obtained by the
second author; although not of good quality due to low light levels, the
diagnostic features of black collar around the neck, the mainly chestnut tail,
the tawny unmarked belly, the light rufous, crested head, the yellow bill,
and the chestnut wings with dark spotting can all be discerned in the photo-
graphs, distinguishing C. sorquatus from all other Celeus species. The lack of
barring on the belly indicates that this individual belonged to the western
race occidentalis.

Although C. torquatus is : widely recorded east of the Andes, specimens are
few in number and it is apparently rare throughout its range, Haverschmidt
(1968) for instance reporting that it is one of the rarest woodpeckers in
Surinam. Thus perhaps the gaps in the presently known range are a function
of the general rarity of the species rather than indicative of a truly disjunctive
distribution.

References:

Blake, E. R. 1962. Birds of the Sierra Macarena, eastern Colombia. Fieldiana (Zoology) 44;
69-112.

Haverschmidt, F. 1968. Birds of Surinam. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd.

Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1964. The birds of Colombia Narberth, Pennsylvania: Livingston.

— 1966. The species of birds of South lee with their i Sled ee Narberth, Pennsylvania:
Livingston. ,

J. V.“Remsen,- fre
John S. Luther

6 December 1975 Don Roberson

— (b) ty cyon Sas

In Bull. Br. Orn. Cl. 94 (1974): 147 I proposed the name Halcyon ruficollaris for
a kingfisher from Mangaia, southern Cook Islands. I am grateful to Murray
D. Bruce for pointing out that this name is a homonym of A/yone ruficollaris
Bankier 1841, Ann. ¢> Mag. Nat. Hist. 6: 394, from Port Essington, Northern
Territory, Australia. The latter is now regarded as a subspecies or synonym
of Halcyon sancta Vigors & Hozsfield. The following replacement name is
therefore proposed for the Mangaia kingfisher:
Halcyon mangaia nom. nov.

16 December 1975 D. T. Holyoak

7
aA, V4
cal ay 4

NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS

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An author wishing to introduce a new name or describe a new form should
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Published by the BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS?’ CLUB and printed by
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ISSN 0007 - 1595

Bulletin of the

British Ornithologists’ Club

Edited by
Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 96 No. 2 June 1976

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

Tuesday, 20 July 1976 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. at the Goat Tavern, 3 Stafford Street,
London, W.1. (between Old Bond Street and Dover Street, near Green Park tube station).
Mr. Robert Gillmor will speak on Bird Illustration. Cheques for the cost of dinner (£2°25
a head) must be sent to the Hon. Secretary before the meeting.

Tuesday, 21 September 1976 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. at the Senior Common Room, South
Side, Imperial College, South Kensington (entrance Prince’s Gardens, S.W.7, off Exhi-
bition Road and N. of Victoria and Albert Museum). Dr. M. P. Harris will speak on St.
Kilda Puffins. Cheques for the cost of dinner (£2:95 a head) must be sent to the Hon.
Secretary before the meeting.

Tuesday, 16 November 1976. Dt. H. N. Southern will speak on the Tawny Owl at the
Senior Common Room, South Side, Imperial College.

Tuesday, 18 January 1977. Dr. Peter Ward will speak on Palaearctic migrants in Nigeria.

Tuesday, 15 March 1977. Mr. J. M. Forshaw will speak on the ecology of parrots in
Australia with emphasis on adaptations to changing envirqnments.

COMMITTEE
J. H. Elgood (Chairman) P. Hogg (Vice-Chairman)
R. E. F. Peal (Hon. Secretary) M. St. J. Sugg (Hon. Treasurer)
Dr. J. F. Monk ( Editor) Mrs. J. D. Bradley
Dr. C. J. O. Harrison C. E. Wheeler

Dr. G. Beven

“Us de =

41

. Pag “© PBul B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]
Bulletin of the re
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB

Vol. 96 No. 2 Published: 18 June 1976

The six hundred and ninety-ninth meeting of the Club was held at the Goat Tavern, 3
Stafford Street, London, W.1 at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 9 March 1976.

Chairman: Mr. P. Hogg: present 10 members and 2 guests.

Dr. C. J. O. Harrison spoke on eggs, drawing attention to a number of questions
concerning birds’ eggs to which no satisfactory solutions had yet been discovered. He
illustrated his talk with examples of various types of egg.

The seven hundredth meeting of the Club was held at Imperial College, London, S.W.7 at
6.45 p.m. on Tuesday 4 May, 1976.

Chairman: Professor J. H. Elgood, M.A., present 27 members and 16 guests.

There was a symposium on African birds, opened by Mrs. B. P. Hall, who spoke on the
remarkable richness of species in African thorn-bush scrub, contrasting it with the fewer
species in similar habitat in Australia. She pointed out the very great degree of specialization
of species in this (and other) habitats in Africa.

Sir Hugh Elliott, Bt., 0.8.£., followed and explained that recent observations of
Palaearctic migrants in southern Kenya (Jbis 118: 78-105) had opened a new viewpoint on
migration in Africa. He compared the birds reported in that paper with those he had found
in a study area to the west of Kilimanjaro 35 to 40 years ago.

Mr. C. C. H. Elliott then spoke on the migration of quelea that breed around Fort Lamy
in Chad and the reduction of the damage they do to crops in irrigated farmland obtained
by advancing the harvesting of these crops to a time before the birds arrived.

Mr. C. W. Benson, 0.8.£., discussed the avifauna of Madagascar. He supported the view
that the Malagasy area forms a separate zoogeographical region, citing the presence of a
number of species in Madagascar which are Asiatic or with Asiatic affinities and the
surprisingly small association with the birds of the African continent. He also spoke on the
degree of speciation in Madagascar.

The addresses gave rise to interesting and wide-ranging discussions.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The eighty-fourth Annual General Meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club was held at
Imperial College, London, S.W.7 on Tuesday, 4 May 1976 at 5.45 p.m. with Professor
J. H. Elgood, m.a., in the chair. Eleven members were present.

The minutes of the eighty-third Annual General Meeting (Bu//. Brit. Orn. Cl. 95: 89-90)
were approved and signed.

Presenting the Report of the Committee for 1975, the Hon. Secretary stated that the
comparatively small numbers attending meetings were a cause of continuing difficulty in
obtaining a reasonably priced dinner: the Goat Tavern at a little over {2 per head was an
exception in this respect but its capacity was not large, particularly if slides were to be shown.
Prices could not be fixed far ahead because of inflation and at no place where the Club now
met would the caterers undertake collection from members of the charge for dinner, which
had now to be done by the Club.

The Hon. Treasurer presented the Accounts for 1975. The larger receipts from sub-
scriptions has resulted from the increased rates of subscription that came into effect for that
year. Owing to changes in deeds of covenant, there had been no claim for recovery of
income tax made in the last year but he had since rendered claims covering two years for a
total of £185, of which £88 would have been receivable in 1975. He expressed the Club’s
thanks to Mr. E. W. Mudge for his donation of £51. Membership continued to increase
and there had already been 20 new members or Bulletin subscribers in the current year.

The Chairman thanked the Hon. Treasurer for the considerable amount of work he
continued to do for the Club, despite his move away from the Home Counties to Somerset
last year. On the Chairman’s proposal, the Report of the Committee and Accounts for 1975
were received and adopted unanimously.

There being no nominations additional to those of the Committee, the following were
declared elected :—

Hon. Treasurer: Mr. M. St. J. Sugg, M.A. (re-elected)
Hon. Secretary: Mr. R. E. F. Peal (re-elected)
Committee: Dr. G. Beven, M.D., vice Mr. J. H. R. Boswall, who retired by rotation.

The Editor reported that the average interval between receipt of an acceptable paper and
its publication in the Bulletin was about six months, which compared very favourably with
most other ornithological journals of a similar standing. Sir Hugh Elliott reported that
otdets for back-numbets were keeping up fairly well. Two numbers of Vol. 89, of which
stocks had been exhausted, were reprinted in 1975.

The meeting closed at 6.10 p.m.

42

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Remarks on the validity of
Carpodacus roseus sachalinensis Portenko
by M. Ralph Browning

Received 15 December 1975

Pallas’ Rose Finch Carpodacus roseus (Pallas), 1776, (type locality—Uda and
Selenga rivers, Transbaicalia) of south-central and southeastern Siberia is
rare in collections and little has been written about it. The species occurs in
summer as far north as the mountains of the middle fork of the Nizhnyaya
Tunguska River, northeast to Yakutia, south to the Sayan Mountains near
Lake Baikal, the Stanovoi Mountains in Amurland, and Sakhalin Island. In
winter it is found south to western Siberia, northern China, Korea, and Japan
(Beme 1954). Details concerning its breeding behaviour remain unknown.

Although the species is now considered monomorphic (Paynter 1968), the
population of Sakhalin Island and the Okhotsk littoral has been named C\. r.
sachalinensis by Portenko (1960), on the basis of specimens collected outside
the breeding months. A more detailed description of the race was published
subsequently (Portenko 1962). The holotype of sachalinensis (ZIAS 61935),
which I have examined, is an adult male collected on the shore of Nyisku
Bay (52° N), eastern Sakhalia Island, on 29 August 1881. Portenko described
the adult males of sachalinensis as darker than nominate roseus; first year
males and adult females of sachalinensis were also said to be darker and to
have more white on the belly with the streaks of the underparts broader and
darker. The wing length (chord?) was said to be shorter than in nominate
roseus, the mean for adult males being 90-7 mm (n=55) for the nominate race
against 86-8 mm (n=3) for sachalinensis; whereas for females and immatures
the means were said to be smaller than those of adult males and smaller in
sachalinensis.

Paynter (1968), even though he had not seen specimens, placed sachalinensis
in synonymy with C. roseus, considering that the published characters of
sachalinensis were insufficient to justify its recognition. However, I recently
discovered several noticeably dark individuals among specimens of C. roseus
in the U.S. National Museum of Natural History, suggesting that a more
thorough investigation of Portenko’s race was warranted.

Specimens were borrowed from eleven museums to compliment the series
in the National Museum and a total of 129 specimens of C. roseus, including
the holotype and part of the type series of C. r. sachalinensis, were examined,
all of which were collected between late August and April, or outside the
probable breeding period of the species. Examination confirms the fact that
there is a dark population. Unfortunately, the holotype of sachalinensis does
not appear to represent birds from the dark population, so that the name
must be considered a synonym of C. roseus.

The holotype of sachalinensis was compared with 45 other adult males of
C. roseus. Although it is in fairly heavy moult (see later) I found that the back,
rump, and underparts are similar in colour to specimens of nominate roseus
collected in autumn, winter and spring. Critical comparison of individual
body feathers of the specimens revealed that the intensity of the red coloration
does not vary seasonally. Fourteen of the 45 adult males are noticeably darker
than nominate roseus and the holotype of sachalinensis in the colour of the
rump, crown, and underparts. The edges of the secondaries are white in the
dark specimens, whereas in nominate roseus and the holotype of sachalinensis
these edges are brownish. The paleness and the brownish edges of the A

96(z)]

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45

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[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 46

secondaries of the holotype of sachalinensis are well within the range of
individual variation of specimens from western Siberia, which, according
to Portenko are nominate roses. Contrary to Portenko, I found no significant
differences in wing chord between pale and dark specimens (Table 1).

The pallor of the holotype of sachalinensis might be attributed to the age
of the skin, but the possibility of fading was carefully considered and was
rejected for the following reasons. There are specimens from western Siberia
of the same skin age that are darker than the holotype of sachalinensis. Also,
there are specimens from the same series of nominate roseus that are paler
than the holotype of sachalinensis although they were collected more recently.
In the series of 14 dark males, the darkest specimens are not those most
recently collected.

Portenko reported that “sachalinensis” breeds on Sakhalin Island on the
basis of nests and eggs collected by Gizenko (1955), but did not see them
himself. They have been examined by Vorobiev (1973), who identified them
as belonging to Uragus sibiricus, the Long-tailed Rose Finch. Portenko (1962)
suggested that “‘sachalinensis” also breeds on the Shantar Islands in the Gulf
of Udsk. However, an adult male (ZIAS 61921), collected on Great Shantar
Island on 28 April 1926, presumedly examined by Portenko, is labelled as
nominate roseus and is similar to other specimens of the pale population.

Since the available specimens represent either transients or winter visitors,
the breeding range of the population represented by the dark specimens is
unknown. Although probable, it is also uncertain that the dark specimens
are a product of geographic variation. According to Dr. V. A. Nechaev (fide
A. I. Ivanov in Litt. to G. E. Watson) C. roseus may nest in the mountains of
northern or central Sakhalin Island, and it is this population that possibly
may have produced the dark specimens. This is further suggested by the fact
that all the dark specimens collected as transients or winter visitors were
from either Korea, Hokkaido, Japan, or Sakhalin Island.

Moult in C. roseus takes place in early fall. The holotype of “‘sachalinensis”
is in fairly heavy moult. All its rectrices are in sheaths except the two central
ones, which are new. Also in sheath are many upper tail coverts, back, neck,
and breast feathers, tertials, and most of the secondaries. The inner seven
primaries on both wings are new. Sheaths are visible at the base of the fourth
and seventh inner primaries of both wings. The inner eighth primaries are
about half grown. Both of the ninth and tenth primaries are old. An adult
male, however, collected in late September has all new flight feathers. An
immature male collected in September and one immature male and three
females taken in October have already completed moult in the flight feathers.
Two specimens collected near Seoul, Korea, are unusual. One of these, an
immature male collected in December, has all new rectrices which are about
three-quarters grown except for the left rectrices numbers 3, 5 and 6. In the
second and unsexed specimen, an immature or possibly an adult female, all
the rectrices are new and half grown. These last two specimens are probably
replacing feathers lost during some injury. None of the other specimens in
the series of C. roseus examined in this study were in moult.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I express sincere gratitude for the loan of comparative specimens to the authorities of the
Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris), Natur-Museum und Forschungsinstitut
(Frankfurt), Staatliches Museum fur Tierkunde (Dresden), Museum Heineanum (Halber-
stadt), Universitat Hamburg, Universitetets Zoologiske Museum (Copenhagen), British
Museum (Natural History, Tring), Royal Scottish Museum (Edinburgh), Museum_ of
Vertebrate Zoology (Berkeley, California), and the California Academy of Sciences (San

47 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

Francisco). I wish especially to thank Prof. A. I. Ivanov of the Zoological Institute of the

Academy of Sciences (ZIAS) in Leningrad for the loan of the holotype and other specimens

used by Portenko, and to thank him and N. Litvinenko of the Far Eastern Science Centre

at Vladivostok, E. G. F. Sauer, F. W. Merkel, and C. W. Benson for providing information

about the species and locating specimens. R. C. Banks arranged for the loan of specimens in

the United States. I am grateful to G. E. Watson who arranged for the loan of the other

specimens and queried many more museums about specimens on my behalf as well as reading

a late version of the manuscript; and to S. Olson and J. Farrand, Jr., who read an earlier

draft and for their encouragement and many useful suggestions.

References:

Beme, L. B. 1954. Family Fringillidae, pp. 183-363. Jn G. P. Dementiev & N. A. Gladkov
(eds.). Birds of the Soviet Union. Vol. 5. Moscow (English translation, Israel Prog.
Sci. Translations).

Gizenko, A. I. 1955. Birds of the Sakhalin Region. Moscow, Acad. Sci., U.S.S.R. (In Russian)

Paynter, R. A., Jr. 1968. Subfamily Carduelinae, pp. 207-306. Jn R.A. Paynter, Jr. (ed.).
Checklist of Birds of the World. Vol. 14. Mus. ‘Comp. Zool., Cambridge, Mass.

Portenko, L. A. 1960. The Birds of the U.S.S.R. Part 4. Opredelieli po Faune S.S.S.R., Acad.
Sw US.S.R., 69. (In Russian)

Portenko, L. A. 1962. New subspecies of passerine birds (Aves, Passeriformes). Trudy
Zool. Inst. Acad. Sci., U.S.S.R. 30: 385-394. (In Russian)

Vorobiev, K. A. 1973. On some errors in ornithological studies. Zool. Journ. 52: 955-
957. (In Russian)

Address: National Fish & Wildlife Laboratory, National Museum of Natural History,
Washington D.C. 20560, U.S.A.

On a variety of the Moorhen Gallinula chloropus

from Northern England
by Eric Gorton

Received 10 December 1975
A male example of the Moorhen Ga/linula chloropus obtained at Bolton,
Lancashire, which I examined first in the flesh, presented a number of
remarkably symmetrical aberrant features of plumage. The legs and bill also

Aberrant Moorhen (below) Gallinula chloropus from Northen England

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 48

were particularly noticeable for their variation from the normal colouring.
The specimen was extremely fat. It is now in the ornithological collections
of the Bolton Museum, presented by Mr. P. Holden on 29 October 1973.
The underparts differ markedly from the normal form. The flanks and
thighs are of the normal leaden grey colour with white flashes at the side,
but the chin, throat, neck, breast and belly are white with a grey tone on the
belly and some slight grey edging to the feathers of the breast. However, the
most remarkable feature is the absence of white on the under tail coverts,
which are uniformly blackish. What is generally taken as the most important
identification and display character of the Moorhen is thus entirely lacking.
The upper parts also differ markedly from normal. The ground colour is a
fairly neutral deep grey with only a slight tint of the olive brown of the back
characteristic of the usual plumage. At each side of the mantle is a line of
whitish feathers, forming an indistinct rough V, while the tertials are also
whitish with a pale brown suffusion and dark grey edges and shaft lines.
A striking feature of the fresh specimen was the abnormal colouring of the
soft parts. Instead of greenish, the legs were of a fairly bright yellow (4A6-7
in Kornerup & Wanscher, “Methuen Handbook of Colour” 1963), the toes
being of the same colour with dusky joints and claws. The bill was yellow
at the base (4A6) with a tinge of red in the middle (8B7), while the tip was of
a warm olive colour (3C7). There was no evidence of a red “‘garter’’ or of the
normal red on the “shield” of the bill. The shield itself is smaller than usual.
In view of the present interest in the bearing of aberrant examples on
phylogenetics, the similarity of certain aspects of the present specimen to the
immature plumage of the Coot Fulica atra and the adult of the White-breasted
Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus should be noted.

Address: Museum and Art Gallery, Civic Centre, Bolton, Lancs.

Breeding records of Crex egregia, Myrmecocichla nigra
and Cichladusa ruficauda from Angola.
by W. R. J. Dean

Received 20 December 1975

In view of the paucity of breeding data for the birds of Angola, the following
breeding records are of interest.

Crex: egregia African Crake

An unidentified crake, accompanied by two downy young, was seen
crossing the road near Quihita, 15° 24’ S, 14° 00’ E, on 2 May 1973, where
the habitat was mostly tall, dry Hyparrhenia spp. grass c. 2 m high.One of the
young was examined in the hand, and was subsequently identified as this
species by Manfred Schmitt (pers. comm.) from the description I noted down
at the time.

This record extends the known distribution of the African Crake in Angola
westward of previously known localities (Traylor 1963), and appears to be
the first breeding record in Angola.

Myrmecocichla nigra Black Chat

A nest containing three young about two days old was found just south of
Guilherme Capelo, Cabinda, 5° 13’ S, 12° 10’ E, on 21 August 1972. The nest
was a cup of coarse grass lined with rootlets and was in a chamber at the end
of a 30 cm tunnel sloping upwards at an angle of about 20° from the hori-
zontal, in a sand bank.

49 [Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

On a journey by road from Carmona, 7° 36’ S, 15° 03’ E, to Mavoio,
6° 05’ S, 15° 02’ E, on 29 August 1973, several Black Chats were observed
at nest holes in sand banks on the road verge. One such nest, at about 11 km
south of Mavoio, contained two naked young in a cup of grass and rootlets,
placed at the end of a horizontal tunnel 25 cm long.

A Black Chat was seen carrying nest material to a nest excavated in the
roof of an Ant-bear Orycteropus afer burrow at Cangandala National Park,
Malanje, (at approximately 9° 47’ S, 16° 41’ E), on 28 August 1972.

Traylor (1963) gives the breeding season of Black Chats in Angola as

September to November, but evidently breeding in August may be regular.

Cichladusa ruficauda Rufous-tailed Morning Warbler

There are few breeding data of this common species. A pair were building
the early stages of a nest on a small ledge in a limestone outcrop in the forest
west of Carmona on 28 August 1973 (Dean 1974, Appendix II). Both birds
used a series of perches as staging posts when covering the last 20 m from
the source of the nest material (mud) to the nest.

Two eggs taken from a deserted nest near Luanda, 8° 48’ S, 13° 14’ E,
on 12 May 1973 are pale greenish white, freckled with pinky marks, the
markings heavier and tending towards blotches on the obtuse end of the
egg. The eggs measure 23:7 X 16-2 and 24-1 X 16-5 mm. They were still
fairly fresh. Chapin (1953) and Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1973) describe
the eggs similarly, but give no measurements.

Traylor (1963) gives one record of C. ruficauda breeding in Angola—a nest
and young in January. The Instituto de Investigacao Cientifica de Angola
has one egg of this species collected on 8 December 1965. Four males in the
I.1.C.A. collection examined by me had gonads enlarging in August, October
and November. Evidently the breeding season is prolonged, perhaps even
longer than the period October to April given by Chapin (1953) for the
Congo.

I “te grateful to the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University,
for the opportunity to make these notes.

References:

Chapin, J. P. 1953. The birds of the Belgian Congo, 3. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. His. 75a.

Dean, W. R. J. 1974. Breeding and distributional notes on some Angolan birds. Durban
Mus. Novit. 10(8): 109-125.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1973. Birds of West Central and Western

Africa. Longmans London.
Traylor, M. A. 1963. Check-list of Angolan birds. Publ. Cult. Comp. Diam. Ang. 61.

Address: Barberspan Ornithological Research Station, P.O. Barberspan, S. Africa.

Observations on Pel’s Fishing Owl Scotopelia peli
by L. H. Brown
Received 23 December 1975

Pel’s Fishing Owl Scotopelia peli is a widespread, but apparently uncommon
and local riverine species of lowland tropical Africa, extending from eastern

Cape Province north to Ethiopia and west to Senegal. Since little has been
- written on this species, and since much published information seems highly

misleading, this note summarises what has been learned of this owl in south-
west Ethiopia in 1968-70 and in Botswana in 1971. The only other place in

_which I have ever come across this owl (not recorded by me in 30 years
residence in Kenya) was on the Obe river in the Niger flood plains between

Agenebode and Illushi on 24 Feb 1945. Ill with malaria, I sent out my Hausa

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 50

syce Momo, with two cartridges, to collect Hartlaub’s Duck Péeronetta
hartlaubii. He returned with a Tiger Bittern Tzgriornis leucolopha and Pel’s
Owl—as nice a right and left as any collector could have wished for. He had
blown off the head of the owl completely at very close range; but its identity
was confirmed by examining the rest of the body, notably by wing length.

S. W. ETHIOPIA 1968-1970. The sonorous hoot of Pel’s Fishing Owl
was first heard in 1968, but the bird was not seen. My brother, G. H. H.
Brown, later confirmed that the call we had heard was of the owl, as one
came and hooted in a tree close to his house in Omo Valley National Park in
late 1968. In 1969, between 19 and 30 January, a pair of the owls was located
just above the Park headquarters along the Mwi river; and safaris up river
established that there was a pair about every 6-7 km of river. The Mwi river
in this area in January is a clear stream flowing in a wide torrent bed of
stones, grown with patches of Sesbania shrubs and tall reeds Saccharum sp.
Along the permanent banks are patches of forest, principally Cat-claw
Acacia A. campylacantha, but also huge fig trees Ficus (mallatocarpa ?) and
broad leaved evergreens notably Tamarindus indica. These patches of forest
were regular daytime haunts of the owls.

The owls were hard to locate by day but at night could be heard calling
up and down river. The call is distinctive and quite unmistakable but bears
little relationship to published descriptions. Mackworth-Praed & Grant
(1952), describe it as “a sort of snoring, humming sound, not unlike that
made at times by leopards; also a hoot rising to a loud screech, ending in a
terrifying wail”. Roberts (1972) is even more imaginative. Having described
a “‘boo-hoo” and a crescendo staccato “kuu-ku-ku” (which bear some
resemblance to calls described later), he states “at night this gives way to a
weird screechy howl, which rises to a nerve-shattering crescendo, to peter
out like the cry of a lost soul falling into a bottomless pit”. It appears more
likely that these calls refer to the notes of Verreaux’s Eagle Owl Bubo Jacteus,
and perhaps the mewing of the Pearl-spotted Owlet G/aucidium perlatum. They
certainly bear no resemblance whatever to the normal contact calls of Pel’s
Fishing Owl. This is a deep sonorous hoot, sometimes preceded and often
followed by a low grunt “Hooommmmm-hut”, the hoot being audible at
much greater range (up to 3 km on a still night) than the grunt. The sexes
call in different tones, one tenor, the other deeper and more sonorous;
without certain knowledge it is assumed that the male has the higher-pitched
voice. The owls along the Mwi seldom called before 22.00 hrs., and not often
before midnight; they were most vociferous between 03.00 and 05.00 hrs.
These normal contact calls were quite different from the duets heard later in
Botswana.

Above the Omo Park headquarters at German Sefer, a pair ranged along
the Mwi river for about 4 km at least. Their main daytime roost was about
14 km above the headquarters in two broad-leaved forest trees, sometimes in
a grove of huge fig trees close to this clump. Once one, probably the male,
was found roosting in figs only 4 km above Park headquarters. When roost-
ing, they allowed approach to within 10 m before flying and were very
conservative, invariably being found in the same area even after being repeat-
edly disturbed. When disturbed by day they readily flew several hundred
metres, and would perch on open branches of Acacia fortilis in full sunlight,
without apparent discomfort. The owls were found in the same area again
between 10 and 17 Feb 1970; but in March 1973 the forest trees which were
their regular preferred roost had been lopped to hang up honey barrels, and

51 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

they were nowehere to be found in the neighbourhood, nor were they heard.
Apparently the disturbance of their roost made them move some distance.

_ Although stated by some authorities (e.g. Sparks & Soper 1970) to be
largely diurnal, neither in Ethiopia nor in Botswana were they other than
entirely nocturnal. They were never seen hunting by day, were normally not
on the move before dark, and roosted by dawn. On two evenings, 18.15—
18.30 hrs, one was seen perched on a dead fig tree above a pool near the
‘roost, apparently having emerged to fish; but this was unusual. On most
evenings, waiting till near dusk near the roost revealed no activity by the
owls. As the valley of the Mwi river at that point was alive with buffalo, and
as the river contained large crocodiles, observation was not continued after
dark. The shallow pools of the river at this season were swarming with
small Barbus and Tilapia, with some catfish C/arias; and the Barbus and
Tilapia at least often spent minutes on the surface gulping air. The catfish
may only have risen to the surface at night. Though it would thus have been
easy to catch fish by day, the owls did not do so, though other fishing birds
did.

Pel’s Fishing Owl is apparently not adapted, or not so well adapted for
silent flight as are typical mammal-eating nocturnal species. Vigorous wing-
flapping, such as when leaving a perch, produces quite a loud sound. Pre-
sumably, therefore, the hearing ability of fish in the water is not such as to
detect the approach of a hunting owl.

In Ethiopia, no evidence of breeding was detected in any month from
January to March along the Mwi river. There are, in fact, no breeding
records for Ethiopia, nor for East Africa (Urban & Brown 1970, East African
Nat. Hist. Soc. nest record card scheme). Verreaux’s Eagle Owl breeds in
Ethiopia from January to April, and also in June and July; it also is largely a
riverine species, heard in the same locality as Pel’s Fishing Owl but feeding
on different prey. Most large Ethiopian raptors breed in the main dry season
October to April in north and northwest Ethiopia, but in southwest and
southeast Ethiopia two rainfall peaks occur, with a less marked dry season
June to September. No evidence was found by G. H. H. Brown either that
Pel’s Owl breeds in this period.

Although Pel’s Owl is quite common along the Mwi river and also along
the main stream of the Omo in the same area, it was neither seen nor heard
along the Godare river and tributaries within tropical forest in Illubabor
Province at 800 m in February 1969 (Brown & Urban 1970). It may therefore
be an inhabitant of riverine strips of woodland in savannas rather than of
forest itself.

BOTSWANA, JULY 1971. Smithers (1964) states that Pel’s Owl is only
recorded from Sepopa and Seronga (one of which localities may be Txaquie
—‘‘an island in a swamp”); but it is evidently quite widespread in the
Okavango swamps as we also found traces of it (feathers) in the Moremi
Game Reserve.

When I was camped at Txaquie Island, about 160 km up the Boro river
channel from Maun, deep inside the Okavango river swamps, at least one,
possibly two pairs of Pel’s Fishing Owl] frequented the immediate vicinity of
the camp site. One apparently lived mainly on Buffalo Island across the
channel to the north, another about 1 km downstream; however they could
have been the same birds. On occasion the Buffalo Island pair came to
Txaquie, and performed protracted vocal duets, apparently a form of court-
ship.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 52

The duetting was unlike the normal contact calls described for southwest
Ethiopia and also heard at night at Txaquie. It lasted from 10-15 minutes and
might occur several times in one night. The first was heard at about 01.30 on
10 July, continued for about ten minutes, and was uttered from a dead stub
three metres above the water of the river. Earlier, the owls had been heard
contact calling at moonrise. They were not at first disturbed by torchlight,
but later left when I rose to watch them; they could evidently see me easily.
However, this pair duetted again in brilliant moonlight at about 22.30 on 12
July, on a dead tree in the middle of Txaquie Island, in full view of five
observers, for at least 15 minutes. They were not disturbed by torchlight, but
turned to look at the light, revealing a red tapetum in the eye. They were
filmed by D. Plage, using a light-intensifying device, and only fell silent when
their own calls were played back to them on a tape recorder. They were
perched too close together above each other to be certain which individual
uttered a particular sound, and there was little size difference; however, one,
presumed to be the male, had a higher pitched voice than the other.

The duet begins with a series of low grunts “uh-uh-uhu”, etc. which
gradually work up to a crescendo, and it ends in a loud tenor hoot ““Hooo-
mmm’; the other responds with a deeper, more sonorous ‘““Hooommmm”’
followed by more grunts “uh-uhu-uh-uh’’, etc. Probably the bird initiating
the duet is the male, with the tenor voice, the female responding. In torch-
light we could see that the throat is inflated when uttering the sonorous
“Hooommm’’. They took about five minutes of grunting to work up to the
full duet, which then continued for about 15 minutes. They duetted again
later in the night and also on 18 July and_later nights, though never again so
close or so easily seen. The duets were uttered mainly during the moonlight.

This behaviour is not unlike an uncommon duetting display of Verreaux’s
Eagle Owl (Brown 1965) in which the pair sit opposite one another grunting
and jerking the body; however, it is not accompanied by any obvious body
movements in Pel’s Fishing Owl. Other large owls also duet, and in fact
much calling by owls at night is duetting, in that male calls to female and is
answered. Possibly such vigorous duetting may indicate the onset of the
breeding season. Breeding is not recorded in Botswana (Smithers 1964); but
in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia, it may occur in June (Benson & White
1957), which is early in the dry season and would support the likelihood that
breeding might occur in August in Botswana. However, no additional
information was obtained.

I was unable to locate the daytime roost of the Txaquie pair by searching
likely patches of forest on Buffalo Island, as done successfully on the Mwi
river, but I located several well-used roost perches in forest patches there
and one on Txaquie itself. They were marked by droppings and some could
be confirmed by feathers. However, no bones were found under any of them;
and neither here nor in Ethiopia were the regular perches marked by an
accumulation of pellets, as happens with many owls. Under one perch on
Txaquie I found an accumulation of bones, perhaps a disintegrated pellet of
this owl; but it seems likely that fish bones are mainly digested.

The bones from Txaquie were kindly identified for me by Mr. R. A. Jubb
of the Albany Museum, Grahamstown. They included opercular bones of
small cichlid fishes 10-12 cm long, and part of the dorsal spine and bony
humeral process of a small S'ynodontzs or squeaker. These latter, a type of
catfish, swim deep or among weeds by day but surface at night when they
would be vulnerable to the owl. Cichlids too would move into shallows at

:

night to feed (Jubb 7 /i#t.). On several nights at Txaquie a splash was heard
suggestive of a catch by the owls. Here too, however, there was no indication
whatever that they were other than entirely nocturnal. They were never
heard calling or seen on the move before dark, though they called more in
Botswana than along the Mwi in Ethiopia; and were never seen at dawn,
when we were frequently about ourselves.

References:

Benson, C. W. & White, C. M. N. 1957. Check list of the Birds of Northern Rhodesia. Govern-
ment Printer, Lusaka.

Brown, L. H. 1965. Observations on Verreaux’s Eagle Ow] Bubo lacteus (Temminck) in
Kenya. J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist. Soc. 35(2): 101-107.

Brown, L. H. & Urban, E. K. 1970. Bird and mammal observations from the forests of
southwest Ethiopia. Walia (2): 13-40.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1952. The Birds of Eastern and North-eastern
Africa. Vol. 1. Longmans, London.

Roberts, A. 1940. The Birds of South Africa. 3rd Edn. revised, MacLachlan & Liversedge
(1970). Cape & Transvaal Printers, Cape Town.

Smithers, R. H. N. 1964. A Check List of the Birds of the Bechuanaland Protectorate. Nat. Mus.
S. Rhodesia, Salisbury.

Sparks, J. & Soper, A. 1970. Owls. David & Charles. Newton Abbot.

Urban, E. K. & Brown, L. H. 1970. A Check List of the Birds of Ethiopia. Haile Selassie I
University Press, Addis Ababa.

Address: Box 24916, Karen, Kenya.

53 [Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

Subspeciation in the Marico Flycatcher
Melaenornis mariquensis (Smith) of Southwestern Africa
by P. A. Clancey

Received 15 January 1976

The Marico Flycatcher Me/aenornis mariquensis (Smith), 1847: Marico R.,
western Transvaal, of a large segment of the South West Arid District and
some adjacent parts of Ethiopian Africa, was first shown to exhibit sub-
specifically significant variation by Irwin (1957), when he proposed M. m.
acaciae from Ohopoho in the Kaokoveld of northwestern South West Africa.
Later, the species was reviewed by Lawson (1963), who recognised three
subspecies, proposing M. . vinaceus from Tshane, in the Kalahari, western
Botswana, as a third race. I drew attention (Clancey 1968) to the peculiar
characters of some Marico Flycatcher specimens from ““Mkien” Farm, near
Bulawayo, Rhodesia, taken by Durban Museum personnel, suggesting
that these perhaps indicated a shift in western Rhodesian populations from
nominate M. mariquensis to an as yet undescribed form in the northeastern
sector of the species’ range. I have recently pursued this latter line of enquiry,
marshalling for the purpose a series of 402 specimens drawn from the
collections of the Durban, East London and Transvaal Museums and the
National Museum of Rhodesia, Bulawayo. To the responsible officials of
sister institutions for assistance in organising the loan of material I tender
my thanks.

In the Marico Flycatcher variation affects the hue of the brown upper-
parts and the lengths of the wings and tail, and overall follows a closely
comparable pattern to that of many similarly distributed polytypic species of
birds. In the main, the largest and palest birds are those in the west of the
range from Angola, south to the northern Cape, with darker coloured
populations in the mesic east. In freshly moulted examples the upper-parts
ate distinctly more pink or vinaceous tinged than those taken later in the
year, a colour change which takes place in a relatively short period of time.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 54

The large material available to me reveals incontrovertibly that both Irwin
and Lawson failed to appreciate the measure of individual variation and the
nature, extent and variability of the habitat-induced differences evident in
most comprehensive museum series. Irwin believed his acaciae to be restricted
to the Kaokoveld of northwestern South West Africa, taking the range of
the nominate subspecies as far north in South West Africa as Windhoek and
to Ghanzi in northwestern Bostwana. Lawson, in admitting the validity of
acaciae, extended its range south as far as Rehoboth, in northern Great
Namaqualand, at 23° 18’ S., 17° 03’ E., at the same time placing the popu-
lations of “the interior plateau of South West Africa” in his new race,
vinaceus. Lawson examined twenty specimens of vinaceas from South West
Africa, most of these collected in the Windhoek district during May 1959 by
personnel engaged in the joint Durban/East London Museums expedition
of that year. Examination of the Windhoek series, perhaps the best available
in freshly moulted condition from a single locality, reveals that there is a
considerable range of individual variation in the relative yellowness or red-
ness of the dorsal surfaces in far western populations of this flycatcher. Even
allowing for this, specimens collected at Neudamm, Windhoek, in October
1941, by Austin Roberts are very decidedly yellower above than the yellowest
1959 birds from the same area and agree with paratypes of acaciae from the
Kaokoveld. In the case of a pair from the Rehoboth district, a Q from
Valencia Ranch, taken on 13 May 1965, shows the characters attributed to
vinaceus, while an example from Kobos, in the same district, taken two months
later (in mid-July) matches paratypical skins of acaciae. Moving still further
south in the arid west of the South African Sub-Region, freshly moulted
birds from the Gemsbok National Park in the northern Cape are seen which
are every bit as pallid as the palest northern South West African examples.
Again, further southeast, most specimens in the Durban Museum collection
from the Kuruman district of the northern Cape more closely resemble the
Kaokoveld representation—after making allowance for a slight difference in
the relative freshness of the samples—than they do fresher birds from the
Kalahari immediately to the north.

The relatively wide spectrum of individual variation in a population and
the marked colour change to the dorsum correlated with insolation and the
wearing of the plumage, dictate that no useful subdivision of the arid
western populations of the Marico Flycatcher into northern and southern
taxa can be sustained and that only two races in the species are admissible.
The genetically based colour and size variation is, generally speaking,
relatively slight. Resulting from these findings I place Lawson’s vinaceus as a
synonym of M. m. acaciae, the range of which is now seen as extending from
Angola, south to the Kalahari of Botswana and the northern Cape.

Apropos my suggestion that the northeastern populations might consti-
tute a fourth subspecies, a freshly moulted sample from the Makgadikgadi
Pan area of Botswana reveals that the population of this region is not
separable taxonomically from that of the Transvaal (topotypical of M. m.
mariquensis), though greying more than others through the action of the sun
and wear in this particularly harsh, glaring environment.

The revised characters and tanges of the two acceptable races of the
Marico Flycatcher will now stand as follows:

(a) Melaenornis mariquensis mariquensis (Smith), 1847: Marico R.,
western Transvaal.

55 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

ZAMBEZI RIVER

ORANGE RIVER

Sketch-map showing the revised ranges of the two recognisable races of the Marico
Flycatcher in southern Africa.

A. Melaenornis mariquensis acaciae Irwin
B. Melaenornis mariquensis mariquensis (Smith)
@ Extra-limital records of acaciae.

Dorsum in freshly moulted condition dark Saccardo’s Umber (Ridgway
1912, pl. xxix) with vinous-grey bloom. Venter white, the upper breast with
faint buff wash.

Wings of 12 gg from the Transvaal 81-87-5, mean 84:7, SD 2-15, SE
0:62, culmens 16-18, mean 17:0, SD 0°67, SE 0:19, tails 71-75°5, mean
73°1, SD 1:64, SE 0:47 mm.

Wings of 12 99 82-87, mean 84:7, SD 1°52, SE 0-44, culmens 16: 5-18,
mean 17:1, SDo-47, SEo: 14, tails 69-74, mean 72-6, SD 1-83, SEo- 53 mm.

Material examined. 280.

Range. Eastern northern Cape, extreme western Orange Free State, bush-
veld regions of the Transvaal highveld (east as far as Leydsdorp), Rhodesia
in the dry west and locally over the midlands to Salisbury, Marandellas,
Umvuma and Fort Victoria, southwestern Zambia, southwestern, western
and northern Botswana (generally north of a line Ghanzi-Damara Pan—
_ Molepolole), and Caprivi and adjacent southeastern Angola.

Remarks. The birds of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pan complex of Botswana
and adjacent areas tend to become greyer through insolation and wear than in
the case of populations of the same taxon occurring to the east (in Rhodesia
and the Transvaal).

(b) Melaenornis mariquensis acaciae (Irwin), 1957: Ohopoho, Kaoko-
veld, northern South West Africa.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)} 56

Synonym. Bradornis mariquensis vinaceus Lawson, 1963: Tshane (Tsane),
Kalahari, western Botswana.

Differs from the nominate subspecies in being paler and more vinaceous
sandy ted, or more ochraceous, over the dorsum, and markedly redder over
the rump and upper tail-coverts (dorsum in fresh dress vinaceous Buffy
Brown (pl. xl)). Wings and tail paler. Size larger.

Wings of 12 gg from South West Africa 85-91, mean 88-5, SD 1-74,
SE 0-50, culmens 17—18-5, mean 17:7, SD 0-50, SEo: 14, tails 73-78: 5, mean
76:3, SD 1:98, SE 0°57 mm.

Wings of 12 99 85-5-90, mean 87-9, SD 1-62, SE 0-47, culmens 17-19,
mean 17:6, SD 0-61, SE 0:18, tails 75-81, mean 77-2, SD 1°88, SE 0:54
mm.

Material examined. 122.

Range. Southwestern Angola in south-central and southern Huila and
parts of southern Cubango, South West Africa (except Namib and much of
Great Namaqualand), northern Cape in Gordonia and Kuruman districts
(south to Olifantshoek, Sishen and Kuruman, west to Vryburg), and Bots-
wana south of a line Ghanzi-Damara Pan—Molepolole. Intergrades with the
nominate race in the east of its range.

Remarks. Environmental factors result in the fairly rapid loss of the pinkish
tinge to the upper-parts and the assumption of a duller and yellower facies
to the dorsum in the present taxon. As shown in the discussion above, the
race vinaceus, ptoposed in the first instance on Kalahari birds in freshly
assumed dress, is based on such phenotypic change, the paratypical material
of acaciae available to its describer being in moderately abraded plumage, as
revealed by the wear shown over the tips of the remiges and tails in specimens
re-examined during the course of the present study.

Some populations of acaciae are apparently subject to an eastward or north-
eastward shift in the cold, dry winter months, judging by well-marked
examples of it taken within the limits of the nominate subspecies in Rhodesia.
Even making allowance for their age, three skins taken at Bulawayo in May
1908, in the collection of the National Museum of Rhodesia, agree with fairly
recent skins of acaciae from both southwestern Botswana and South West
Africa. A 9 dated 8 September 1957, from Grassland, Felixburg, Rhodesia,
matches many topotypical examples of acaciae, while a further example from
Hillside, Bulawayo, dated (probably incorrectly) 6 January 1948, likewise
agrees with the same taxon in the redness of the upper-parts.

A juvenile 9 taken at O’Kiep, northern Little Namaqualand, northwestern
Cape, on 21 April 1960, is in the collection of the Transvaal Museum,
Pretoria (T.M.Reg.No.31, 689). The collecting locality is well to the south-
west of the range of the species. The specimen is probably referable to
acaciae, and, judging by the date, almost certainly a wanderer from the north.
Winterbottom (1968) lists the species from the Aughrabies Falls on the
Orange R., to the east of O’Kiep, which is also well southwest of the species’
established range.

References:

Clancey, P. A. 1968. Subspeciation in some birds from Rhodesia. Durban Mus. Novit. 8 (11):
149.

Irwin, M. P. S. 1957. A new race of Marico Flycatcher Bradornis mariquensis from South-
West Aftica. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 77 (7): 118.

Lawson, W. J. 1963. The geographical variation in the Marico Flycatcher Bradornis mariquen-
sis Smith with the description of a new race. Bull. Brit. Orn. C7. 83 (8): 146-148.

Ridgway, R. 1912. Color Standards and Color Nomenclature. Washington.

57 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

Winterbottom, J. M. 1968. A Check List of the land and fresh water Birds of the western
Cape Province. Ann. S. Afr. Mus. 53 (1): 197.

Additional Migrant Records from Seychelles
by D, A. Turner & A. D. Forbes-Watson

Received 16 January 1976

|
Address: Durban Museum, City Hall, Durban 4oo1, S. Africa.
:

Feare (1973, 1975) recorded a number of migrant birds new to the Seychelles

and the Malagasy region. These notes add further records, and may serve as

a reminder to all visitors to Seychelles between October and April to be on

the alert for additional migratory records.

Pernis apivorus. A Honey Buzzard was observed circling over Felicité Island
on 1 October 1975. As it flew low past us, the tail with two black bands near
the base and one at the tip were clearly visible. The “pigeon-like” appear-
ance of the head, and long wings, plus the heavily barred under wing pattern,

clearly distinguished it from any Buw/eo species. The flight feathers were
noticeably ragged, obviously due to heavy moult.

This is the first record in both the Seychelles and Malagasy region; a very

_ early record from Madagascar is rejected by Rand (1936: 498, 496), despite
_ Delacour (1932). It is likely however, that some of the birds of prey from
Seychelles, recorded as Buteo sp. by Loustau-Lalanne (1962) and by Penny
(1974: 153) may refer to Honey Buzzards.

Tringa ochropus. A Green Sandpiper observed at a small freshwater inland
_ pond on Silhouette Island on 8 October 1975 is the first record for Seychelles.

Glareola maldivarum. Benson & Roux (1967) distinguished two adult
pratincoles collected on Mahe in October and November 1877 as G. maldi-
varum. Feare (1975) recorded pratincoles from Bird Island in September and
October 1972 but states that comparison of photographs with specimens at
_ Cambridge suggest his birds were G. pratincola.

We observed three pratincoles on Praslin on 3 October 1975, and one we
saw on Bird Island on 13 and 14 October 1975 had been present there since
1 October (Mrs. Savy, pers. comm.) Photographs of the Bird Island bird
taken by D. A. Bullock have been seen by C. W. Benson, who agrees that
probably the species was G. maldivarum, not pratincola. The tails of all birds
were noticeably less forked than in G. pratincola, of which we know the
resident race in East Africa. Since G. pratincola is only migratory in small
numbers to northern Africa (Vaurie 1965) and G. maldivarum is strongly
migratory in winter, it seems more likely that all Seychelles records of
pratincoles are of G. maldivarum. As far as we know G. pratincola has not
been recorded further south than the Sudan and Ethiopia*, and is therefore
unlikely to have been recorded during September and October in Seychelles
some 2,000 miles further to the southeast.

* Mr. C. W. Benson states (in Jit.) that G. maldivarum has been recorded as far south as
Mauritius (Benson, Bu//. Brit. Orn. C/. 1971: 1-2) and that there is a record from Bird
Island for 4 November 1963 (Bailey, /bis 1967: 439), which is most likely referable to
G. maldivarum.—£D.

References:

Benson, C. W. & Roux, F. 1967. Deux records méconnus des Seychelles. Oseau 37: 145.

Delacour, J. 1932. Les oiseaux de la mission zoologique Franco-Anglo-Américaine a
Madagascar. Ofseau 2: 1-96.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 58

Feare, C. J. 1973. Numenius minutus, Falco subbuteo and Caprimulgus europaeus in the Seychelles.
Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 93: 99-101.

— 1975. Further migrant birds in the Seychelles. Bul/. Brit. Orn. Cl. 95: 48-50.

Loustau-Lalanne, P. 1962. Land Birds of the Granitic Islands of The Seychelles. Seychelles
Society Occasional Publication No. 1.

Penny, M. 1974. The Birds of Seychelles and the Outlying Islands. Collins.

Rand, A. L. 1936. The iaiares and Habits of Madagascar birds. Bull, Amer. Mus. Nat.

Hist. 72(5): 143-49
Vaurie, C. 1965. The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna. Non-Passerines. London: Witherby.

Address: P.O. Box, 48019, Nairobi, Kenya.

Status of the White-crowned Starling
Spreo albicapillus (Blyth) in Kenya
by D. A. Turner & A. D. Forbes-Watson
Received 16 January 1976

Keith’s (1964) description of the race Spreo albicapillus horrensis from North
Horr in northern Kenya has until recently been the only record of the White-
crowned Starling in Kenya. On 19 June 1975, we observed White-crowned
Starlings in the Mandera district of northeastern Kenya, 1o-12 in Mandera
township itself and 6-8 also at c. 35 miles south, in both cases in close
association with human habitation and cultivation. These were of the
nominate race and considerably beyond the known range of either the
northern Somalia population or, and more likely, the Yavello population in
southern Ethiopia described by Benson (1946).

We also observed S. a. horrensis on 21 June 1975 in many small groups
along the northern edge of the Dida Galgalla desert c. 90 miles north of
Marsabit and c. 80 miles east of North Horr, in much the same area as seen by
L. H. Brown in 1963 (Keith 1964). These birds were noticeably smaller than
the Mandera birds, as shown by Keith. Young birds with yellow bills and
gapes were still being fed by adults. Altogether c. 50 birds were seen in small
parties over a seven mile stretch of fairly lush ground (following exception-
ally heavy rains in April) before the open thorn bush finally gave way to the
barren lava desert of the Dida Galgalla. Also on 3 July 1973, A. D. F-W. and
others saw four S. a. horrensis c. 30 miles southeast of North Horr, associating
with camels, walking near their feet, presumably catching flushed insects.

It now appears that S. a. horrensis ranges over a wide area of northern
Kenya from the North Horr area eastward along the northern edge of the
Dida Galgalla desert, while S. a. albicapillus is found in the extreme north-
eastern corner of Kenya around Mandera. The much thicker thorn bush
accurring in the Moyale-Wajir-Ramu triangle probably separates the two
races.

References:

Benson, C. W. 1946. Ibis 88: 453.

Keith, S, 1964. A new subspecies of Spreo albicapillus (Blyth) from Kenya. Bull. Brit. Orn.
Cl. 84: 162-163.

Address: P.O. Box 48019, Nairobi, Kenya.

Buccal colours of sunbirds as an age character
by RB. K. Brooke
Received 22 January 1976

Brooke (1970a, b) suggested that the different colours, particularly of the
palate, found in the mouths of sunbirds Nectariniidae might provide a

59 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

method of grouping the species placed in an enlarged genus Necfarinia by
Delacour (1944). Further data on buccal colours have been assembled by
myself and by W. W. Howells at my request, from material in the collections
of the National Museums of Rhodesia. Data recently obtained, together
with that already published (Benson & Penny 1971, Brooke 1970<, b,
Howells 1971), are summarized in Table 1. The species are listed according
to the subgenera and species groups (treated as subgenera) of Delacour (1944)

TABLE 1
Buccal colours of some sunbirds Nectariniidae

Males in post Juvenals

Species Adult males Adult females juvenal moult both sexes
Nectarinia(Cyrstostomus) Black sometimes, Flesh pink — Flesh pink
sovimanga (Benson & blackish pink
Penny 1971)
N.(C). talatala Black Yellow-grey Yellowish- Yellow
pink
NAC). venusta oe — — Dusky orange

Nectarinia (Anthobaphes) Yellow/black/mauve Orange, pink Yellow with Orange

chalybea or brownish black when about pink centre
with white centre to lay patch
patch
N.(A.) minulla _— — Orange
N. (Aidemonia) cuprea Dark redordusky — Orange Orange
(Howells 1971) mauve
N.(Cyanomitra) batesi = — — — Orange
N.Chalcomitra) Very dark brown to Yellow-grey Dull ver- Yellow-grey
amethystina black million
NAC.) senegalensis Brownish grey to Yellowish — —
black or dusky red _ pink to
yellow-grey
N. (Nectarinia) Dark grey-brown to Off white to — Rich yellow
bifasciata black, sometimes pinkish grey to orange or
with yellow underlay or yellow pink

as being the latest revision of the family. It appears that what has seemed a
taxonomic character is, in fact, a character of age, sex and breeding condition.
In short, breeding adult male sunbirds have dark mouths, nonbreeding
adult males have somewhat paler mouths, adult females have pale mouths,
males in post juvenal moult do not attain adult mouth colours until the
moult is nearly complete and juvenals have yellow to orange or pink mouths.
The biological significance of these findings are obscure, since, as previously
remarked, male sunbirds display facing away from their females.

References:

Benson, C. W. & Penny, M. J. 1971. The land birds of Aldabra. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London
B26o: 417-527.

Brooke, R. K. 1970a. The buccal colours, weights and races of Neetarinia bifasciata. Bull.
Brit. Orn. Cl. 90: I1-14.

— 1970b. Buccal colours in some sunbirds. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 90: 134-135.

Delacour, J. 1944. A revision of the family Nectariniidae (sunbirds). Zoologica 29: 17-38.

Howells, W. W. 1971. Breeding of the Coppery Sunbird at Salisbury, Rhodesia, Ostrich 42:
99-109.

Address: Museum and Art Gallery, City Hall, Durban 4oo1, S. Africa.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 60

Ecology and breeding habits of the White-billed Starling
Onychognathus albirostris in Tigrai, Ethiopia
by L. 1. Brown & K. M. Thorogood |

Received 22 January 1976

GENERAL ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOUR

The White-billed Starling Oxychognathus albirosiris is an Ethiopia highland
endemic species, apparently commonest north and west of the Rift Valley but
also recorded from Bale, south and east of the Rift. Locally abundant in
suitable habitats, in most of its range it prefers rocky gorges and cliffs,
between 2000 and 3000 m a.s.l. It occurs in small parties or singly, but may
also form large noisy flocks, often associated with waterfalls. In this respect
it resembles the Slender-billed Chestnut-wing O. ¢enuirosiris more than the
Common Redwing O. morio; but although it occurs alongside O. tenuirostris
it does not normally reach such high altitudes as the latter. In Semien O.
albirostris occurs on cliffs up to 3100 m, while O. Zenuirostris occurs to the
upper limits of vegetation, feeding, for example, on Giant Lobelias Lobelia
rhynchopetalum wp to 4500 m. In the Bale Mts., southeast Ethiopia, O. senui-
rostris is abundant at around 3000 m, but O. a/birostris does not normally
occur with it; while in the Bole Valley, near Addis Ababa, at 2200-2500 mall
three species, albirostris, tenuirostris and morio occur together. Here O.
albirostris and O. tenuirostris prefer the neighbourhood of water, while O.
morio is not confined to waterfalls and gorges.

All three species also occur in Central Tigrai; but here O. eee largely
occupies the niche occupied, for instance in East Africa, by O. morio, being
common round rocky mountains bearing remnants of Olive-Cedar (Olea-
Juniperus) forest, and much more abundant and widespread than either O.
morio or O. tenuirostris. O. tenuirostris occurs only near waterfalls and along
streams at about 2000 m or over, while O. mworio has been seen only in semi-
arid Acacia bushlands around rocky cliffs near Shiket, at about 1500 m. Thus
in most of Ethiopia O. a/lirostris appears intermediate between O. morio and
O. tenuirostris, but in Tigrai becomes the dominant species.

In Tigrai O. albirostris is also common in towns, perhaps because of the
long tradition of skilled drystone building in Tigrai providing good breeding
sites. It also frequents more recent man-made structures such as road bridges,
for example in Shoa near Debre Berhan and Debra Sina. It thus shares the
habit of associating with man and buildings shown by O. morio (Broekhuysen
1951, Brown 1965, Rowan 1955), the Somali Chestnut-wing O. blythi
(Archer & Godman 1961) and the Bristle-crowned Chestnut-wing O.
salvadorii (Urban ef al. 1970). O. fenuirostris, though occurring commonly in
inhabited parts of Kenya, is not known to associate with any man-made
structures but breeds exclusively behind or near waterfalls (Brown 1965),
while the Pale-winged Starling O. nabouroup, which might be expected to
behave like O. morio apparently only breeds in rock clefts (Roberts, 3rd Ed,
revised Maclachlan & Liversedge 1972).

According to Hall & Moreau (1970) O. a/birostris is placed in a species
group with Waller’s Chestnut-wing O. walleri, the Pale-winged Starling O.
nabouroup, and the Socotran Chestnut-wing O. frater. Reasons are not given;
but all these birds of dissimilar habits are short-tailed. O. frater and O.
nabouroup inhabit desert environments and might on that account be better
placed with Tristram’s Grackle O. ¢ristrami. O. walleri is a forest species

61 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

breeding in holes in trees, quite unlike most other Onychognathus species, and
resembling more the forest starlings of the genus Poeoptera, some of which
_ also have red wings. This paper will demonstrate that in most of its habits
O. albirostris is probably closest to O. ¢enuirostris.

VOICE

O. albirostris’ voice is intermediate between the sharp excited chatter of
| O. tenuirostris and the sweet whistling calls and songs of O. morio. Males utter
| a variety of short whistling calls: “Chee-up”, “Tu-it”; sometimes a low
| “Chut”; and when singing near the nest a repeated, rather sharp “Kwit-kvi?”,
_ accompanied by raising and lowering of the tail; also a call like “Chirip”’. In
| anxiety scolding near the nest a harsh grating “Charr” or “Churrr”’ is uttered.
The calls are more like those of O. worzo than those of O. ¢enuirostris, to which
| in other respects this species seems closer. However the notes are neither so
| long drawn nor so melodious as those of O. morio.

BREEDING HABITS
| Nest-sites.
_ Although Smith (1957) records a pair building at Senafe, Eritrea, in June,
| the nesting of this species was substantially unknown until K.M.T. observed
_ a pair breeding in a hole in the wall of the garment factory in Makalle in 1973.
The same hole was again occupied in 1974, and was frequented in 1975,
though breeding in 1975 was unsuccessful, if indeed the birds ever laid. This
_ hole was about 9 m above ground in a vertical wall, inaccessible without a
long ladder or ropes, and accordingly was not closely examined. Four young
were successfully reared in both 1973 and 1974, but although the female
_ remained within the hole for long periods and was thought to be incubating
in Spetember 1975 it was evident by late October that no young were reared.
Other nest-sites in man-made structures in or near Makalle included:
(i) A nest with C/4 found in a hole under a bridge on the main Addis Ababa—
Asmara road near Quiha; this was the only accessible site and is described
_ more fully later.
_ (ii) Two nests with young found in late September by V. Robertson above
_ the door lintels on an upper floor balcony of the old palace at Makalle. Later
_ attempts to examine these nests more closely were frustrated by illiterate
police, though permission had been given by the Chief Administrator, Dr.
Haile Selassie.
(iii) A nest behind a drainpipe against the outside wall of the Abraha Castle
Hotel at Makalle, which did not exist in early February 1974, and was not
used in 1975, though the pair of starlings frequented it at intervals between
10 Sep and 31 Oct, without adding much to it. It was clearly their nest, but
was dilapidated and unused, so was not examined more closely.

In addition, O. a/birostris was suspected by L.H.B. of breeding under

bridges along the main road from Addis Ababa to. Dessie, between Debre
Berhan and Debra Sina at 2800-3000 m in October 1974; however no definite
_ site was located. . )
The natural nest-site of this species was long suspected by L.H.B. to be in
_ vegetation on cliffs and in caverns behind or beside waterfalls, since in the
Bole Valley and Kessem River gorges near Addis Ababa flocks were seen
| behaving much like O. tenuirostris, which always uses such sites, while an old
nest, possibly of this species, was found in a cave in the Kessem River Gorge.
In Tigrai three natural nest-sites have been found:

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 62

(a) In an inaccessible narrow crevice on a sandstone cliff face on Debre Zhion
mountain, near Dugum, on 15 Oct 75. This crevice was about 20 m below
the lip of the vertical 80 m face, among grass tussocks growing where water
had earlier trickled during the rains. Both adults visited it twice, the female
entering and staying some minutes. Her behaviour was consistent with feed-
ing young. This site would have been quite typical of natural sites of O.
morio in Kenya, though in a depeer crevice than most; and was typical of the
sites suspected but not examined by Smith (1957).

(b) Two nests at Romanat Falls, 8 km from Makalle, both containing young
on 27 Oct 75. Two parents were seen visiting each nest, and at 18.10 hrs on
27 Oct the female of each pair entered its nest and remained within, while the
males apparently roosted on ledges or trees on the cliff face above. One nest
was entirely hidden in dense maidenhair fern (Adsantum sp.), wetted by the
spray, about 2 m above the water of the surge pool of the falls. Though
invisible, its precise location was determined by the visiting adults.

The other nest was in a damp hole at the back of the cavern behind the
same falls, about 3 km above the water, and was visible from across the pool.
On 31 Oct L.H.B. swam through the pool to the cave, but found that the
nest was still inacessible with the available ladder, as the cliff at that point
overhung the water. H.Arundale had observed both parents visiting each
nest repeatedly earlier the same day, thus confirming the presence of young.

Nest and eggs. :
The nest found under the road bridge (see back) on 23 Sep 75 was aces-
sible and could be closely examined. It was in a drainage hole about 3 m
from the concrete base of the bridge, about 4 metre in. On 23 Sep L.H.B. and
V. Robertson found C/3. On 28 Sep K.M. and B. Thorogood found C/4,
removed, measured and returned the eggs. They were rather broad ovals,
resembling eggs of O. senuirostris rather than those of O. morio, clear tur-
quoise blue with small well-defined dark brown and blackish spots, mainly
clustered about the broad end and measured 30-33 mm X 20-21 mm,

averaging about 20:7 X 31°25 mm.

The nest was a substantial construction laterally compressed by the
nature of the site, but otherwise resembling other Oxychognathus nests. It had
probably been used repeatedly and merely repaired in 1975. It was not taken
to pieces, but apparently had no mud base, being composed wholly of grass
and cereal leaf blades, lined with finer plant fibres and rootlets. The nest rim
was about 11-12 cm above the base, which in a site not laterally compressed
would have been about 15 cm across. The central cup was 9-10 cm across by
4-5 cm deep.

This nest was re-examined on 26 Oct, when it should have contained large
young. The parent starlings were still present, but the nest was abandoned
and filled with the dry droppings of Speckled Pigeons Columba guinea.
Whether it had been abandoned through competition from this large pigeon
(which breeds and roosts in many such drainage holes under bridges in most
of Ethiopia), or whether it had regrettably been robbed by Ethiopian chil-
dren who observed us taking an interest in it, is unknown.

Laying dates and breeding success.

K.M.T. has records of laying at the garment factory site in Aug and Sep.
The other nests found suggest laying in Sep (2) and Oct (2), the sites at
Romanat Falls with small young late in October being later than the others
in drier sites. Thus this species in Tigrai apparently breeds late in the rains, or

63 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)}

just after the rains have finished, suggesting that, as in O. ¢enuirostris (Brown
1965), laying dates may be related to flood conditions. These dates are
consistent with some of the few available records for the Common Redwing
O. morio in Ethiopia (Urban & Brown 1971; and L.H.B. unpub. nest records).
The young from the garment factory site left the nest in October, suggesting
that the combined incubation and fledging periods might be c. 35 days,
similar to that of O. morio. However, more precise data are needed as incu-
bation periods might vary, as they do in O. morio, while fledging periods might
be longer in wet waterfall sites, as in O. senuirostris (Rowan 1955, Brown 1965).

Breeding behaviour of adults.

Scattered data suggest that the behaviour of this species generally resembles
that of O. morio and O. senuirostris. Nest-sites are probably used for several or
many successive years, both in artificial and natural sites. The basic nest
structure in a dry artificial site might only need a little repair annually, but in
wet cave sites might disintegrate in the August-September floods and
require complete reconstruction (as in O. /enuirostris in such sites—Brown
1965). Probably most nest building is done by the female who often remains
for long periods in the hole while the male sings and postures on a song post
outside. At the garment factory site the males’ song post was the corner of the
parapet on the roof of the building. A male was also once seen near Quiha
holding a rootlet in his bill and singing beside a female feeding at the edge of
a cereal field, at least 1 km from their possible nest site near a small waterfall.
At the garment factory site on 22 Sep 75 the male collected scraps of dyed
thread and took these into the nest hole when the female was inside; and at
the Abraha Castle Hotel site the female often spent several minutes perched
on and apparently examining the nest, working sometimes on the material but
adding little, while the male perched and sang on the parapet above.

Although little is known of the incubation period, the female probably
incubates most and is fed by the male. On 23 Sep 75 the garment factory male
spent some minutes battering to death a hard elliptical beetle, which re-
peatedly slipped from his bill. Eventually he took it to the female in the hole.
In this case laying was not proven; but in both O. morio and O. tenuirostris
males feed sitting females.

After the young hatch they are fed by both parents, but more often by the
female. As in O. morio and O. tenuirostris, both parents usually depart together
on a feeding foray, and return together; females may then have food and
males none. However, often both feed the young in turn, and sometimes
both enter the nest together, as at Romanat, 27 Oct 75. In such damp water-
fall sites it seems likely that females remain brooding small young for part of
the day and at night, as in O. fenuirostris in similar situations (Brown 1965).
Both sexes feed large young, coming and going together, and entering the
nest in turn. All identifiable food has consisted of insects, including a hard
beetle, three grasshoppers and a butterfly. Away from the nest the adult
frequently flies out from a perch to catch an insect in the manner of a fly-
catcher. On 27 and 31 Oct females entering the Romanat Falls nests had
beakfuls of small unidentifiable objects, probably small insects, which they
possibly regurgitated to the young as in O. ¢enuirosiris (Brown 1965).

Four young were reared in the garment factory nest in both 1973 and 1974,
but in 1975 this pair failed, if they ever laid. In five pairs observed there were
two cases of non-breeding and one failure, with a success rate overall of 8
young from 12 known eggs and 20 potential eggs, if the average clutch is
four: about 1-6 young per pair per annum. The success of the Romanat Falls

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)} 64

nests was unknown. As in other Oxychognathus spp, especially O. tenuirostris,
one has the impression that only a proportion of pairs breed annually, many
more adults being seen paired than nests are found, especially near natural
waterfall sites where breeding may be severely limited by the availability of
suitable dry nest holes.

Young remain near the nests, apparently dependent on the parents, for a
few days after first flight, then follow their parents to feeding grounds,
forming small family parties. Recently flown young are duller black than
their glossy parents, and have grey heads like females, but have white bills
and reddish wing-feathers like the adults. The white bill may not be in-
variable, as apparent juveniles with dark bills have been seen by L.H.B. in
Semien at 3000-3100 m, in flocks with adults.

Later in the dry season adults and young form into larger flocks of up to
1o-12 in Makalle; but in some other sites, e.g. the Kessem River Gorge and
Bole Valley, up to 100 or more have been seen together. During the day such
flocks may split up into smaller parties or even singles and gather again to
roost, as happens in several other Oxychognathus spp (tenuirostris, morio,
salvadorii). Young and adults are mixed in these large flocks, which often visit
waterfalls in the heat of the day to bathe, as in O. ¢enuirostris.

Although the general behaviour of this species is thus very much like what
is known of other Onychognathus species, and especially that of O. senuirostris
in its liking for waterfalls and gorges, O. albirostris appears less extremely
gregarious than O. /enuirostris, while its adaptation to man-made breeding
sites, at least in Tigrai, and probably elsewhere should undoubtedly assist it to
exploit new habitats and help it to breed more successfully. It is not known
whether it competes directly with O. senuirostris for breeding sites near
waterfalls, as no nest of O. ¢enwirostris has so far been found in Ethiopia.
References:

Archer, Sir G. & Godman, E. M. 1961. The Birds of British Somaliland and the Gulf of Aden.
Vol. IV. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.
Broekhuysen, G. J. 1951. Observations on the nesting habits of the Redwinged Starling

Onychognathus morio. Ostrich 22: 6-16.
9 L. H. 1965. Redwinged Starlings of Kenya. J. E. Afr. Nat. Hist. Soc. XXV(1)

5

Hall, a P. & Moreau, R. E. 1970. An Atlas of Speciation in African Passerine Birds. London,
British Museum (Natural History).

Roberts, A. 1972. Birds of South Afrien. 3rd Kd., revised Maclachlan & Liversedge. Cape
Town.

Rowan, M. K. 1955. The breeding biology and behaviour of the Redwinged Starling
Onychognathus morio. Ibis 97: 663-705.

Smith, K. D. 1957. An annotated checklist of the birds of Eritrea. Ibis 99: 1-26, 307-337.

Urban, E. K., Brown, L. H., Buer,C. E. & Plage, G. D. 1970. Four descriptions of nesting,
pteviously undescribed, from Ethiopia. Bull. Brit. Orn, Cl. 90(6): 162-4.

Urban, E. K. & Brown, L. H. 1971. A Checklist of the Birds of Ethiopia. Haile Selassie I
University Press, Addis Ababa.

Addresses: L. H. Brown, Box 24916, Karen, Kenya.
Mrs. K. M. Thorogood, 7 Union Street, Bedford MK4o 2SF.

The wing proportions of the Eocene Diver
Colymboides anglicus
by C. J. O. Harrison

Received 9 January 1976

Storer (1956) examined the material in various collections which had been
referred to a small diver, Colymboides minutus Milne-Edwards 1867, of the

65 [Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

Aquitanian deposits of France of Late Oligocene or Early Miocene age.
Comparing the lengths of various bones he showed that in this species,
_ although smaller, the proportions of the wing bones relative to each other
' were similar to those of Recent divers, Gavia species. Lydekker (1891)
described a larger species, Colymboides anglicus, from the Upper Eocene of
_ Hampshire, England, based on a coracoid in the collection of the British
Museum (Natural History) no. 30330. In a recent re-examination of British
_ Upper Eocene bird material (Harrison & Walker, in press) a humerus (c
31341) and the frontal end of a skull (c 31343), both in the Sedgwick Museum,
Cambridge, have been referred to C. anglicus. In addition an ulna from the
Upper Eocene, Hordle (~Hordwell), Hampshire, British Museum (Natural
History) no. 36795, presented by S. Laing in 1862 and listed by Lydekker
| (1891) as an unidentified ulna of a carinate bird, now appears to be referable
to C’. anglicus and makes possible further comparison of wing proportions
between C. minutus, C. anglicus and Gavia.

_ The British Museum coracoid indicates that C. anglicus was larger than C.
_ minutus and it is smaller than the Recent Red-throated Diver, Gavia stellata.
_ It measures 42+ 4 mm long, about half as long again as that of C. minutus, and
_ three-quarters the size of that of G. ste//ata. The humerus is incomplete,
_ being broken away proximally at about the distal edge of the bicipital
| surface. Like the humerus of C. minutus the shaft is stouter and more curved
| than in Gavia, and the internal condyle appears to project further distally than
in either Gavia ot C. minutus. The incomplete humerus is 67 mm long and if
| restored by comparison with that of C. minutus, in which the humerus is 62—
66 mm long, would appear to have been c. 85 mm long. This is a little less than
| three-fifths the length of the humerus of G. ste//ata. The new ulna is of the
_ typical diver type. It is proportionally stouter, larger at the articulating ends,
_ and more curved than that of C. minutus, but is barely longer, being 57-8 mm
long compared with 49: 8-56 mm in C. minutus; and it is only half the length
| of the ulna in G. ste/lata.

| Incomparison with the bones of G. ste//ata therefore, C. minutus has wing
_ bones with similar ratios of length relative to each other, while C. ang/licus has
a coracoid three-quarters as long as that of G. ste//ata, a humerus less than
| three-fifths as long and an ulna only half as long. There is always some possi-
_ bility that palaeontological specimens may be referred to the wrong species,
_ but from the material available it would appear that in comparison with
other divers C’. anglicus had a much shorter wing. A development of this kind
| is not unusual in birds which obtain their food in water. However, this is the
_ earliest known form of true diver and since the shorter wing represents an
| evolutionary divergence from the typical structure such a bird is unlikely to
| have given rise to later, more generalised forms. C. anglicus may therefore
| represent a specialised offshoot from a more generalised gaviid stem, rather
than a direct ancestral form of either the later Gavia species or of C. minutus.

References:

Harrison, C. J. O. & Walker, C. A. Birds of the British Upper Eocene. Zool. J. Linn. Soc.
Lond. in press.
Lydekker, R. 1891. “ee of the Fossil Birds in the British Museum (Natural History).
London: B. M. (N. H.).
| Milne-Edwards, A. 1867-71. Recherches anatomique et paleontologique pour servir al "histoire des
oiseaux fossiles de la France. Patis: Masson.
| Storer, R. W. 1956. The fossil loon, Colymboides minutus. Condor 58: amie:

| Address: British Museum (Natural History), Tring, Herts.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 66
The problem of the cassowaty in New Britain
by C. M. N. White

Received 12 February 1976

The presence of cassowaries on two islands which do not lie on the conti-
nental shelf of Australia and New Guinea poses a problem of how a large
flightless bird reached these localities. Recently I discussed (White 1975) the
presence of C. casuarius in Seran (Seram), and showed that these birds could
be feral descendents of birds brought there by human mercantile activities.
Brief reference was also made to the presence of C. bennetti in New Britain,
and I pointed out that, although Mayr (1945: 1) had suggested that New
Britain must have been colonised by a pair swimming the Vitiaz Strait from
nottheast New Guinea to New Britain, there was evidence to show that
introduction by way of human mercantile activities was likewise possible in
this case.

There is certainly no evidence that New Britain was linked by land to New
Guinea even when ocean levels were lower during the Pleistocene. Although
not lying on the continental shelf, Gilliard & LeCroy (1967: 183) state that in
former times New Britain was more closely connected to the mainland of
New Guinea, but this may be quite misleading. Any geological similarities
between parts of New Britain and the northern coastal ranges of New Guinea
were established in the Miocene, when various islands emerged, and long
before some of them became the present-day northern coastal ranges of New
Guinea, consolidation of which in the north of the central cordillera was
probably post-Pliocene (Marchant 1972: 221-2). New Britain and the region
of the Vitiaz Strait are an area of tectonic instability and extreme vulcanism.
The northern part of New Britain is heavily covered with volcanic ash of
Pleistocene to more recent date (Brookfield & Hart 1972: 26-35), but there
is no evidence that such vulcanism resulted in temporary or partial bridging
of the Vitiaz Strait. The lack of other evidence for any past land link with
New Guinea is strongly reinforced by the fact that, in contrast to New Guinea,
New Britain has an impoverished bird fauna, such as characterises oceanic
islands, of about 130 breeding land and fresh water species.

Mayr admitted that the chances of successful colonisation by swimming
across the Vitiaz Strait would have been very slight, to which may be added
that sea conditions prevailing there are very unfavourable. A strong current
from the southeast flows through the strait almost throughout the year,
while from May to November winds from the southeast, with long periods
of high velocities, produce such stormy conditions that sea-going canoes are
weather bound (Allied Geographical Section 1943: 55, 61).

On the other hand long established indigenous trading networks show
how C. bennetti could have been carried to New Britain by human agency. It is
well known that cassowaries are extensively traded in New Guinea, often
ovet long distances. Captive C. anappendiculatus, which must have been
brought from north New Guinea, have been found in New Britain (Mayr
1940: 3). Harding (1967) has described and analysed the trading networks of
the Vitiaz Strait, operating between the Rai coast, south of Madang on
Astrolabe Bay and the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea and New Britain. This
network was formerly much more extensive, but declined after the intro-
duction of German administration into the area in 1884. Harding, when he

EE EEE OOOO OEOEOOee —

67 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

studied the situation in 1963-64, found the network was still in being,
operated by the Siassi islanders, living off Umboi Island, and using large
two-masted canoes when weather conditions in the Vitiaz Strait were favour-
able. He found that a well defined two-way traffic existed. He did not specific-
ally note cassowaries among commodities traded, but this is not of great
significance, since it is known that C. wnnappendiculatus has been carried by
man to New Britain. Given the existance of this trading network, it seems
most likely that C. bennetti originally reached New Britain by this agency.
Salvadori (1882: 501-503) reported that in the middle of last century the

_ inhabitants of New Britain caught and domesticated young cassowaries, and

traded some to a Captain Devlin. One of the latter reached the London
Zoological Gardens and was described by Gould as C. bennetti. Subsequently

_ a number were brought to Europe and they bred in the London Gardens. It

might thus be supposed that description of any distinctive characters of birds
from New Britain would have been well established. This is not so. Salvadori
described adult bennetti from New Britain as having the bare neck blue with
a wine-red area on the lower sides of the neck. Mayr (1931: 710) stated that
birds from the Huon Peninsula, in adjacent New Guinea, were distinguish-
able as C. b. hecki, with a variable amount of red on the throat and upper
sides of the neck. Later (1945: 1) Mayr stated that differences between birds
from New Britain and the Huon Peninsula could not in fact be accurately
described in the absence of coloured field sketches of birds from these
localities, but gave no explanation for this reversal of his earlier opinion.

I am grateful to Mrs. M. LeCroy (American Museum of Natural History,
New York) for some recent data about two birds from New Britain. A female,
(AMNH 333637) collected by Coultas in 1933 during the Whitney Expedition
has recorded on its label “Neck reddish purple with lighter bluish patches.
Pinkish red patches at sides”, which may indicate that it was immature
since immature bennetti were briefly stated by Salvadori to have the neck
bluish violet and pink. A colour photo was also lent to me of a bird collected
by Gilliard in 1958-59. This shows a lateral view of the neck, agreeing with
Salvadori’s description of an adult, but it also shows a purplish pink patch
on the side of the head over the jaw articulation. Mrs. LeCroy informs me

_ that in a second photo this patch is even more distinct. This character occurs
commonly, though not invariably, in C. bennetti in New Guinea. The mounted

type of C. b. hecki in the Zoological Museum, Berlin, is painted with a dark
ted patch below the ear aperture (Warren 1956: 760). Another C. b. hecki

_ from the Huon Peninsula, originally described as C.. foersteri Rothschild, had

a large pink patch below the ear, and lacked red on the front and upper sides

_ of the neck. C. b. hecki as illustrated by Rothschild (1900: pl. 37) similarly

has a uniform blue throat without any red area. On the other hand, C.
keyssert Rothschild was described as having the front of the throat and neck

extensively pale red. The birds described as hecki, foersteri and keysseri all
| came from the area of the Huon peninsula, and must, as Mayr (1931) con-

cluded, represent a single variable form. Birds lacking a red throat patch and

having a pink area on the side of the head match Gilliard’s New Britain bird.

Birds in adult black plumage with a red throat patch may be retaining an

_ immature character, or may exhibit individual variation.

Within all this considerable range of recorded plumage variation, there is
no evidence of any distinction between birds from New Britain and from

_ northeast New Guinea, which accords well with the suggestion, put forward

above, that New Britain birds are descendents of birds introduced from

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 68

adjacent New Guinea—in which case hecki is a synonym of nominate C.
bennetti.

I am grateful to Dr. R. Schodde, CSIRO, Canberra for commenting (2m #7. 22.X1.74) on
an outline of this suggestion: “I am much taken by your idea that New Britain birds may
have originally been carried there by man—it makes sense in so many ways”.

References:

Allied Geographical Scenon: South West Pacific Area. 1943. pee Study no. 57. Area
Study of western New Britain.

Brookfield, H. C. & Hart, D. 1971. Melanesia. London, Methuen.

Gilliard, E. T. & LeCroy, M. 1967. Results of the 1958-59 Gilliard New Britain expedition.
Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 135-173-216.

Harding, T. G. 1967. Voyagers of the Vitiaz Strait. Seattle & London, University of Washing-
ton Press.

Marchant, S. 1972. Bivdiusion of the genus Chrysococcyx. Ibis 114: 219-233.

Mayt, E. 1931. Die Végel des Saruwaged und Herzog-geberges (N.O. New Guinea). Mz#z.
Zool. Mus. Berlin. 17: 639-723.

— 1940. Birds collected during the Whitney South Seas expedition 41. Notes on New
Guinea birds 6. Amer. Mus. Novit. No. 1056.

— 1945. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea expedition 55. Notes on the birds
of northern Melanesia 1. Amer. Mus. Novit. No. 1294.

Rothschild, W. 1900. A monograph of the genus Casuarius. Trans. Zool. ae Lond, 15: 109-
148.

Salvadori, T. 1882. Ornithologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche. 3: 473-503. Torino.

Warren, Rela My 1956. Notes on specimens and illustrations of cassowaries, mainly i in the
British Museum. Am, Mag. Nat. Hist. Set. 12, 9: 753-773.

ee C. M. N. 1975. The problem of the cassowary in Seran. Bull, Brit. Orn. C. LOS
165-170.

Address: 2 Belvedere Court, ane Ansdell, Lytham-St. Annes, Lancs.

Notes on the Hawk-headed Parrot Deroptyus accipitrinus

by Et. McLoughlin ¢» P. J. K. Burton
Received 9 March 1976

The Hawk-headed Parrot Deroptyus accipitrinus is the sole representative of a
distinctive genus from northern South America, placed between Amazona
and Triclaria by Peters (1937). This paper presents new information about the
habits and anatomy of Deroptyus. The field observations recorded here were
made by E. McL, extending and amplifying his earlier account (McLoughlin
1970); and prompting PJKB to examine anatomical specimens, with the
resulting comments in the second section of this paper.

FIELD OBSERVATIONS
Observations were made between 1970 and 1973 in an area of mainly
sand-belt forest with some savannah, both natural and man-made, in Berbice,
northern Guyana.

Voice

Certain calls are highly characteristic, and once learned are the most useful
key to identifying Deroptyus in the field. In Guyana, its widely used Arawak
name, the Hia-Hia parrot, derives from its most frequently heard call, which
consists of two units, combined in various ways, e.g. “tak-heeya-heeya”’,
“tak tak heeya-heeya”, etc. The commonly uttered combination “tak-
heeya’”’ has its syllables weighted exactly as in the word “‘trachea’’, and: the
syllable “‘hee”’ is considerably higher in pitch than the other two.

69 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)}

The species also has a varied repertoire of other notes. These include a
prolonged soft “‘yaag’’, single bugle like notes and a loud, musical “lawera’”’.
Group calling heard on other occasions included a wide variety of musical or
chattering calls, soft piping notes and a high-pitched “slit”, repeated many
times sandwiched between the familiar “tak-heeya” calls. No obvious
significance could be ascribed to most of these calls, but a pure musical
whistle, sometimes followed by a very rapid “‘cha-cha-cha’’, was uttered by
two pairs which were possibly establishing or disputing possession of
nesting areas.

The “‘tak”’ which precedes the “heeya” calls immediately distinguishes the
notes of the Hawk-headed Parrot from those of the Black-headed Caique
Pionites melanocephala, whose characteristic ““keeya’’ call sounds similar to
that of Deroptyus, but lacks the “‘tak” and is more long-drawn out. There are
other resemblances: both species engage in a performance, generally con-
ducted by about four birds over periods of ten minutes to half an hour or
more, when bizarre sounds are frequently uttered in a leisurely manner.

Feeding

Two pairs were seen feeding in late March on the ripe fruits of a cocorite
palm, Aftalea fagifolia. An Amerindian informant living in the area stated
that it fed on fruits of the Awarra Palm As/rocaryum tucumoides and the Cuyuru
Palm A. tucuma. In cultivated clearings it came to feed on the fruits of
Poixdoux, /nga spp. and Guava Psidium guajava.

Nesting

Five nests were found or reliably reported. Four were located in holes,
almost certainly excavated by woodpeckers, in the trunks of large dead trees
a few feet below the division into main branches. The fifth nest was on the
extremity of a much narrower hollow limb, and this was clearly a replace-
ment nest, situated only a short distance from a typically sited nest which had
been destroyed a few weeks earlier when the tree fell. When visited 13 March
1970, one bird flew out when the tree was tapped, and the head of its mate
also appeared at the entrance hole. Both birds remained silent.

At a nest visited on 31 Jan 1973, an adult’s head appeared and remained
framed in the entrance hole for half an hour; the following evening, both
birds arrived together shortly after the observers, and alighted in a nearby
tree calling agitatedly. The less commonly heard magpie-like ‘‘chak-chak .. .”
call was repeated rapidly. One of the pair then flew into the hole, but again,
remained watching from the entrance. This bird was again seen in the
entrance hole on 7 March.

Also on 7 March 1973, a nest in a cultivated clearing was reported; this

_ was believed to have young, since the adults were visiting for short intervals

only. Subsequently it appeared that this nest also came to grief when the
tree crashed after heavy rains, and the only nestling found was killed by a dog

_ before it could be rescued. Such incidents may well be a significant cause of

nest failure in this species.

On 23 March 1972, a nestling was obtained from a typical nest at about
40-50 ft, near the broken end of a tree trunk, the nest chamber being situated
about two feet below the entrance hole. There did not appear to be any other
nestling or egg in the nest cavity. E. McL. examined the bird, which had
feathers in quill, with green just beginning to sprout from their tips.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 7o

Miscellaneous

As noted by various other observers, Deroptyus usually flies low, never
more than 15—20 ft above the treetops. On two occasions where there was an
opportunity to observe its flight in the open, this was seen to be a regular
series of about five wing flaps separated from the next series by a longish
low straight glide, making the overall flight pattern slightly undulating. The
rather small head and slightly spread tail are distinctive.

It does not appear to be particularly gregarious. The largest group en-
countered on the many occasions on which it was either seen or heard
contained four birds, in view simultaneously, and two others calling but
hidden from view. Usually only one or two pairs were seen together,
occasionally only a single bird.

On a couple of occasions, one of a pair resting in the treetops raised part
or all of the erectile neck feathers for a brief period, but no obvious sig-
nificance could be attached to this action. Captive birds raising these feathers
seem to be indicating mild irritation rather than alarm. The feathers of the
crown are sometimes raised independently of those forming the fan.

While usually regarded as a poor mimic of the human voice, one specimen
lent to E. McL could give a most life-like imitation of a dog afflicted by a
sudden excruciating pain, its anguished howls trailing away to a whimper.
The juvenile bird mentioned earlier, after nearly a year had poorly defined
calls which only vaguely resembled those of the wild birds.

ANATOMY
There is very little information on the anatomy of Deroptyus. Brief remarks
on osteology are given by Garrod (1876), and it was included in the study
of tongue myology in the Psittaciformes by Mudge (1903). The following
notes are based on a skeleton and a spirit specimen in the British Museum
(Natural History), Registration Numbers S/1955.5.52 and A/OH.238
respectively.

Deroptyus accipitrinus Amazona aestiva
(S/1955.5-52) (S/1973.66.108)
Length Length relative Length Length relative

to cranium to cranium

Cranium from fronto-

nasal hinge 36-6 100-0 41°4 100*O
Exoccipital process (from

postero-dorsal corner of

auditory meatus) 9°3 25°4 9:0 25 ay
Culmen 30°5 83°3 32°8 79°2
Palatine (to postero-

ventral tip) 24°4 66-7 25°5 61°6
Pterygoid 16°9 46°2 ro OO 41°3
Quadrate (otic process

to ventral edge) 13°7 37° #4 12°6 30°4
Orbit, max. length 17°6 48°1 17°5 42°3
Lower jaw length 39°0 106°6 44°4 107*2
Lower jaw, max. depth r5ea 41°3 14°5 35°0
Total length, vertebrae 1-5 26-0 71I°o 32°5 78°5
Widest vertebra 7th=10°5 28-7 8th=10°5 25°4
Sternum, from antero-

ventral tip of keel 56-1 15§3°3 60°5 146°1

Table 1: Comparison of some skull and other measurements in single specimens of
Deroptyus accipitrinus and Amazona aestiva from the British Museum (Nat. Hist.).
Sternum length is included as a rough index of body size.

71 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

The skull (Fig. 1) is of particular interest, and differs extensively from the
skulls of Amazona spp.—the genus with which Deroptyus has been associ-
ated in recent lists. Table 1 compares skull and vertebra proportions in
Deroptyus with a single specimen of Amazona aestiva. A much more extensive
programme of measurements should obviously form part of any future
investigation. Nevertheless inspection of a wide range of genera seems to

indicate that the main points emerging from this limited comparison would
hold good not only for other Amazona species, but probably for most other
parrots except very large forms. The principal differences can be summarised
_ as follows :—

T. The cranium is slightly shorter in Deroptyus, but with much enlarged
exoccipital (=“‘opisthotic’”) processes which protrude beyond the
posterior of the cranium and with a proportionately more expanded

| occipital region.

2. Palatine, quadrate and orbits are larger relative to both cranium length

| and body size in Deroptyus.

cf The lower jaw is considerably deeper in Deroptyus, and shows a
prominent mandibular foramen (absent or very small in Amazona) and
| little emargination of the anterior edge.

It is worth noting, in passing, that the orbital ring is complete in both
specimens, although Garrod (1876) described it as incomplete; possibly his
specimen was a young bird.

Fig. 1: Lateral views of skulls of (a) Deroptyus accipitrinus (b) Amazona aestiva.

The most notable modifications are those of the occipital region, the large
telative size and posterior protrusion of the exoccipital processes being
equalled only be a few genera of very large parrots (Nestor, Strigops, Probos-
ciger, Anodorhynchus, Ara). The modifications increase the area available for
the insertion of the muscles concerned with turning and raising the head,
| which are particularly important for sideways wrenching movements used in
|

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 72

detaching fruits. The muscle most affected is M. rectus capitis lateralis, which
is inserted on the posterior edge of the exoccipital process and arises from the
hypapophyses of vertebrae 2, 3, 4 and 5 in Deroptyus, but from 2, 3 and 4 only
in a specimen of Amazona guildingi. The sites of origin of the remaining
muscles show no special modification—in both Deroptyus and Amazona
guildingii their vertebrae of origin are as follows: M. complexus—4 and 5; M.
splenius capitis—z2; M. biventer cervicis—origin via a long tendon from the
thoracic region. The cervical vertebrae of Deroptyus are relatively shorter but
wider than in Amazona.

The overall effect of these jaw and cranium features is to confer on Derop-
tyus a considerably more powerful feeding apparatus relative to its body size
than in Amazona. Although the two genera are probably broadly similar in
ecology, these basic differences in morphology make any close relationship
seem unlikely. Discerning their true affinities is more difficult and osteology
alone can only partially help (see Thompson (1900) and Berlioz (1941) for
discussion of the problems involved). Deroptyus has perhaps evolved
relatively rapidly from a stock of generally smaller parrots to exploit larger
food items. E. McL’s observations indicate similarities to Pzonites, while Low
(1972) points out resemblances to Pyrrhura conures. Forshaw (1973) also sug-
gests these genera as possible relatives. Further study of the ecology and
behaviour of this interesting species would clearly be well worthwhile.

The nests described were shown to E. McL. by Jaap Langenburg, and Tom Elek. Youell
Scott supplied details of one which McL. did not see. Information on its feeding was given
by Alvaro Sarmento. To all of them we acknowledge our grateful thanks.

References:

Berlioz, J. 1941. Recherches osteologiques sur le crane de perroquets. Osean Revue fr. Orn,
II: 17-36.

Forshaw, J. M. 1973. Parrots of the World. Melbourne, Lansdowne.

Garrod, A. H. 1876. Notes on the anatomy of certain parrots. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond: 691-692.

Low, Rosemary. 1972. The Parrots of South America. London, John Gifford.

McLoughlin, E. 1970. Field notes on the breeding and diet of some South American
parrots. Foreign Birds 36: 169-171, 210-213.

Mudge, G. P. 1903. On the myology of the tongue of parrots, with a classification of the
order, based upon the structure of the tongue. Trans. zool. Soc. Lond. 16: 211-278.

Peters, J. L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World, vol. 3. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard.

Thompson, D. W. 1900. On characteristic points in the cranial osteology of the parrots.
Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. (1899): 9-46.

Address: British Museum (Natural History), Tring, Herts, England.

Variation in juvenile plumage of Centropus toulou toulou
(Miiller) and Centropus toulou insularis Ridgway

by Rebecca Woodell
Received 16 March 1976

Centropus toulou toulou is known only from Madagascar. The subspecies C. 7.
insularis occurs on Aldabra Atoll. The only other subspecies, C. 4. assump-
tionis Nicoll, from Assumption Island, is believed extinct (Stoddart ef a/.
1970). Skins of juvenile C. ¢. soulou and C. ¢. insularis in the collections of the
British Museum (Natural History), American Museum of Natural History
and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle were recently examined.
Two different juvenile plumage types were found, which are described below.
Names of colours were obtained from Smithe (1975).

|

|

|
|

.

73 [Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

One type (Fig. 1a) is dusky brown with some black on the upperparts,
heavily barred buff-yellow on the mantle, merging into dense, more cinnamon-
rufous speckling on the crown. The wings and upper wing-coverts are barred
cinnamon-rufous and dusky brown. The tail and tail-coverts are dusky
brown barred buff-yellow with a green wash. The underparts are heavily
barred buff-yellow and dusky brown becoming darker on the abdomen.

The second type is best represented by the single Aldabra bird (Fig. 1d).
It is darker, more nearly black on the upperparts than the first type and the

Figure 1
Juvenile plumage types of Centropus toulou

Left to right :—

(a) Barred type from Imerina in the Humid East of Madagascar (Rand 1936).

(b) Intermediate type from Maromandia on the northern edge of the Western Savanna
close to the humid Sambiro District of Madagascar (Rand 1936).

(c) Speckled type also from Maromandia.

(d) Speckled type from Aldabra.
(Photo: S. R. J. Woodell)

mantle is speckled, not barred, with cream rather than cinnamon-rufous.
Like the first type, it is speckled on the crown, but the markings are finer.
The wings and wing-coverts are a colour between cinnamon-rufous and
russet, barred with dusky brown. On the underparts differentiation between
the two types is much less well defined, but the Aldabra bird has the mark-
ings on the throat and chest mote striated, less barred in pattern. Tail barrings
varied considerably, without consistent differences in the two types. Both types

show barring on the upper back, least so in the speckled birds, especially the
Aldabra one.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 74

Intermediates occur between these two types. These are speckled on the
head and mantle with cinnamon or cinnamon-rufous rather than cream, and
may also show dense speckling on the crown.

Those specimens examined for which localities were given were sorted into
representatives from humid and dry regions (Table 1). Co-ordinates were
obtained from The Times Atlas of the World (1968), those for Ankafana (now
Tsarafidy) and Imerina were kindly supplied by Mr. C. W. Benson. Other
information was obtained from Rand (1936) and Farrow (1971).

TABLE 1
Relationship of juvenile plumage types of Centropus toulou to climate
Locality Coordinates Biotic Division Specimen No. Notes
of Madagascar and date
Speckled plumage
Aldabra,
Middle Island, 9°24’S 46°20’E (Savanna?) Brit. Mus. Fig. 1, (d)
East Channel (from Collectors 1968.43.96
label) 21 Jan. 1968
Ampotaka 25°02’S 44°40’E Sub-desert Brit. Mus.
1931.8.18.482
18 Mar. 1930
Maroantsetra 15°23’S 49°44’E Humid East Brit. Mus. Advanced
1931.8.18.51 moult
9 May 1930
Maromandia 14°10’S 48°06’E Western Savanna AMNH 411491_ Fig. 1, (c) ©
(1 day East) (Maromandia) 19 Jan. 1931
Maromandia 14°10’S 48°06’E Western Savanna Brit. Mus.
(1 day East) 1931.8.18.496
19 Jan. 1931
Intermediate plumage
Maromandia 14°10’S 48°06’E Western Savanna MNHN Paris Fig. 1, (b)
(1 day East) C.G. 1932 956
25 Jan. 1931
Maromandia 14°10’S 48°06’/E Western Savanna MNHN Paris
(1 day East) C.G. 1932 952
27 Jan. 1931
Namaroka 16°05’S 45°21’E Western Savanna MNHN Paris
(1 day S. of (Soalala) C.G. 1932, 965
Soalala) 12 Mar. 1931
Barred plumage
Imerina c. 19°S.48°E Humid East AMNH 627833 Not fully
Feb. 1896 grown
Probably
nestling
Imerina c. 19°S 48° Humid East AMNH 627834 Not fully
Feb. 1896 grown
Probably
nestling
Ankafana (now 21°09’S 47°10’E Humid East Brit. Mus. Fig. 1, (a)
Tsarafidy) 88.12.10.768
Feb. 1881

1 The biotic divisions of Madagascar are taken from Rand (1936: 215).

2 For a discussion of the climatic classification of Aldabra see Farrow (1971: 69). The cli-
mate of Aldabra is compared with that of Diego Suatez which is located in Rand’s
Northern Savanna region of Madagascar.

Of the four Madagascar specimens from Maromandia, which is on the
border between the humid Sambirano District and the Western Savanna,
two ate speckled (Fig. 1c) and two are intermediate (Fig. 1b). The bird from
Namaroka, in the Western Savanna is also intermediate. The Maroantsetra

75 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

specimen is much advanced in moult, but it appears speckled rather than
barred, and its darker colouring more closely resembles the speckled birds.
Possibly additional specimens would reveal barred birds from this humid
locality.

The remaining five juvenile specimens have no localities given, but they
should also be mentioned as they show similar plumage variation. These are
Brit. Mus. 90.1.30.26 and AMNH 627844 which are barred, AMNH 627847
and AMNH 627848 which are speckled and Brit. Mus. 67.5.24.8 which is
intermediate.

It appears that this difference in juvenile plumages of C. soulou is a
geographical variation, the barred type being associated with the humid
eastern regions of Madagascar and the speckled type with the drier western
regions and Aldabra. Alternatively, it is possible that in certain habitats dark
plumage is most suitable whereas in others a more contrasting light and dark
pattern, whether speckled or barred, is more important for camouflage. This
could help to explain why the birds from Maromandia (Fig. 1, b, c) both
speckled and intermediate, are generally darker and less contrasting in
colour than either (a) from the Humid East, which is barred or (d) from
Aldabra, which is speckled. In humid Maroantsetra dark, less contrasting
plumage may be the important factor rather than the plumage pattern itself.
Further study would be worthwhile.

Acknowledgements

I am especially grateful to Mr. C. W. Benson for his interest and advice and for his
invaluable personal information concerning Madagascar localities. I wish to thank Dr.
David Snow of the British Museum (Natural History) for making the facilities at Tring
available to me, and M. Christian Erard of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle and
Mr. John Farrand Jr. of the American Museum of Natural History for sending material.
Mr. Farrand was most helpful when I visited the Museum. My husband and Dr. R. Hnatiuk
offered much helpful comment.

References:
Farrow, G. E. 1971. The climate of Aldabra Atoll. Phi/. Trans. Roy. Soc. London B. 260:

67-91.
Rand, A. L. 1936. The distribution and habits of Madagascar birds. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat.
Hist. 72: 143-499.
Smithe, Frank B. 1975. Naturalist?s Color Guide. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., New York.
Stoddart, D. R., Benson, C. W. & Peake, J. F. 1970. Ecological change and effects of
phosphate mining on Assumption Island. A/o// Res. Bull. 136: 121-145.
The ne Atlas of the World. Comprehensive Edition. 1968. The Times Newspapets,
London.

Address: Quince Cottage, Oakley, Aylesbury, Bucks. HP18 9QT.

Layard’s extralimital records in his Birds of South Africa
and in the South African Museum

by R. K. Brooke

Received 22 January 1976

The small print in Layard’s Birds of South Africa (1867) contains records of
species collected or observed in the Atlantic Ocean, the Southern Ocean, the
Indian Ocean, their islands and the east coast of Africa. These records do not
appear to have been noticed by any subsequent writers on the avifaunas of
any of these areas, including Reichenow (1900-1905) on Africa, Rand (1936)
on Madagascar, Jackson & Sclater (1938) on Kenya, Frade (1953 a, b) on

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 76

Mozambique, Benson (1960) on the Comoros, Watson ef a/. (1963) on the
Indian Ocean islands, and Bannerman & Bannerman (1968) on the Cape
Verde Islands. The purpose of this communication is to draw future workers’
attention to so obscure a source of records — records which may indicate
changes in distribution or abundance in certain species. Layard himself (pp.
21, 54) believed that there had been at least a great increase in the numbers of
Htrundo rustica wintering in South Africa after 1840. He also gives several
records from Sri Lanka, but since he published separately on the avifauna of
Ceylon, those records can probably be found there.

Layard’s journey through the Southern and Indian Oceans (pp. 331, 358,
360, 365) was made in the survey frigate H.M.S. Castor under the command
of his friend, Commodore, later Rear-Admiral, H. D. Trotter who com-
manded the Cape of Good Hope station 1854-1857 (Laughton 1899). By
deduction, the voyage was made in the second half of 1856 and early 1857.
Layard had been appointed Curator of the South African Museum in Cape
Town in December 1854 and was in Cape Town in January 1856 (Barry
1975). Trotter returned to the United Kingdom in mid 1857 (Laughton
1899). Southern Ocean sea birds were obtained off the Cape in 1856 (p. 360)
and off Mozambique (see below), which implies Layard’s presence there
between July and October; and Palaearctic waders were obtained in Kenya in
winter plumage (see below) which implies his presence there between Octo-
ber and February. The second half of 1856 and early 1857 is thus the only
time during which Layard and Trotter could have made the journey.

Some, at least, of the specimens went to the South African Museum. I am
advised by Prof. J. M. Winterbottom (in /itt.) that none can now be found,
but that in 1879 the then Curator, Roland Trimen, compiled a manuscript
Catalogue of Foreign Birds in the museum. Prof. Winterbottom has listed for
me those species noted as received from the voyage of H.M.S. Castor and
some of the species are the same as those mentioned by Layard. Barry (1975)
states that “Layard came back laden with shells, bird skins and insects”
from that voyage in the western Indian Ocean. P. J. Morgan of the Liverpool
Museum has advised C. W. Benson (zn /itt.) that no Layard specimens of the
1850s and 1860s were ever received there, though material collected in the
1870s came there via Canon H. B. Tristram’s collection.

I now list Layard’s extralimital records by areas but with modernized —
nomenclature. For records mentioned in Layard (1867) the page number is
given; for specimens listed by Roland Trimen SAM (South African Museum)
is given to indicate the source.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

Daption capense (p. 361). One seen at 3°N in November 1866 while
returning to South Africa from leave in England: a vagrant so far north.

Puffinus assimilis(SAM)

Fregetta grallaria (SAM) yn the South Atlantic.

Neopbhron percnopterus (p. 4). Common breeding species in the Cape Verde
Islands.

SOUTHERN OCEAN |

Diomedea exulans and D. chrysostomus (both SAM and pp. 363, 364-365). |
Eggs of D. exulans received from Crozet and Tristan da Cunha Islands. Skins —
of both species were obtained but without details except that Layard states
that one of chrysostomus was obtained “off the South Coast”.

77 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

Fregetta grallaria (SAM and pp. 358-359). Includes a specimen from
_ nearly 500 km west of Cape Town, May 1867. From Layard’s description
clearly this species, not F. ¢ropica.
Fulmarus glacialoides; Pterodroma lessonii; P. incerta; P. mollis; P. macroptera
and Procellaria aequinoctialis (all SAM, at 32°46’S., 59°13’E., also p. 360 for
_ P. macroptera).
Pachyptila vittata and P. desolata (both SAM, at 40°20’S., 41°00’E.).
Of the four Pterodroma spp. Layard mentions only P. macroptera in his
_ book, and states specifically (p. 361) that he had never seen a specimen of
| Fulmarus glacialoides. Yet on pp. 360 and 365 he states that he sailed the Cape
seas in H.M.S. Castor and obtained Prerodroma macroptera and Diomedea
_ chrysostoma. However, Layard wrote to years after the event, and his duties
' as a civil servant precluded museum work except for one day per week
(Barry 1975).
_ INDIAN OCEAN
| (1) KENYA COAST
| Ardea leucoptera (p. 309). A synonym of Ardeo/a, the squacco herons, but
| it is not possible to say whether he was referring to A. ra/loides, A. idae or
even some species of Lgretta or Bubulcus: no specimens were, apparently,

- collected.

Butorides striatus (p. 309). Collected.

Leptoptilos crumeniferus (p. 316). Often seen.

Circaetus gallicus pectoralis (p. 15). Two collected on Fazi Island and others
seen along the coast in pairs.

Milvus migrans parasitus (p. 26). Seen.

Aeryllium vulturinum (SAM). Two specimens.

Pluvialis squatarola (p. 295). Many collected in non-breeding plumage.

P. apricaria (p. 296). Probably P. dominica, since there is no other record of

P. apricaria in Africa (see Backhurst e¢ a/. 1973): Lamu northwards.

Numenius arquata (p. 322). Widespread.

Layard and a Lieut Suttee found a massed flock of waders on a mudbank at
Fazi Island, so they approached and each discharged both barrels of their
fowling pieces. The majority of birds killed and recovered, enough to fill a
naval bread bag, were Calidris ferruginea (p. 331), but C. minuta, C. alba,
Tringa erythropus, T. nebularia were also obtained, and Charadrius alexandrinus,
probably the migratory nominate race rather than the sparse resident pons,
since the other species were all Palaearctic migrants. T. erythropus is the only
Palaearctic migrant mentioned by Layard at Fazi to be discussed by Back-
hurst e¢ a/. (1973), who believed that the first specimen from Kenya was
obtained in 1953.

Dromas ardeola (p. 372). Widespread; SAM held two specimens from Lamu.

Tockus alboterminatus (SAM) Collected from Kisilu-

Collyrio corvinus (=Lanius collurio?)(SAM) ff dini, just north of Kilifi.

(2) TANZANIA COAST

Ardea leucoptera (p. 309). Butorides striatus (p. 309). Collected. Leptoptilos
crumeniferus (p. 316).

Circaetus gallicus pectoralis (p. 15).

Terathopius ecaudatus (p. 18).

Milvus migrans parasitus (p. 26).

Plwialis squatarola (p. 295). Collected.

Numenius arquata (p. 322).

Dromas ardeola (p. 372 and SAM).

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 78

(3) ZANZIBAR

Nectarinia senegalensis (p. 80). Common, two specimens in SAM.
Ploceus (Hyphantornis) sp. (SAM).

(4) MozAMBIQUE COAST

Procellaria aequinoctialis (p. 360). Not rare.

Oceanites oceanicus (SAM).

Ardea leucoptera (p. 309).

Butorides striatus (p. 309). Collected.

Leptoptilos crumeniferus (p. 316). Collected at the mouth of the Zambezi
River.

Dendrocygna viduata (p. 350). Common on the lower Zambezi.

Milvus migrans parasitus (p. 26).

Terathopius ecaudatus (p. 18). A live bird, presented by the Governor of
Mozambique Town, proved to be a great eater of hens’ eggs when kept in a

Cape Town fowl run: this bird, or another from Mozambique, was prepared
as a specimen for SAM.

Pluvialis squatarola (p. 295). Collected. Numenius arquata (p. 322).

Dromas ardeola (p. 372).

Nectarinia violacea (p. 79). Building a nest in a beachside Casuarina tree at
Cabo Delgado. The species intended is obscure since the distinctive N.
violacea is restricted to the southwest of the Cape Province of South Africa
where Layard (same page) knew it well.

N. senegalensis (pp. 79 and 80). Collected while building a nest in a beach-
side Casuarina at Cabo Delgado.

(5) Comoro IsLANDs

Butoridess triatus (p. 309). Collected.

Circus spilonotus macrosceles (p. 35), sub nom. C’.. cinerascens = C. pygargus;
but the specimen that Layard mentions from Anjouan was listed in SAM as
C. maillardii (= macrosceles), and he adds that the species was common, as
Benson (1960) also found; so that a vagrant C. pygargus from the Comoros
is ruled out.

(6) MADAGASCAR

Egretta gularis (p. 307). Collected in Boyana Bay on the northwest coast.

E. ardesiaca (SAM).
Dendrocygna viduata (p. 350 and SAM). Abundant in the swamps and rice-

fields and very easy of approach.

Larus novaehollandiae (SAM). A species restricted to the western Cape and
Australasia and presumably an error for L. cirrocephalus in non-breeding
plumage, which then resembles it closely. L. cirrocephalus does occur in
Madagascar (Rand 1936).

Dryolimnas cuvieri, Coracopsis nigra, Agapornis cana and Eurystomus glaucurus
also held by SAM.

On pp. 155 and 245 Layard discussed the Malagasy provenance of some of
Levaillant’s allegedly South African species.

(7) Mauritius
Puffinus pacificus chororhynchus, Phagtiee lepturus, Butorides striatus (also p.

79 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)]

309), Francolinus pintadeanus, Aerodramus francicaus and Coracina typica, all held
by SAM.
Terpsiphone bourbonnensis (p. 146). Nest with c/3 collected.

(8) Rounp IstAND, Mauritius

Puffinus pacificus chlororhynchus, two specimens of Phaethon rubricauda, two
specimens of Sw/a dactylatra, all held by SAM.

Fregata minor (SAM). Not recorded from the Mauritius group by Watson
et al. (1963), though Benson (1970) records specimens collected in 1865.

Sterna fuscata (SAM).

(9) SANDy IsLAND, RODRIGUEZ

Sula sula (SAM).

S. dactylatra (SAM). Not recorded here by Watson e¢ a/. (1963), though
regarded as probably occurring by Bourne (1968).

Larus novaehollandiae (= cirrocephalus) (SAM). Not recorded here by
Watson ef a/. (1963).

Anous stoldidus, A. tenuirostris, Gygis alba, all held by SAM. The three
terns are still present on Sandy Island (Gill 1967).

(10) FARQUHAR IsLAND, PROVIDENCE BANK

Fregata minor (SAM). Two specimens.

Bubulcus ibis (SAM). One specimen.

Larus novaehollandiae (= cirrocephalus) (SAM). One specimen.

Sterna sumatrana, S. caspia, Gygis alba, all held by SAM, one specimen of
each. F. minor, B. ibis, L. cirrocephalus and S. caspia are not recorded for the
Providence Bank group by Watson e¢ a/. (1963), but Stoddart & Poore (1970)
and Parker (1970) do record F. minor and B. ibis. The visit of H.M.S. Castor
to Farquhar Island is not mentioned by Stoddart & Poore (1970) in their
account of its history.

It is curious that no Larus spp. are recorded by any modern writer for
islands in the western Indian Ocean. One is tempted to doubt the records
from Farquhar and Sandy Islands in the 1850s, but there is no positive
evidence compelling doubt other than the lack of records for the last 20
yeats, a period of intensive study of the avifauna of these islands.

I am obliged to Prof. J. M. Winterbottom for data on specimens formerly held by the
South African Museum, Cape Town, to Dr. F. R. Fosberg for a copy of Afo//. Res. Bull.
136, to Mr. C. W. Benson for help with the literature, a critique of a draft of this paper and,
indeed, urging that it be written.

References:

Backhurst, G. C., Britton, P. L. & Mann, C. F. 1973. The less common palaearctic migrant
birds of Kenya and Tanzania. Journ. E. Afr. Nat. Hist. Soc. Natn. Mus. 140: 1-38.

Bannerman, D. A. & Bannerman, W. M. 1968. History of the birds of the Cape Verde Islands.
Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd.

Barry, T. H. 1975. 150 years—an assessment. Samab 11: 249-260.

Benson, C. W. 1960. The birds of the Comoro Islands. Jbis 103b: 5—106.

— ge The Cambridge collection from the Malagasy Region. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. go:
168-172.

Bourne, W. R. P. 1968. The birds of Rodriguez, Indian Ocean. [bis 110: 338-344.

Frade, F. 1953a. Aves coligidas pela missao zoologica de Mocambique. Anais Junta Miss.
Geogr. Invest. Colon. vol. 6(4), fasc. 3.

— : 2 a Catalogo das aves de Mocambique. Anais Junta Miss. Geogr. Invest. Colon. vol.

4), fasc. 4.
Gill, F. B. 1967. Birds of Rodriguez Island (Indian Ocean). [bis 109: 383-390.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(2)] 80

Jackson, F. J. & Sclater, W. L. 1938. The birds of Kenya Colony and the Uganda Protectorate,
vols. 1-3. London, Gurney & Jackson.

Laughton, J. K. 1899. “Trotter, Henry Dundas.” Dictionary of national biography 57: 252-
254. London, Smith, Elder.

Layard, E. L. 1867. The birds of South Africa. Cape Town, Juta.

Parker, I. S. C. 1970. Some ornithological observations from the western Indian Ocean.
Abtoll. Res. Bull. 136: 211-220.

Rand, A. L. 1936. The distribution and habits of Madagascar birds. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat.
Hist. 72: 143-499.
Reichenow, A. 1900-1905. Die Vogels Afrikas, vols. 1-3, Neudamm, Neumann.

Stoddart, D. R. & Poore, M. E. D. 1970. Geography and ecology of Farquhar Atoll. Afo//
Res, Bull. 136: 7-26.

Watson, G. R., Zusi, R. L. & Storer, R. E. 1963. Preliminary field guide to the birds of the
Indian Ocean. Washington, Smithsonian Inst.

Present address: Box 1690, Salisbury, Rhodesia.

IN BRIEF

(a) Caprimulgus sericocaudatus mengeli subsp. nov.

I regret that I made an error in transcribing the locality of the type of the
subspecies Caprimulgus sericocaudatus mengeli in Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 95 (1): 19.
Under “Type...” the locality cited should be 59km west, not east, of
Pucallpa.

29 March 1976 Robert W. Dickerman

Cornell University Medical College
1300 York Avenue
New York, New York 10021

(b) Vagrant Lapwings Vanellus spp. in Brunei

A single Lapwing Vanellus vanellus was observed for 10-15 minutes through
a8 X 30 monocular at distances down to 15 m at 17.15 hours on 11 January
1976 on a flooded grassy area, known as G14 of the Shell concession area,
Seria, State of Brunei. The bird was in typical winter plumage, and had a
large crest. There appear to be no other records in Borneo, and it is usually
considered that the species’ southernmost winter quarters range southwards
from eastern China and westwards to north and central Burma. This indi-
vidual was thus 15° south of its usual range.

On 28 November 1974 a Grey-headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus had
appeared on the same plot of land. This was first sighted by myself and later
confirmed by Mr. D. Griffin and also photographed. It is a species which
normally winters from south Japan through southeast China and the Indo-
Chinese countries to India. I believe that such vagrants are the victims of the —
monsoons from November to January and are literally swep southwards out

might be ascribed to the same conditions. ‘
2 February 1976 " ree +, AA P. Smith

Brunei Shell Petroleum Co. Ltd.

a a aoa PURC ~H ASE D: Es)
Seria, State of Brunei, Borneo. Oo

fe Saat

ahs, a> eS) ae : c. ™ : — ae rik x > At hoe mes a +f :
oe) Se, 5 a re pe 8 ~® -_ : | he! ay *
fe “A 125 J J pan: 15 : le x Pr eisteey 1 DacH!

Siete

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* an ‘

NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS

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ISSN 0007 - 1595
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Bulletin of the Ne

British Ornithologists’ Club

Edited by
Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 96 No.3 : September 1976

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

Tuesday, 16 November 1976 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. at the Senior Common Room, South
Side, Imperial College, South Kensington (entrance in Princes Gardens, S.W.7, off
Exhibition Road). Dr. H. N. Southern will speak on the Tawny Owl.

Tuesday, 18 January 1977 at the Goat Tavern, 3 Stafford Street, London, W.1. Dr. Peter
Ward will speak on Palaearctic migrants in INigeria.

Tuesday, 15 March 1977. Mr. J. M. Forshaw, the author of the well-known monograph
on parrots, will speak on the ecology of parrots in Australia and their adaptations to changing

environments.

Tuesday, 3 May 1977. A symposium on Asiatic birds.

COMMITTEE
J. H. Elgood (Chairman) P. Hogg (Vice-Chairman)
R. E. F. Peal (Alon. Secretary) M. St. J. Sugg (Hon. Treasurer)
Dr. J. F. Monk ( Editor) Mrs. J. D. Bradley
Dr. C. J. O. Hatrison C, E. Wheeler

Dr. G. Beven

81 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

Bulletin of the
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB

Vol. 96 No. 3 Published: 20 September 1976

The seven hundred and first meeting of the Club was held at the Goat
Tavern, 3 Stafford Street, London, W.1, at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 20 July 1976.

Chairman: Professor J. H. Elgood: present 16 members and 5 guests.

Mr. Robert Gillmor spoke on Bird Illustration. He described the develop=~
ment up to the present time of the art of depicting birds and showed slides
with outstanding examples of bird drawings and paintings.

Breeding records of Hemprich’s Hornbill : %,
Tockus hemprichii in Tigrai, Ethiopia Ne
by L. H. Brown

Received 23 December 1975

The nest of Hemprich’s Hornbill Tockus hemprichii had not been adequately
described until one found in the cliffs above Lake Langano, Ethiopia, in April
1970 was described by Urban ef a/. (1970). In Tigrai in 1975 three more
definite nests were found, and one probable one, all in rock sites, as follows:

(i) On 15 Oct 75, ina vertical cliff near the base of Debre Zhion mountain,
near Dugum, a nest was found about 15 cm inside a hole about 12 m from
the base of the sandstone cliff. The hole had been visibly plastered, apparently
with reddish mud, with a narrow oval slit in the centre. The male was seen
to present a large grasshopper to another bird in the nest, which was inac-
cessible, but from the absence of any droppings round the entrance it
presumably contained a female with eggs. In this case the eggs would have
been laid in late September or early October.

(it) In a sandstone cliff near Dugum 17 Oct 75 there was a nest which could
not be closely examined because it was screened by forest and the entrance
not properly visible from immediately below. It was about 10 m above the
base of the cliff in a long vertical crack and under a large overhang, and
contained young, which were watched being fed by the female, recognisable
by her smaller size and smaller, more slender beak. The young emitted loud
yelping cries, so presumably were large. Since Urban ef a/. (1970) estimated
that the female remained in the hole for 60-70 days after laying, the eggs
from which these young hatched would probably have been laid in early
August, perhaps late July. The female was flying strongly and not obviously
in moult.

(iii) On 31 Oct 75 a nest was found at Romanat, near Makelle, in a hole in
a rock face above a small cave, at about 4 m from the base of a travertine cliff.
The hole could be examined closely from immediately opposite on another
rock, and was seen to turn into the cliff at an angle, the plastered entrance
being heavily spattered with droppings. The male fed other birds in the hole
at about 16.30 hrs with a skink, Mabuya sp. He had difficulty in maintaining
a purchase on the entrance ledge, and flew to and from the hole at least 15

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 82

times in about five minutes, sometimes delivering food when he was able to
stay for a few seconds, and sometimes overbalancing and failing. High pitched
yelps, and querulous deeper squealing calls suggested that both female and
young were in the hole. The skink was gradually reduced in size in successive
visits, as pieces were presumably bitten off by the bird being fed. However,
the male eventually departed with the head and part of the body, calling the
normal piping “‘Pi-pi-pi-pioh” as he left. In this nest, eggs were probably
laid in September.

(iv) A male flew up to a narrow slit in a travertine cliff in the Giba river
valley on 21 Sep 75. He had a small lizard, but it was not taken by any bird
in the hole, and he then flew 30 m and probably ate it himself. However, his
behaviour was consistent with the likelihood of a female in the hole, which
was inaccessible.

In all instances where feeding was seen the feeding bird stayed only a few
seconds at the aperture; if the food was not immediately accepted it was taken
away again.

These records all suggest that in Tigrai, Tockus hemprichii breeds mainly or
only in cliff sites, resembling in this respect Monteiro’s Hornbill T. monteiri
in South West Africa (Kemp & Kemp) 1972 and that it is a rock breeder,
since there were trees which could have been used at all the sites if preferred.
Laying must take place from August to October, late in the main rains or just
after. Young would normally emerge in November, at the beginning of the
main dry season, but when insect life at least is still abundant. As in other

Tockus spp. the female evidently emerges when the young are part-grown, ©

and then assists in feeding the brood. The eggs of Hemprich’s s Hornbill have
apparently still to be described.

References:

Kemp, A. C. & Kemp, M. I. 1972. A study of the biology of Monteiro’s Hornbill. Avan.
Transv. Mus. 27: 255-268.

Urban, E. K., Brown, L. H., Buer, C. E. & Plage, G. D. 1970. Four descriptions of nesting
previously undescribed from Ethiopia. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 90(6): 162-164.

Address: Box 24916, Karen, Kenya.

The tendinal canals of the hypotarsi as a taxonomic
character of water birds
by C. J. O. Harrison

Received 12 January 1976

The long digit flexor tendons of the legs of birds, where they pass down the
back of the leg over the tarsal joint, are held in place at the upper end of the
tarsometatarsus by grooves in a posteriorly-projecting structure, the
hypotarsus. Bands of cartilaginous tissue may roof over or subdivide these
grooves, creating covered canals for the tendons; or there may be a roof of
bone so that the canals become holes passing through a bony hypotarsus.
The arrangement of these grooves and apertures may help in the identifi-
cation of the species, genus, family and sometimes the order from which the
hypotarsus originates, and this is particularly useful in avian fossils, since the
proximal end of the tarsometatarsus is a solid structure which is often
preserved when other bones have been destroyed. Identification of such

A Cae IW oe 2 6 So amt eh

83 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

fossil specimens is, however, usually difficult because of abrasion of the
roofed portions of canals and the more prominent parts of the calcaneal
ridges between them.

No systematic study of these canals appears to have been made. In general,
comparative osteological studies have been limited to a single order at most,
and often only to small taxa or single species. Newton (1896) commented,
with reservations, on the taxonomic value of the hypotarsus but only
referred to some general similarities, while other authors of general works
on birds have paid it little attention. To help identify the bones of fossil water
birds the hypotarsal structure of Recent birds of a similar type was also
noted. In the Sphenisciformes, Gaviiformes, Podicipediformes, Procel-
lariiformes, Pelecaniformes, Ciconiiformes, Anseriformes, and Charadrii-
formes the hypotarsal structure is fairly elaborate in most families (Fig. 1),
the only other order with comparable complexity being the Passeriformes
(Fig. 2), and this group of orders forms a suitable unit for comparisons.

Many orders show more structural dissimilarities from each other in the
hypotarsi than are apparent between families, and canals may be open or
closed and differ in number. Such differences are presumably linked with
variation in form and function of the hindlimb. Nevertheless there are
consistencies in structure within an order which are listed later. Within a
family there is usually a consistent and recognisable pattern, but there are
often small differences which make it possible to differentiate at the generic
level (e.g. Fig. 1, E4—5, Eq-10), and rarely more marked dissimilarities (Fig.
1, A1—z). Sometimes consistent differences are recognisable even at the
species level (e.g. Fig. 1, D1-3, F3—4). Within these taxa the hypotarsal
structure can be a useful character for identifying tarsometatarsi.

The tendinal canals are not the only feature affecting hypotarsal shape.
Muscles such as the M. flexor hallucis brevis and M. abductor digiti II
originate on, and may modify the calcaneal ridges. Owre (1967), for instance,
shows that the considerable development of the external calcaneal ridge of
the Phalacrocoracidae (Fig. 1, D7) and Anhingidae (Fig. 1, Ds) is correlated
with the fact that it serves as an area of insertion for the muscles providing
the power-stroke in swimming.

In the birds of the orders studied the presence of several closed canals
appears at times to be correlated with a more generalised overall structure;
while more open canals and a more modified hypotarsus appear to be linked
with greater specialisation, suggesting that the latter is a derived state. The
presence of a large number of closed canals in a simple hypotarsus in the
passerines may be related to this. The suboscine Superb Lyrebird Menura
superba (Fig. 2, A) has six closed canals. The Raven Corvus corax (Fig. 2, B) has
only five, one being constricted and apparently derived from two small
canals, which arrangement occurs in other species; but four canals arranged
in two pairs, as in the Dunnock Prunella modularis (Fig. 2, C), is more
frequent. The Raven and Dunnock are typical perchers and hoppers while
the Lyrebird is more terrestrial and may run like a gallinaceous bird. It could
be argued that the possession of a large hypotarsus perforated by a number
of canals, usual in the typical hopping and running birds, is a generalised
avian condition; and that the hypotarsi of other birds show divergences from
this, linked with modifications of the limb and its uses and involving the loss
of covered canals.

Fig. 1 shows the range of variation of hypotarsi within each of the orders
studied, progressing from those with more closed canals to the derived

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 84

D1 D2 D3 D4
OQ me) e) a
a oO a
CN CaN
by ee, PAgtet t aS (-\
E1 E2 E3 1 E 4 E 5

F4

G3
(CePn
af

Fig. 1: Proximal views of right hypotarsi; the posterior side at top. A. PROCELLARII-
FORMES. At Pelecanoides urinatrix, Az Fulmarus glacialis, A3 Oceanodroma castro, \4 Diomedia
melanophrys. B. PODICIPITIDAE. Bi Podilymbus podiceps, Bz Podiceps cristatus. C.
GAVIIDAE. C1 Colymboides minutus (after Storer 1956), C2 Gavia immer. D, PELECANI-
FORMES. D1 Pelecanus crispus, D2 Pelecanus occidentalis, D3 Pelecanus onocrotalus, D4 Balaeni-
ceps rex, D5 Anhinga anhinga, D6 Sula dactylatra, D7 Phalacrocorax carbo, D8 Phaethon aethureus,
Do Fregata aquila.E. CICONIIFORMES. Ex Botaurus stellaris,E2 Scopus umbretta, E3 Coch-

85 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

. oO re)
; Ten oN hom N

|
| H] H 2 H 3
.

learius cochlearius, E4 Ardea cinerea, Es Nycticorax nycticorax, E6 Plegadis falcinellus,E7 Ajaja

ajaja, E8 Geronticus calvus, Eg Dissouria episcopus, E10 Mycteria americana. F. CHARADRII-
: FORMES. F1 Scolopax rusticolus, F2 Alca torda, F3 Cepphus grylle, F4 Numenius arquata, F5
| Larus argentatus, F6 Larus marinus, F7 Haematopus ostralegus, F8 Himantopus himantopus. G.
ANSERIFORMES. G1 Dendrocygna viduata, G2 Anseranas semipalmata, G3 Biziura lobata,
G4 Ayithya fuligula, G5 Cygnus columbianus. H. PHOENICOPTERIFORMES. Hi & Haz
Palaeolodus ambiguus, H3 Phoenicopterus chilensis. 1. SPHENISCIFORMES. Pygostelis antarctica

[ Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

ee A a

Fig. 2: Proximal view of right hypotarsi of Passeriformes, the posterior side at the top.
A Manura superba. B. Corvus corax. C Prunella modularis.

&: ce)
&:

examples. Relative size was considered unimportant and individual figures
ate not therefore comparable in size. They are arranged with the posterior
side of the hypotarsus at the top.

Despite variations, some general consistency, as well as difference, is
apparent in the patterns of canals within orders, and this might be used as an
ordinal character. Although, among water birds, the extinct, diver-like
toothed birds, the Hesperornithidae, and the other toothed birds, the
Ichthyornithidae, both of the Cretaceous, lack a prominent hypotarsus and
show no evidence of grooves or ridges, Recent water birds have a definite
hypotarsus with typically four or fewer canals. Of the more complex
hypotarsi, those of the Charadriiformes (Fig. 1, F) and Anseriformes (G) are
comparatively similar, but in the former I recognise three posterior and one
anterior canal, (Fr), and in the latter one posterior and three anterior (Gr,
G3). In the Pelecaniformes (D), the Pelecanidae show two posterior canals,
one posterior to the other, and two anterior, although in addition the last
pair may be bordered by a well-defined external groove. In the Ciconiiformes
(E), the Ardeidae (E1, E3, E4, Es) show one posterior and two anterior
canals. The Procellariiformes (A) have two anterior canals, with an indi-
cation of two incomplete open canals posterior to these in Pelecanoides (A1).
The Podicipediformes (B) are atypical, with two or three posterior and one
large and centrally sited anterior canal; while in the Gaviiformes (C) at least
three canals coalesce into one large hole enclosed in an arch formed by the
convergence of a pair of large calcaneal ridges. The antithesis of the latter is
shown by the Sphenisciformes (I) in which the broad, flat tarsometatarsus
bears two small prominences with a wide and shallow double canal between
them.

These generalisations, however, cease to be apparent in the more extremely
modified examples, although classification is aided by knowing some of the
intervening stages of modification. For example, on the characters used here
it would be difficult to link the Phaethontidae (D8) or Fregatidae (Dg) with
other pelecaniform families, or the Black-winged Stilt (F8) with other
Charadriiformes.

Within the orders studied there are several small taxa of uncertain affinities
for which any evidence of relationship is important. The Hammerkop
Scopus umbretta belongs to a monotypic family usually thought to be close
to the storks. The distinctive hypotarsus (Fig. 1, Ez) with two closed canals
and an open posterior one shows some similarities to those of herons such
as C. cochlearius (E3) and Ardea cinerea (E4), but little obvious similarity to
Ciconiidae (Eg-10). However, if a hypotarsus with a number of closed canals

87 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

is an earlier and more generalised structure, then the Hammerkop may be an
instance in which an isolated species has retained a generalised condition.

The Shoebill Balaeniceps rex, another species of uncertain affinities in a
monotypic family, is usually regarded as ciconiiform; but Cottam (1957)
showed that most of its osteological features resembled those of the
Pelecaniformes, including the hypotarsus. The latter (D4) bears a strong
resemblance to that of the White Pelican Pel/ecanus onocrotalus (D5), in which
the posterior canals are reduced to a single groove. It could be argued, on
the other hand, that the hypotarsus of Ba/aeniceps is a much more massive
version of that found in the Boatbill Heron C. cochlearius (E3) of the
Ciconiiformes.

The Phoenicopteridae are usually placed in the Cicontiformes, although
separation into a single-family order (Voous 1973) or association with the
Anseriformes has also been proposed (Sibley e¢ a/. 1969). The hypotarsus
(H3) consists of a pair of well-developed calcaneal ridges with a deep,
complex groove between them. In the Charadriiformes, which show a wide
range of variation in hypotarsal structure, 7. himantopus (F8) has a somewhat
similar but more slender hypotarsus, representing the extreme in a trend of
modification by which the more complex structure is reduced to two large
calcaneal ridges in a laterally-compressed hypotarsus, with a single and deep
complex groove derived from a group of tendinal canals between them. Since
this species differs from other charadriiformes in its exceptionally long legs,
and similar long legs are characteristic of the Phoenicopteridiae, and since the
long-legged Threskiornithidae and Ciconiidae have stages in the develop-
ment of a similar hypotarsus (E6-10), it is possible that such a structure
represents a derived condition linked with function and likely to be evolved
independently in a number of taxa. If so, then the affinities and possible
derivation of the phoenicopterid hypotarsus might be found in a taxon other
than the Ciconiiformes.

The extinct family Palaeolodidae of the Oligocene and Miocene consists of
long-legged and long-necked birds, possibly ancestral to the Phoenicopteri-
dae, having a distinctive hypotarsus (H1-z) showing the apparently
generalised condition with several closed canals. Some specimens lack a
complete bridging of the canals (as in Hz). Modification of such hypotarsi by
lateral compression and loss of bone between the canals might produce a
structure resembling that of the Phoenicopteridae (H3), although a typical
phoenicopterine hypotarsus with the deep single groove is already apparent
in the Upper Oligocene flamingo Gervaisia croiseti. A similar reduction of
bone between the canals and an increase in the size of the lateral ridges is
apparent in a comparison of the Late Oligocene/Miocene diver Colymboides
minutus (C1) with the Recent Great Northern Diver Gavia immer (C2).

If the hypotarsus of Palaeolodus species is the precursor of that of the
Phoenicopteridae, then any similarity of the former to those of other taxa
might help to elucidate earlier affinities. If the incomplete ossification over the
canals already apparent in the second Pa/aeolodus specimen shown (Hz) were
catried a stage further the structure would then closely resemble that of the
Woodcock Scolopax rusticolus (F1). Within the Anseriformes the nearest
resemblance to Palaeolodus is that of the White-faced Tree Duck Dendrocygna
viduata (G1), but this is less close than that of Scolopax. These apparent
similarities might be evidence of affinity since an examination of the Telma-
batidae (Harrison & Walker zn press) of the Lower Eocene reveals a probable

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 88

link between Charadriiformes, Anseriformes and probably Phoenicopteridae
at this period.

These examples show that the hypotarsal structure may be a useful, though
limited, taxonomic character by which to refer a species to a particular taxon
and possibly indicate its affinities. There is some evidence at the ordinal level
of similarities of the hypotarsus in families of known affinity. This may be of
use for extinct species of unknown origin not referable to a Recent family
and represented by only part of a skeleton; or for Recent species of unknown
affinity it may provide clues to possible relationship which could help in a
re-appraisal of their taxonomic position.

References:

Cottam, P. 1957. The Pelecaniform characters of the skeleton of the Shoe-bill Stork,
Balaeniceps rex. Bull, Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Zool) 5: 51-72.

Harrison, C. J. O. & Walker, C. A. in press. Birds of the British Upper Eocene. J. Linn.
Soc. Lond.

Newton, A. 1896. A Dictionary of Birds. London: A. & C. Black.

Owre, O. T. 1967. Adaptations for locomotion and feeding in the Anhinga and the Double-
crested Cormorant. Orn. Monogr. 6: 1-138.

Sibley, C. G., Corbin, K. W. & Haavie, J. H. 1969. The relationships of the Flamingos as
indicated by the egg-white proteins and hemoglobins. Condor 71: 155-179.

Storer, R. W. 1956. The fossil loon, Colymboides minutus. Condor 58: 413-426. .

Voous, K. H. 1973. List of Recent Holarctic bird species, non-passerines. /bis 115 : 612-638.

Address: British Museum (Naturai History), Tring, Herts. HP23 6AP.

A record of White-winged Wood Duck

Catrina scutulata in Sumatra

by D. A. Holmes
Received 19 March 1976

The White-winged Wood Duck Carina scutulata is probably reduced to
near extinction over most of South-East Asia (Boonsong & Cronin 1974,
Hoogerwerf 1970), but it still occurs in south Sumatra. Two were flushed
from a swamp close to the Batang Hari river at Muara Bulian, west of Jambi
in south Sumatra (1° 45’ S, 103° 15’ E) on 18 January 1976. The birds were
seen again on four further visits during the following two weeks.

The habitat was a swamp covering a total area of some 5o hectares that is
used for low quality rice each year if water levels permit. The swamp carries
a varying density of swamp grasses and sedges, some floating vegetation,
and patches of both open water and of exposed mud. Scattered trees remain
standing in the swamp, some of them dead, and dead logs lie on the surface.
A grove of open woodland and secondary growth occupies one part of the
swamp. The duck used these trees for perches but they would also fly off
to the surrounding secondary forest and stands of poorly managed rubber.
The swamp receives some slight disturbance from fishermen, buffalo
herders, and occasional rice cultivation; but the bird life is probably never
deliberately disturbed. The birds were shy when on the ground and readily
put to flight. When perched in a tree, they were surprisingly well camou-
flaged and were more approachable.

In flight they called more or less continuously, a goose or crane-like
honk, with which was often heard simultaneously a high whistled note

89 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

when both birds were flying together. This agrees with the description of
Stanford (1931) writing of the Upper Chindwin district of Burma: “‘the
drake and duck of two pairs seen here had separate notes, like Shelduck
[presumably Zadorna tadorna] in the breeding season, the drake a low “‘cronk
cronk” and the female a whistle, when on the wing”. The honking note
reminded me of the West African Crowned Crane Balearica pavonina.

Each visit was made between dawn and 09.00 in the morning or 17.00 and
18.00 in the evening, and one or both birds were each time flushed from the
open swamp. The assumption that the birds were a pair is supported by the
calls, although the size difference between the birds was not pronounced.
The head and neck of the slightly larger bird were dirty white, and a clean
white on the other, with some fine black speckling visible at close range. The
plumage of the back in one and probably both birds was white, with heavy
black mottling and barring, squarely demarcated from the black tail. The
white wing coverts were prominent and contrasted strongly with the rest of
the wing, which appeared black except in a favourable light. It was difficult
to discern the distribution of white and black on the rest of the body, but
the breast and belly appeared to be black, with some white markings, and
larger white squares on the sides of the upper breast.

Hoogerwerf (1950) considers that C. scutu/ata of the Greater Sundas can be
distinguished from the continental population by a conspicuous amount of
albinism on the body, but he did not separate it into a subspecies.

At a wooded ox-bow lake at Danau Saranglang, near the village of
Serasak, 20 km from Muara Bulian, the bird is known by local people as an
occasional visitor, under the appropriate name of “‘itik hutan”, meaning
forest duck. It seems reasonable to assume that this duck may be still toler-
ably common is south Sumatra, where similar habitat is thought to be
widespread and population density and hunting pressures are low. However,
full aerial photographic cover would be necessary for estimating the total
amount of suitable habitat.

[Since this article was submitted the author has confirmed the presence of
the species in Lampung?Province of southernmost Sumatra, when a pair was
seen at Lake Jepara on 30 June 1976. “Suitable habitat is plentiful in this
province but is rapidly disappearing owing to heavy immigration of settlers
from Java”—Ed.].

I am grateful to D. R. Wells in Kuala Lumpur for his comments on a first draft of this
paper.

References:

Boonsong, Lekagul & Cronin, E. W. 1974. Bird Guide of Thailand (second edition). Bangkok:
Association for the Conservation of Wildlife.

Hoogerwerf, A. 1950. De Witvleugeleend Carina scutulata van de Grote Sunda Eilanden.
Ardea. 38: 64.

— 1970. On the ornithology of the Rhino Sanctuary Udjung Kulon in West Java
(Indonesia). Nat. Hist. Bull, Siam. Soc. 23: 447.

Stanford, J. K. 1931. The Birds of the Prome District of Lower Burma, with notes on the
collection by Dr. Claud B. Ticehurst, Part III. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 35: 32-50.

Address: The Old Rectory, Sudborough, Kettering, Northants, U.K.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 90

Additions to the avifaunas of Sumatra and Kalimantan,

Indonesia
by W. G. Harvey & D. A. Holmes

Received 19 March 1976

SUMATRA
Aviceda leuphotes (Contributed by D. A. Holmes)

A party of about ten Black-crested Bazas roosted in open woodland near
Palembang in south Sumatra on the night of 19-20 November 1974, and on
18 January 1976 four were seen flying north at low elevation near Muara
Bulian in Jambi province (1° 45’ S, 103° 15’ E). There are no previous
records for the island of Sumatra, nor apparently for Indonesia as a whole.
The observer was familiar with the species in south Thailand, and it is
readily identifiable by its crow-like shape, alternate flapping/gliding flight,
and distinctive black and white plumage.

Migratory flocks crossing the Straits of Malacca are seen regularly from
Cape Rachado (2° 25’ N) on the Malayan coast during November—December
and March-April (Medway & Wells 1976, Wells pers. comm.), which sug-
gests that Sumatra is within the normal wintering range. It is surprising that
such a conspicuous hawk should have been overlooked there until now.

Calidris subminuta (Contributed by W. G. Harvey)

Robinson & Kloss (1923) list Long-toed Stint (as Limonites minutella
subminuta) as occutting in Sumatra. However their record is not substantiated
by Chasen (1935) or King ef a/. (1975), probably because of their statement
on page 356: “As regards our own list we have recorded as Sumatran most
of the species that are found on the mud-flats of the Straits of Malacca with
one of two exceptions’. This implies that not all the Charadriiformes listed
wete actually recorded in Sumatra but were presumed to occur because they
occurred on the Malayan side of the Straits. The following record confirms
that Calidris subminuta does in fact occur in Sumatra, which lies well within
the wintering range of the species.

On 26 November 1975 I had excellent close views in good light of an
individual feeding with a party of Rufous-necked Stints Calidris ruficollis in
an atea of salt pans near Banda Aceh in the extreme north of Sumatra.
Compared with C. ruficollis it appeared distinctly smaller and slimmer, much
darker above, being brownish grey with distinct black streaks, with a more
distinct greyish band across the upper breast, and much paler legs, greenish-
grey in colour. Its call was a soft “churrup”’.

Saxicola torquata (Contributed by D. A. Holmes)

An immature Stonechat was seen on an exposed petch in a rice swamp by
the Kumpeh river below Jambi town (1° 30’ S) in south Sumatra on 26
January 1976. S. ¢. stejnegeri is a winter visitor to west and east Malaysia in
small numbers, and has recently proved to be a fairly common visitor to
south Thailand (Holmes & Wells 1975). The Stonechat is an unexpected
visitor south of the equator in this region, and an addition to the avifauna of
Indonesia.

The sight was distant and under difficult conditions of deep swamp, the
same habitat as that used by wintering birds in Thailand, with no possibility
of close approach: but the habits and stance immediately identified the bird

gl [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

as a chat. The crown was brown, the ear coverts black, with a pale buff patch
on the side of the neck. The brown back and wings were streaked dark and
there was a buff or whitish patch on the wing. The colour of the rump could
not be determined, but the black tail appeared to have a narrow white tip.
The throat was white or whitish, sharply demarcated from the breast which
was dark buff, strongly tinged rufous on either side. This graded to brownish
buff on the belly. A white throat and white tip to the tail are features that
have also been noted in Malaya (Wells pers. comm.).

Cisticola exilis (Contributed by D. A. Holmes)

A colony of Bright-capped Cisticolas was found at Serasak, to the west of
Jambi, in south Sumatra on 18 January 1976. The species is common in Java
and central Thailand but was previously unknown in the lands between.
This record, together with another from Kalimantan (see below) indicate
that the species may now be spreading into the deforested portions of the
equatorial zone. The habitat was lallang (/mperata cylindrica) grassland
bordering a swampy channel, in an area surrounded by rubber and patchy
woodland. Subsequently the song was heard at two other localities closer to
Jambi in lallang mixed with dryland annual crops.

The males were in breeding plumage and in full song, which consisted of
thin grating calls (reminiscent of some notes of Prinia flaviventris), which
intermittently are uttered more quickly and terminate in a loud sharp
“girrik”. The male had the crown an unstreaked golden rufous, a strongly
streaked mantle, buff underparts with an ill-defined rich rufous breast band,
pale rump and buff tips to the dark tail. This combination of plumage and
song is diagnostic for the species.

The terrain was shared by a small number of C7sticola juncidis, which
favoured the more swampy ground, but both species occurred together in
song flight.

[Since submitting this paper, Mr. Holmes has confirmed that C7s¢icola exilis
is acommon and widespread bird in the grass plains of Lampung province in
South Sumatra—Ed. ].

Prionochilus thoracicus (Contributed by D. A. Holmes)

A male Scarlet-breasted Flowerpecker was seen in dense rubber and
secondary forest near Pinang Sore, central Tapanuli, north Sumatra (1° 35’ N,
98° 50’ BE) on 6 July 1974. This beautiful flowerpecker was at once identified
by the black head and neck, red crown, red breast patch surrounded by
black, and a yellow patch on the lesser wing coverts.

This constitutes the first confirmed record for Sumatra. There is a skin
labelled Sumatra in the American Museum of Natural History, and pre-
sumably on the basis of this Delacour (1947) included Sumatra in its range.
However Chasen (1937) does not accept this record for neighbouring
Billiton Island, and Salomonsen (1960) believed the label to be incorrect.

KALIMANTAN
Cisticola exilis (Contributed by W. G. Harvey)
Excellent views, down to five metres, of a male Bright-capped Cisticola in
full breeding plumage were obtained in an area of long grass on damp
ground near the airport in Pontianak, west Kalimantan, on 25 February 1976.
It looked bulkier than C. juncidis, with a very distinct bright orange crown,
streaked upper parts, a plain brown rump and a uniform dark tail. The

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 92

underparts appeared uniform yellowish buff from chin to vent. The bird was
watched for about half a minute perched in full view. It then slipped into
dense herbage and a few seconds later its distinctive song was heard.

This appears to be the first record of the genus for the island of Kalimantan.

Mirafra javanica (Contributed by W. G. Harvey)

Smythies (1957, 1960) records that the Javanese Bush Lark is resident in
south Kalimantan in the neighbourhood of Banjarmasin. The following
record from Pontianak in west Kalimantan (on the equator at 109° E)
indicates a considerable extension of range.

At least four birds were singing over the short grass areas of Pontianak
airport on 25 February 1976. Although for obvious reasons I could not
investigate them closely, I know the species and its song well from Java.
The song flights were typical, an undulating flight of about 50-100 m, 15-20 m
above the ground, on rather fluttering wings. The generally streaked brown
plumage, rufous flight feathers and whitish outer tail feathers were seen on
one individual.

Lonchura punctulata (Contributed by D. A. Holmes)

On 15 December 1974 and subsequently, parties of the Scaly-breasted
Munia were seen in ricefields and lallang grass at the edge of the swamp at
Tungkap, northeast of Banjarmasin in southeast Kalimantan (3° 10’ S,
115° 05’ B). This species is common over most of the Sunda region including
the island of Bawean between Java and Kalimantan (Hoogerwerf 1963), but
has apparently never been recorded previously in Kalimantan itself.

We are grateful to D. R. Wells in Kuala Lumpur for his comments on a first draft of this
paper.

References:

Chasen, F. N. 1935. A Handlist of Malaysian Birds. Bull. Raffles Mus. 11.

— 1937. The Birds of Billiton Island. Treubia 16: 205-238.

Delacour, J. 1947. Birds of Malaysia. New York, Macmillan.

Holmes, D. A. & Wells, D. R. 1975. Further observations on the birds of south Thailand.
Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. 26: 61-78.

Hoogerwerf, A. 1963. A new race of the Spotted Munia, Lonchura punctulata (Linn.) Bull.
Brit. Orn. Cl. 83: 36.

King, B., Woodcock, M. & Dickinson, E. C. 1975. A Field Guide to the Birds of South-east
Asia. London, Collins.

Medway, Lord & Wells, D. R. 1976. The Birds of the Malay Peninsula. Vol. 5. London,
Witherby; Kuala Lumpur, University of Malaya Press.

Robinson, H. C. & Kloss, C. B. 1923. A nominal list of the birds of Sumatra. J. Fed. Malay
St. Mus. 8: 319-362.

Salomonsen, F. 1960. Notes on flowerpeckers (Aves, Dicaeidae) 1. The genera Melanocharis.
Rhamphocharis and Prionochilus. Amer. Mus. Novit. 1990: 1-28.

Smythies, B. E. 1957. An annotated checklist of the birds of Borneo. Sarawak Mus. ].7: 685.

— 1960. The Birds of Borneo. Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd.

Address: The Old Rectory, Sudborough, Kettering, Northants, England.

Weights of African birds
by James R. Karr

Received 23 March 1976

In recent years studies of a variety of ecological and evolutionary phenomena
have demonstrated the increased need for knowledge of weights of birds.

93 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

Data for tropical species especially are lacking, in particular for wet forest
species. As part of a study of the ecology of tropical forest bird communities,
I spent nearly a year in Africa in 1971 and netted birds in forest habitats in
four countries:

Liberia. 7 Feb — 3 May 1971 in three study areas within 3 km of the town of
Grassfield (7° 29’ N, 8° 34’ W) near Mt. Nimba at elevations near 500 m. 49
species, 227 weights.

Ghana. A forest converted to shrubland by the charcoal industry on the
campus of Cape Coast University near Cape Coast, Ghana (near 5° 6’ N,
1° 17’ W) was surveyed in early June 1971. 33 species, 51 weights.

Gabon. Late June and early July 1971 in forest at the Laboratoire de
Primatologie et d’Ecologie Equatoriale (C.N.R.S.) near Makokou (near
0° 35’ N, 12° 50’ BE). 31 species, 85 weights.

Kenya. July 1971 in Kakamega Forest in west Kenya, on the main tract of
an extensive study by Zimmerman (1972), centered at 0° 14’ N, 34° 51’ E.
18 species, 73 weights. Also for several days in Nov. 1971 in the coastal belt
of Kenya south of Malindi in the Sokoke Forest (4° 42’ N, 35° 51’ W). 9
species, 25 weights.

For more details of the study areas, see Karr (1976).

Although my sample sizes are generally small (96 species, 461 weights),
they are mainly of forest interior species for which there are few or no
published weight data. I have tried to discern statistically significant differ-
ences in weights for different sexes of the same species and for the same
species from different geographic areas, using the t-test and accepting the
0:05 level of significance. I assumed that no significant differences in variance
existed in the data. Since my work was aimed at studying community structure
in African forest birds, no collections were made. Determination of the sex
of birds was dependent on differences in plumage. Nomenclature follows
White (1965) and Hall & Moreau (1970).

All birds were weighed in gm with Pesola spring balances; those of less
than 25 gm live weight with a 30 gm balance, those over 25 gm witha 300 gm
model. As pointed out by Britton (1970), many early compilations of weight
data were derived from wide geographic areas and were collected by many
workers using a variety of methods over several seasons. The weights in
Table 1 have the advantage that all were obtained by one worker using the
same techniques, and so are directly comparable with each other apart from
the usual difficulties relating to diurnal variation.

Acknowledgements: Grants from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the
Smithsonian Institution provided funds for my research in Africa. The LAMCO Joint-
Venture Mining Company at Mt. Nimba, Liberia made the facilities of the Nimba Research
Laboratory available. Dr. Andre Brosset and his staff at Makokou, Gabon facilitated my
studies at Makokou. Helen Lapham helped with fieldwork in Liberia and Stuart Keith and
Alec Forbes-Watson aided me in innumerable ways in Liberia and Kenya. Drs. Douglas
and ati James and the staff of the Department of Zoology, University of Ghana, aided
me in Ghana.

References:

Britton, P. L. 1970. Some non-passerine bird weights from East Africa. Bul). Brit. Orn. Cl.
90: 142-144, 152-154.

Hall, B. P. & Moreau, R. E. 1970. An Aflas of Speciation in African Passerine Birds. British
Museum (Natural History).

Karr, J. R. (in press) 1976. Within-and between-habitat avian diversity in African and
Neotropical lowland habitats. Evo/. Monogr. 46(3).

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 94

White, C. M. N. 1965. A Revised Check List of African Non-passerine Birds. Government
Printer, Lusaka.

Zimmerman, D. A. 1972. The avifauna of the Kakamega Forest, western Kenya, including
a bird population study. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 149: 255-340.

Address: Department of Ecology, Ethology and Evolution, Vivarium Building, University
of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois 61820. U.S.A

TABLE 1
Weights of African birds

Liberia (L) = Mt. Nimba; Ghana (Gh) = Cape Coast; Gabon (Ga) = Makokou; Kenya-K
(Kk) = Kakamega; Kenya-S (Ks) = Sokoke. After each area name the number of birds
weighed is given in brackets, followed by the average and the standard deviation, followed
by the range of weights in brackets. The mean of combined data is given where means
derived for country or sex are not significantly different. Weights in gm.

Accipiter tachiro: Liberia (2) 145°5+9°19 (139°0-152°0)

Turtur brehmeri: Liberia (1) 115°5

Colius striatus: Gabon (1) 45°5

Alcedo leucogaster: Liberia (5) 14°5+0°56 (13°5-14°8)

Ceyx lecontei: Liberia (1) 10-5; Gabon (2) 9°8+0-56 (9-4, 10°2); L + Ga (3) 10-040°32

Halcyon malimbica: Liberia (1) 96-5

Buccanodon duchaillui: Liberia (1) 36°5

Pogoniulus subsulphureus: Liberia (1) 9-0

Pogoniulus bilineatus: Kenya-S (1) 10-9

Indicator maculatus: Liberia (1) 46-5

Campethera nivosa: Liberia (1g) 45-5; Ghana (1) 38-5; Gabon (1g) 34°5, (19) 36°5

Psalidoprogne nitens: Gabon (1) 9°7

Psalidoprocne obscura: Ghana (1) 10-0

enero’ barbatus: Ghana (2) 35°3+0°35 (35-0, 35°5); Gabon (1) 37-5; Gh + Ga (3)
36°0+1°29

Andropadis virens: Liberia (12) 24°9+2°79 (21°5-29°5); Ghana (3) 22°5+1:°00 (21°5-
23°5); Kenya-K (3) 23°24+3°51 (19°5-23°5): L + Gh + Kk (18) 24:242°77

Andropadis curvirostris: Ghana (2) 21°5--1°41 (20°5, 22°5); Kenya-K (3) 24:0+2:29
(21°5-26°0); Gh + Kk (5) 23-0+2°23

Andropadis latirostris: Liberia (27) 27-02-48 (23 -5-32:0); Gabon (11) 27-61-82 (24°5-
29°5); Kenya-K (22) 27°5-2°02 (25:0-30°5); L + Ga + Kk (60) 27-3+2:18

Andropadis mazukuensis: Kenya-K (1) 23-0

Chlorocichla simplex: Ghana (1) 46°5

Chlorocichla flaviventris: Kenya-S (1) 43°6

Criniger barbatus: Liberia (3) 45-20-60 (44° 5-45°7)

Criniger chloronotus: Gabon (2) 48-0+2-12 (46-5, 49°5)

Criniger caluras: Liberia (4) 37°8+4:°50 (33°2-43°0); Gabon (3) 28:0+3:°96 (25 :0-32°5)

Bleda syndactyla: Liberia (4) 50°5+5°52 (46-0-58-5); Gabon (6) 46-7+3° 73, (43°5-51°5)3
Kenya-K (3) 46°8+3-78 (42°5-49°5); L + Ga + Kk (13) 47-944:36

Bleda eximia: Liberia (4) 50°3+0°86 (49°5-51-5); Gabon (4) 35:7+1°25 (34°5-37° 5)

oe ES sane (2g) 50°24+2°47 (48°5, §2°0); (19) 43°53 (3 unsexed) 42°7+6-00
36-5~48°

Phyllastrephus fisheri: Kenya-K (2) 26°3-+0°35 (26-0, 26-5); Kenya-S (8) 29:5+2:06
(27-1-32°6); Kk + Ks (10) 28-92-26

Phyllastrephus icterinus: Liberia (11) 20°8+1°99 (17°5-23:0); Gabon (9) 18-4+2:20
(15 *5-22°5)

Phyllastrephus Fe Ghana (2) 29°0-+2:°12 (27°5, 30°5)

Phyllastrephus debilis: Kenya-S (5) 13°6+1°24 (11°9-15°1)

Nicator chloris: Liberia (1) 38+2

Laniarius barbarus: Ghana (2) 44°8+2°47 (43:0, 46°5)

Laniarius aethiopicus: Ghana (1) 61°5

Malconotus sulphureopectus: Ghana (2) 30°5+1°41 (29°5, 31°5)

Cercotrichas leucostictus: Liberia (1) 24:0

Cercotrichas quadrivirgata: Kenya-S (2) 22°8+2°33 (21-1, 24°4)

Alethe poliocephala: Liberia (8) 35°9+2°55 (31°0-39° 0); Gabon (1) 32:5; Kenya-K (7)
28-4+1°21 (27°5-32°5); L + Ga (9) 35°5+6°98

Alethe diademata: Liberia (6) 33°5+1:°78 (31°5-35°5); Gabon (3) 33°8-+0°57 (33°5-34°5);
L + Ga (9) 33°6+1°44

95 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

Stiphrornis erythrothorax: Liberia (2g) 16°4+0°84 (15-8, 17°70); 3(Q) 15°8+0°75 (15:0-
16-5); (7 unsexed) 15°8+ 0°87 (14°3-17°0); Gabon (23) 17°5+1°41 (16°5, 18°5);
(12) 16-0; L + Ga (15) 16-10°97

Cossypha cyanocompter: Kenya-K (1) 26°5

Cossypha natalensis: Kenya-S (1) 32°1

Sheppardia cyornithopsis: Liberia (4) 16°8+3°31 (13°8-21°5)

Sheppardia aequitorialis: Kenya-K (4) 15-40-69 (14°5—16-2)

Sheppardia gunningi: Kenya-S (1) 15-9

Neocossyphus poensis: Liberia (4) 54°5+4°74 (47°5-58-0)

ee. Liberia (3) 38-6+2°51 (37°0-41°5); Gabon (1) 32-5; L + Ga (4)
37°143°67

Trichastoma fulvescens: Liberia (5) 23°9+1°85 (21:0-26-0); Ghana (2) 28-5+2°82 (26°5,
30°5); Gabon (6) 24°8+2°25 (22°5—-28°5); Kenya-K (1) 30-5; L + Ga (11) 24°4+
4°12

Trichastoma rufipennis: Liberia (1) 255; Kenya-K (4) 20°3+0°96 (19-5—-21-3)

Trichastoma albipectus: Kenya-K (2) 30°8+2°47 (29:0-32°5)

Trichastoma cleaveri: Liberia (2) 27°-0+1°41 (26-0, 28-0); Gabon (4) 32°243-12 (28-5-
36-0); L + Ga (6) 30°5+3-66

Trichastoma rufescens: Liberia (2) 36°3+2°47 (34°5-38-0)

Cisticola erythrops: Ghana (1) 13°7

Prinia leucopogon: Gabon (1g) 14°0; (12) 10°7

Prinia bairdi: Kenya-K (2) 11°8+0°63 (11-3, 12°2)

Apalis flavida: Ghana (3) 9:0+ 1-00 (8-0, 10°0)

Bathmocercus cerviniventris: Kenya-K (2) 19°2+0°70 (18°7, 19-7)

Camaroptera brevicaudata: Liberia (2) 11°5+0°49 (11-1, 11°8); Ghana (1) 11-0; Kenya-S
(3) 8-90-78 (8-4-9°8); L + Gh (3) 11°30°33

Sh cat chloronota: Liberia (13) 11°2+1°00 (9*5-12°3); Ghana (1) 12°3; Gabon (1)

1*3; Kenya-K (2) 9‘0+ 1°41 (8-7, 10:0); L + Gh + Ga (15) 11°4+0°95

Syoietta virens: Ghana (2) 8-00-49 (7:6, 8-3)

Macrosphenus concolor: Liberia (1) 13°7

Macrosphenus kempi: Ghana (1) 14°5

Hiylia prasina: Liberia (7) 11°6+1°31 (10°5-13°5)

Muscicapa olivascens: Liberia (2) 15-50-70 (15°7, 16-0)

Muscicapa sethsmithi: Gabon (2) 8-4+0-63 (7°9, 8°8)

Myioparus griseogularis: Liberia (2) 11°4+0°35 (11°2, 11°7)

Melaenornis edoloides: Ghana (1) 59° 5

Platysteira cyanea: Liberia (23) 13-9-+0°56 (13°5, 14°3); (19) 14°33 5 + 2 (3) 14°0+0°46

Platysteira concreta: Liberia (23) 13+2+0°49 (12°8, 13°5); (29) 12°8+0-00 (12°8, 12°8);
Gabon (1) 12-0

Platysteira blissetti: Ghana (1g) 12-0; Kenya-K (39) 11°40°36 (11-0-11°7); Gh + Kk
(4d) 11°6+0°41

Platysteira castanea: Liberia (23) 12-6+0°77 (12°0-13°1); (12) 12°3; Gabon (1g) 13°5;
L + Ga (3d) 12°9+0°77

Trochocercus nigromitratus: Liberia (23) 10°0--0-00 (10-0, 10°0); (12) 10°8; (2 unsexed)
9*1+0-28 (8-9, 9°3)

Trochocercus cyanomelas: Kenya-S (23) 10°40:*28 (10°2, 10°6); (12) 9-9

Terpsiphone rufiventer: Liberia (10) 15°1--1° ini eis

Terpsiphone rufocinerea (batesi): Gabon (1) 16

Anthreptes fraseri: Liberia (2¢) 10°7+0°91 tic: 0, 11°3); Gabon (29) 11°70°77 (11°2,
12°3); (2 unsexed) 10°2-++0°70 (9-7, 10°7)

Nectarinia cuprea: Ghana (19) 8-3

iste sets an Liberia (2g) 5-20-28 (5°0-5-4); Ghana (12) 5-0; L + Gh (3)

3+0°3

Nectarinia peeninalie> Ghana (13) 13° 73 (52) 23 *5

Nectarinia olivacia: Liberia (5$) 9:9+0°92 (8°5-10°8); (52) 8-10°32 (7°7-8°5); (6
unsexed) 9°4-+1-10 a af Gabon (53) 10°50°36 (10:0-11°0); (49) 9°:24+0°51
(8-6-9°8); Kenya-K (2g) 11-20-63 (10°7, 11-6); (22) 9°8+0°49 (9°5, 10°2); L +
Ga+Kk (123) 10°4+0:78; L + Kk (7 unsexed) 9°4+1:02

Ploceus nigricollis: Ghana (3) 25°8+2:°08 (23°5-27°5)

Ploceus cucullatus: Ghana (1g) 32°5

Amblyspiza albifrons: Ghana (12) 31°

Passer griseus: Ghana (2) 28-o+2-12 (06: 5, 29°5)

Parmoptila woodhousei: Liberia (4g) 10°50°41 (10°0-11°0); (29) 10°1-- 0°07 (10°0, 10°);
(6 $4-9) 10°3+0°38

Nigrita cani:apilla: Ghana (1) 15-0

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 96

Nigrita bicolor: Ghana (1) 10° 5

Spermophaga haematina: Liberia (33) 20°4-+0°81 (19° 8—21-3); (29) 21-8 +1:°90 (20° 4, 23-2);
Ghana (24) 23°5-1°41 (22°5, 24°5); (12) 24°5; Gabon (19) 2175; (19) 23°5

Spermophaga ruficapilla: Kenya-K (6) 22°8+2:06 (21+5-25°5)

Lagonosticta senegala: Ghana (12) 9°8

Lagonosticta rufopicta: Ghana (2) 11°1-0°49 (10°8, 11°5)

Lagonosticta rubricata: Ghana (1) 10°2

Esstrilda troglodytes: Ghana (1) 8° 5

Esstrilda atricapilla: Gabon (1) 7°8

Oriolus brachyrhynchus: Gabon (1) 45°5

Dicrurus ludvigii: Liberia (1) 46-0

Occurrence of the Madagascar Squacco Heron
Ardeola idae in Central Africa
by A. Prigogine
Received 23 March 1976

After its breeding season, from October to March, the Madagascar Squacco
Heron Ardeola idae disappears from its breeding grounds, migrating to
other regions of Madagascar (Milon ef a/. 1973) or to Zanzibar! and to East
and Central Africa, especially to Rwanda and Zaire. Chapin (1932) notes
that it is present in mainland Africa 22 May-—20 Oct, including specimens
collected in East Africa.

Following a study of the populations of Ardeo/a ralloides in Central Africa
(Prigogine in press), I had the opportunity to examine the fine series of A.
idae preserved in the Musée royal de l’Afrique Centrale, at Tervuren, and I
found that, in reality, its status in Central Africa is not so simple as previously
accepted.

The collection at Tervuren includes 25 specimens collected in Zaire and
in Rwanda at the following localities and dates:

Kivu (Zaire): Butembo (1 Jan), Kamituga (3, 5 and 20 June, 15 July, 3,
11 and 16 Sep), Lulenga (23 Nov), Lake Mokoto (30 Aug—z specimens);

Kasai oriental (Zaire): Kabinda (11 July), Lusambo (25 May), Merode
(3 May, 11 Aug);

Rwanda: Astrida (Feb, 4 May, May, June, 15 Aug, 15 and 20 Dec),
Gisagara (Nov), Kigali (26 June), Kisenyi (no date).

As A. zdae is known from Zambia (Benson ef a/. 1971), it is strange that
it has only been encountered once in Shaba (at Moba—Chapin 1932). Yet
on 19 July 1968, a native brought to me, at Lubumbashi, two A. zdae
captured near Kasenga, where these birds were said to be very numerous at
that time. Chapin (1956) noted this heron at Tshibati, during the dry season
from June to August, and Curry-Lindahl (1960) observed one individual
4-6 Feb near Astrida.

Schouteden (1953, 1966, 1968) has recorded birds, identified without
doubt as A. édae, from Central Africa taken during the months in which
breeding occurs in Madagascar, but all six are in first winter plumage (see
table). There are indeed no specimens in the typical breeding dress anywhere
recorded and this is surely proof that there is no breeding in Central Africa.

The following table shows the distribution by month of the specimens in
the Tervuren collection, separately for adult birds and for young birds in
first winter plumage:

97 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

Month
Loft (A, SWE WV) NA MEV > IX... % SL
Winter plumage 2 4 I
First winter plumage I I 4 3 I I 2 2 2
Total I I 4 5 I 5 3 2 2

It may be concluded that some young birds remain in Central Africa and
do not return to Madagascar in September or October. These young birds
are easily confused in the field with the Palaearctic population of the Squacco
Heron Ardeola ralloides ralloides which arrives in Zaire in November and
remains in Central Africa until March. Thus it is possible that even during its
off season A. idea may be commoner in Zaire and Rwanda than these few
records suggest.

It may be noted that 7 adult Tervuren specimens have a wing length of
230-254 mm (mean 245 mm), longer than the wing length given in standard
books (e.g. Mackworth-Praed & Grant 1970), but 17 specimens in first
winter plumage are notably smaller, 211-244 mm (mean 227 mm).

1C, W. Benson (in /itt.) very kindly drew my attention to an A. idae specimen from Mafia
Island, collected 22 Feb 1915, found quite recently in the British Museum (Meinertzhagen
collection). It is in almost complete breeding dress except for very few winter feathers on
the mantle. Thus it seems possible that a breeding population of A. idae exists also on
Mafia Island.

References:

Benson, C. W., Brooke, R. K., Dowsett, R. J. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1971. The Birds of Zambia.
Collins, London.

Chapin, J. P. 1932. The Birds of the Belgian Congo, part 1. Bul/. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.
65: 1-756.

— 1956. Les oiseaux et les saisons prés de Lwiro. Fo/. Scient. Afr. Centr. 2(1): 3-5.

Curry-Lindahl, K. 1960. Ecological studies on mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians in
the eastern Belgian Congo. Ann. Mus. Congo Belge, 8°, Sc. zool. 87: 1-170.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1970. African Handbook of Birds, Series I,
Vol. I. Longman, London.

Milon, Ph., Petter, J.-J. & Randrianasolo, G. 1973. Faune de Madagascar, XX XV. Oiseaux.
ORSTOM, Tananarive.

Prigogine, A. in press. Les populations du Héron crabier Ardeola ralloides (Scopoli) au
Zaire, Rwanda et Burundi. Gerfaut.

Schouteden, H. 1953. Le Héron crabier de Madagascar (Ardeola idae) au Congo belge.
Rev. Zool, Bot. afr. 48: 294-296.

— 1966. La faune ornithologique du Rwanda. Doc. zool. Mus. Afr. Centr. 10: 1-130.

— 1968. La faune ornithologique du Kivu. I. Non passereaux. Doc. zool. Mus. Afr. Centr.
12: 1-168.

Address: Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Rue Vautier 31, B 1040
Bruxelles, Belgium.

Earliest Record of the Torres Strait Pigeon
Ducula spilorrboa from Lord Howe Island,
with comments on the subspecies me/villensis
by Murray D. Bruce
Received 14 April 1976

Roy Bell collected on Lord Howe Island for two years on behalf of G. M.
Mathews and at The Pines on 14 October 1913 took a ‘White Pigeon’

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 98

which he had been after for some time and which was supposed to have been
present for some four years (per J. L. McKean). The specimen (No. 611383)
is an adult male Torres Strait Pigeon Ducula spilorrhoa in the collections of
the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Rand (1941) briefly
mentions the record in his revision of the species, but otherwise the record
has been overlooked (e.g. by Fullager ez. a/. 1974). The record is the southern-
most not only for the species but for the genus, the normal range extending
only to eastern Queensland (Crome 1975), and this occurrence on Lord Howe
Island must be regarded as accidental, though one might not have expected
a vagrant to remain for four years. This pigeon has decreased greatly in
numbers in the last 50 years and the likelihood of such vagrancy recurring
is remote. Large flocks may still congregate in southern New Guinea (cf.
Bell 1967: 70) and a ringing recovery 850 km from the original site was
reported by Purchase (1975).

Rand & Gilliard (1968: 170) questioned whether D. s. melvillensis was
distinguishable from nominate spz/orrhoa. Storr (1973: 48) placed Queensland
birds under spz/orrhoa, thus following Peters (1937: 50). Condon (1975 : 163),
on the other hand, recognised me/villensis, as had Mayr (1941: 43), following
Rand (1941: 4). Rand’s differentiation of the subspecies (which differ on
average only slightly in size) was primarily based on the degree of white or
pale yellowish (spz/orrhoa) and yellowish (subjflavescens) to greyish (¢arara)
shading in the plumage. Me/vi/lensis differs from spi/orrhoa “in having the
head distinctly gray-tinged” (Rand 1941: 5), a feature that is even more
distinct in /arara. This grey tinge of the head is quite distinct in fresh skins
(McKean zm Uitt.), and is well marked in the AMNH material examined,
although the grey in the plumage of some specimens appears attributable to
dirt, stains and possible foxing. On this basis the subspecies me/villensis may
be recognised; although it represents an intermediate stage in plumage
characters, it is in fact the slightly smaller of the four subspecies :—

subflavescens (Bismarck Archipelago; Admiralty Islands);

nominate spz/orrhoa (islands around New Guinea and parts of the New
Guinea mainland);

melvillensis (S.E. New Guinea—Hall Sound region; northern Australia,
with regular migratory movements between New Guinea and Queens-
land; Lord Howe Island);

tarara (south New Guinea—Merauke to Fly River).

I am grateful to J. L. McKean of the C.S.I.R.O., Australia, for assistance with information
on Lord Howe Island records and material available to him in Canberra; Mrs. M. K. LeCroy
of the A.M.N.H., New York, for assistance during my visit there; also J. F. Monk for
helpful comments on the manuscript.

References:

Bell, H. L. 1967. Bird life of the Balimo Sub-district, Papua. Evu 67: 57-79.

iar we T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia, Part 1. Non-Passerines. Melbourne:

Crome, F. H. J. 1975. Breeding, feeding and status of the Torres Strait Pigeon at Low Isles,
north-eastern Queensland. Emu 75: 189-198.

Fullager, P. J., McKean, J. L., & van Tets, G. F. 1974. Report on the birds. Appendix F,
pp. 55-72. Jn, H. F. Recher & S. S. Clark (eds.), Environmental survey of Lord Howe
Island. Sydney: Aust. Mus. 86pp.

Mayr, E. 1941. List of New Guinea Birds. New York: AMNH.

Peters, J. L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.

Purchase, D. 1975. Letter to the editor. New Guinea Bird Soc. Newsletter 105: 4.

Rand, A. L. 1941. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 32. New and interesting birds
from New Guinea. Amer. Mus. Novit. 1102: 1-15.

99 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

Rand, A. L. & Gilliard, E. T. 1968. Handbook of New Guinea Birds. New York: Nat. Hist.
Press.
Storr, G. M. 1973. List of Queensland Birds. Spec. Publ. W. Aust. Mus. 5: 1-177.

Address: clo Dept. of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park
West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024, U.S.A.

The vocalizations of the
Green Longtail Urolais epichlora

by L.. G. Grimes
Received 6 May 1976

The Green Longtail Uro/ais epichlora is endemic to most montane forest areas
of Cameroun, Eastern Nigeria and the island of Fernando Po. During an
eight day stay on Mount Cameroun, beginning 30 December 1974, I recorded
its song, contact note and some alarm notes, using a Phillips cassette tape-
recorder (Model 2205) with a microphone (Phillips EL 1980/03) placed at
the focus of a parabola (0-6 m in diameter). Sonograms of sections of these
recordings were made using a Kaye Sonograph (Model 66]A) operating in
the wide band mode.

ANAAAANS
or i

KH
an
6

KH
"4

28 DECEMBER 1975

lic <= oy nS Ree tae APR a a
10) 025 O:5. SEG

Figure 1. Diagrammatic sound spectograms of the contact note (a) and alarm calls (b & c)
used by Urolais epichlora..Cameroun, Dec. 1974—Jan. 1975.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 100

KH
12

{
g— (a)

6
KH
(a

ap
—
les
|

a Qe

a | (b) |
KHy © |
4

: |

g— (c)

|
i
|

hh

O 025 0-5 SEC

Figure 2. Diagrammatic sound spectrograms of the territorial song of Urolais epichlora.
Those illustrated in (a) and (b) were obtained from the recordings of Chappuis (1974);
those in (c), (d) and (e) from recordings made on 8 January 1975, probably of the
same male, at 1860 m on Mount Cameroun.

The Longtail was common at all elevations in the montane forest, and also
occurred as low as 1200 m in grassy thickets within the eucalyptus plantation
near Buea. Adults with dependent young (small replicas of the adults) were
located in the plantation and within the forest belt below 1830 m. Family
parties located higher on the mountain contained birds with short tails,
which may have been immatures or else adults in tail moult. Unfortunately
I failed to find any nests.

During the first few days on the mountain I kept on hearing an unfamiliar
shrill call (Fig. 1a) from birds hidden within the canopy. These were even-
tually identified as Longtails and as far as I could judge they used the call to
maintain contacts with a foraging party. Sonograms of a number of separate

IOl [Bul/. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

recordings of this call showed that there was little variation in the frequency/

time profile of the notes, and playback of the call produced no visible

response in foraging Longtails. I also recorded in the eucalyptus plantation

alarm calls (Fig. 1b, c) of adults when with dependent young: they contained

a second harmonic not shown in the figure. Neither of these contact or

alarm calls are on the disc produced by Chappuis (1974) nor appear to be
- mentioned in the literature.

The (assumed) male adult Longtail has a distinctive “‘chipping” song

which consists of the repetition of the same note (Fig. 2) and appears to be
mainly territorial in function. The frequency/time profile of the note is
complex and differs between males and probably varies in a given male (Fig.
2c, d, e): but no birds were ringed for identification. The song is not of great
intensity but once learnt could be picked up at distances of 60 m or more. At
dawn and dusk on each day of my stay three males sang from separate
canopies near my camp at Hut 1 (1830 m). Singing, however, also occurred
during the day, either from a song perch within the canopy or as the male
moved slowly through it. The response of the male to playback of its song
or that of another male was most marked. Without fail it was possible to
bring an unseen singing male from the canopy to ground cover where it
would continue to sing in response, flicking its wings audibly often with its
tail cocked over its back. Wing flicking and tail cocking were never noted
when males were singing in the canopy and these are presumably intense
forms of territorial display. Other Longtails foraging in the canopy would
not respond to the playback and remained in the canopy. There was no
suggestion, either from the tape recordings and sonograms or from field
_ observations, that duetting is a part of the vocal repertoire.

White (1962) placed the Green Longtail in the genus Prinia and more
_ recently Chappuis (1974) has suggested that vocally it has affinities with the
' genus Apalis, although no details of his reasoning are given. Until its nest
is described it is probably best to leave it in the monotypic genus Uro/ais. It
| is hoped, however, that the vocalization data in this paper will be made use of
as additional information in any future comparative study of its taxonomic
' position.

Acknowledgements: 1 am grateful to the Frank M. Chapman Fund for financing my visit
| to Cameroun and to the Revs. L. Martin and L. Scheffle for help during my stay at Buea. I
_ thank Mr. F. Walsh for commenting on the original script.

References:

_ Chappuis, C. 1974. Illustration sonore de problemes bioacoustiques poses par les oiseaux de
la zone Ethiopienne. A/auda 42(4): 467-500.

| Smith, W. J. 1970. The acquisition and functions of vocal behaviour. Science 167: 39-41.

| White, C. M. N. 1962. A check list of the Ethiopian Muscicapidae (Sylviinae), Parts 2, 3
Occ. Pap. Natn. Mus. S. Rhod. 26B: 653-694, 695-738.

| Address: Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancs. FY7 8JW.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 102

Further on subspeciation in the Red-billed Oxpecker
Buphagus erythrorbynchus
by P. A. Clancey

Received 28 June 1976

The subspecific variation of the Red-billed Oxpecker Buphagus erythrorhynchus
(Stanley) of eastern and southern Africa from the Sudan, Ethiopia and
Somalia, south to southeastern Angola and Natal and Zululand was last
considered by Clancey & Lawson (1961) and Clancey (1962). The species
was originally shown to exhibit subspecifically significant variation by Grote
(1927), whose findings were adopted by Sclater (1930), but not by some
later workers. Since 1962 two additional subspecies of this oxpecker have
been proposed from southern Africa: B. e. angolensis Pinto, 1968, from
Cuando-Cubango in southeastern Angola (Pinto 1968), and B. e. bestiarum
Brooke, 1970, from southeastern Rhodesia (Brooke 1970). Brooke, in
Benson ef al. (1970), acknowledged the discreteness of angolensis, but the
mote recently proposed bestiarum has not yet been commented on. This last
taxon was proposed on the basis of a relatively short series, mainly from
Chipisi, c. 96:5 km east of Beit Bridge, near the confluence of the Bubye and
Limpopo R., on the border between Rhodesia and the northern Transvaal.
Chipisi, which is the type locality of the taxon, lies relatively close to those of
B. e. caffer Grote, 1927: Palala R., northern Transvaal, a south bank affluent
of the Limpopo R., which it joins at 23° 05’ S., 27° 53’ E., and B.e. scotinus
Clancey & Lawson, 1961: Panda, Inhambane district, Mozambique, at
24° 02’ S., 34° 45’ E., just north of the lower Limpopo flood plain. From
this it will be appreciated that the three names applicable to eastern southern
African populations, namely, caffer, bestiarum and scotinus, are all loosely
associated with the middle and lower reaches of a single river, the Limpopo.

Subspecifically significant variation in B. erythrorynchus is relatively slight,
affecting general size, the colouration of the face, chin and upper fore-throat,
levels of saturation over the upper- and under-parts, and the colour of the
tail. Despite what has been stated at various times, individual variation in
single populations is highly conservative, but elucidation of both this and
geographically correlated variation is rendered difficult for the following
reasons: (a) series from single localities are both rarely long enough and
comprised in the main of adult birds, (b) the taxonomically significant
vatiation is only partially shown by juvenile and immature birds, (c) the
species is subject to much carbon and soil discolouration through contact
with soiled pelage of its mammalian hosts, and (d) being exposed to the
strong African sun most of the day, birds fade and wear rapidly. Foxing in
museum skins is a slow process and not a major problem in the present
species.

Variation in the Red-billed Oxpecker in southern and central Africa
corresponds well to that exhibited by a whole range of similarly distributed
polytypic passerines and small non-passerines : populations of dark and some-
what small-sized birds in the humid eastern lowlands and parts of the im-
mediate interior, with paler, less saturated, elements replacing them in the
drier (xeric) interior, while, in turn, size increases markedly in southern
Angola, southwestern Zambia, northeastern South West Africa, Caprivi
and northern Botswana. A re-examination of my (1962) arrangement of the
populations into races in the light of the description of B. e. angolensis in 1968

103 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

and B. e. bestiarum in 1970, using now a series of just under 100 specimens,
indicates the necessity of recasting the ranges of B. e. caffer and B. e. scotinus,
with only three subspecies being admitted south of the ranges of the northern
B. e. erythrorhynchus and B. e. invictus, making five subspecies in all for the
species concerned.

B. e. bestiarum was described as differing from caffer in being generally
paler, colder and duller, with the throat pale pinkish grey, the breast dull
brown without the olive (wash) of caffer, and above grey-brown, without an
olive wash. The pale pinkish grey throat was said to serve to distinguish
B. e. bestiarum from all other races of the species. The 7ype of this taxon has
not been available to me, but three paratopotypes from Chipisi taken at the
same time cannot be distinguished from a series in comparable dress of B. e.
scotinus from the lowlands of Mozambique taken in 1960, 1966 and 1971.
Taken as a unit, all reasonably fresh adult bestiarum are as dark and suffused
with olive over the upper-parts, dark over the face, chin and upper fore-
throat, and deeply coloured below as a series of scotinus in the Durban
Museum from Panda, Massinga and Rumbagaga, localities in Sul do Save,
Mozambique, and are taxonomically indistinguishable from this sub-
species. In so far as the Chipisi specimens are concerned, I cannot discern the
pale pinkish colour attributed to them in the original diagnosis, and actually
find such specimens darker throated and breasted than fresh B. e. caffer from
the western Transvaal (Northam) and a range of localities in eastern Bots-
wana. From these findings I conclude that B. e. bestiarum will require to be
merged with the earlier B. ¢. scotinus, the range of which will need to be
adjusted from that laid down in 1962, namely, the humid coastlands of eastern
Africa from Mozambique, north to Kenya, to read as follows: Mozambique,
(? and northeastern Zululand), Rhodesia east of caffer, Zambia east of
angolensis, Malawi, southeastern Zaire, Rwanda, Burundi, southern Uganda
and Kenya south of B. e. erythrorhynchus and B. e. invictus.

B. e. scotinus differs from both B. e. erythrorhynchus (Stanley), 1814: northern
Ethiopia, and B. e. invictus Clancey, 1962: Garissa, Tana R., Kenya, in being
much darker over the face, chin and upper fore-throat, and more saturated
throughout. In size it is similar to the nominate subspecies, but is much
larger than the small-sized, pallid znvictus.

B. e. caffer was erected largely on the basis of a size difference in comparison
with the nominate race, the Type being from Palala R., in the western Trans-
vaal. In my 1962 summary of the races I used this name for the interior
populations ranging from the southern aspects of the Kenyan highlands
south to the Transvaal and Natal. The present assessment of the variation
now shows that caffer has a much more restricted distribution, and that many
populations of scotinus were incorrectly assigned to it. Topotypical examples
of caffer differ from the contiguous race, scotinus, in being colder and greyer
dorsally, with the face, chin and upper fore-throat lighter and greyer (about
the Light Drab of Ridgway (1912), pl. xlvi, versus greyish Buffy Brown (pl.
xl) in scotinus), and the rest of the venter less saturated. With the elimination
of the species from large areas of southeastern Africa through cattle-dipping,
the use of insecticidal sprays and game eradication it is not easy to assess the
former extent of the range of caffer, but nowadays it extends from the eastern
aspects of the Kalahari, in Botswana, east to the northwestern Orange Free
State, the Transvaal, and the low rainfall areas of northwestern Rhodesia
(Wankie, Matetsi). In former times it extended well south of this over the
Orange Free State and Natal, but has now all but disappeared from these

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 104

provinces, though still present in some numbers in game reserves in northern
Zululand, where, however, the birds appear to be nearer scotinus than caffer,
but apparently showing characters of their own (darker fore-throat and
breast, more ochraceous-buff belly, and with cinnamon wedging to the
second and third outer rectrices), if the aged material available can be relied
upon.

When Pinto named B. e. angolensis he compared his Okavango R., Angola,
material with ten skins from Sul do Save, which he considered to represent
caffer, but which were in fact scotinus, which latter taxon was not mentioned.
B. e. angolensis was described as resembling ‘“‘caffer” = scotinus in colour,
differing in its greater size, even though the figures given in the original
description: 121-136, versus 119-124 mm, show a considerable measure of
overlap. However, as will be appreciated from the mensural data (Table I),

TABLE sr.

The wing-length (mm) variable in B. erythrorhynchus populations occurring to the south of
the ranges of nominate B. erythrorhynchus and B. e. invictus.

Population IN Range Mean SD Se
B. e. ? subsp.
Zululand 2 114, 116°5
B. e. caffer

W. Transvaal, Botswana
and N.W. Rhodesia 15 116° 5-123°5 120-3 2°28 0-59

B. e. caffer 2 B. e. scotinus
E. Transvaal II I19—-124 P27 +2 1°66 0°50

B. e. scotinus

S. Mozambique 12 T18-124°5 120°4 2°29 0°66
Rhodesia 13 116°5-124°5 120°8 2°50 0:69
Zambia and Tanzania ii 118+ 5-125 yor=s 2°O1 0°76

B. e. angolensis
N.W. Botswana, Caprivi
and S.W. Zambia 5 125-132 126-9 2°88 126

the wing-length spectrum in adults of the present oxpecker lies between 5
and 8-5 mm, which indicates that Pinto’s paratypical series of angolensis
comprised several immature birds. My measurements of adults from the
range of angolensis suggest that the size distinction separating angolensis and
Scotinus is in all probability more sharply defined than suspected by the original
author, angolensis having wings 125-132, versus 116+5-125 in scotinus and
116*5—123°5 mm in caffer.

Compared with true B. e. caffer from the western Transvaal and eastern
Botswana, angolensis differs in being more olive tinged above, less grey,
darker and browner over the face, chin and upper fore-throat, slightly more
saturated ventrally, and in having the wing-length in adult birds much
greater. The range of B. e. angolensis is from Cuando-Cubango,~ Angola,
and northeastern South West Africa, east to Caprivi, the Okavango Swamp
region of northwestern Botswana, and Barotseland and the western part of

?
“,

A

105 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

the Southern Province of Zambia. Its influence can also be detected in the
northwestern Rhodesian sample.

In the above discussion I have not taken into consideration the contentious
name Buphaga Africanoides A. Smith, 1831: Natal, the availability of which
was discussed by Clancey (1968, 1969) and Benson & Hall (1969). As stated
in a footnote to Bu//. B.O.C., 89 (2) (1969): 38, this matter was duly sub-
mitted to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature at a
time when the terms of Article 23 (b) of the Code were under critical review
and immediately prior to the publication of Declaration 43, in which Article
23 (b) was repeated. In a letter dated 14 June 1971, the Secretary of the
Commission, Mr. R. V. Melville, informed me that Smith’s africanoides is a
nomen oblitum in terms of the said Article, and that as its existence was
made known prior to the adoption of Declaration 43 in December 1970
(I.C.Z.N. 1970), it can only be re-established as a valid name by the Com-
mission exercising its plenary powers. In the light of Mr. Melville’s other
comments, and on account of the fact that a Natal population of this
oxpecker now hardly exists, I have not felt it necessary to take the requisite
steps to have Smith’s long over-looked name validated.

To summarize: my 1962 revision of the species is adjusted in the light of
the description of two additional subspecific taxa: B. e. angolensis (1968) and
B. e. bestiarum (1970). B. e. angolensis is recognised, while B. e. bestiarum is
merged with B. e. scotinus, the range of which is enlarged to cover the
populations ranging from the southern aspects of the Kenya highlands,
south to southern Mozambique. B. e. caffer is now interpreted as a dry
country race, extending from the eastern Kalahari, east to western Rhodesia
and the Transvaal, and with a former more extensive range to the southward.

References:

Benson, C. W. & Hall, B. P. 1969 Buphaga Africanoides A. Smith, 1831 a nomen oblitum?
Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 89 (2): 38.

Benson, C. W., Brooke, R. K., Dowsett, R. J. & Stuart Irwin, M. P. 1970. Notes on the
Birds of Zambia: Part V. Arnoldia Rhod. 4 (40): 40-42.

Brooke, R. K. 1970. Jn Benson, Brooke, Dowsett & Irwin, Notes on the Birds of Zambia:
Part V. Arnoldia Rhod., 4 (40): 41.

Clancey, P. A. 1962. An additional race of Buphagus erythrorhynchus (Stanley) from the
Somali Arid District. Bu//. Brit. Orn. Cl. 81 (1): 19, 20.

— 1968. On the name of a race of Buphagus erythrorhynchus (Stanley). Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl.
88 (8): 135, 172.

— 1969. Buphaga Africanoides A. Smith, 1831 a nomen oblitum? Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 89 (2): 38.

Clancey, P. A. & Lawson, W. J. 1961. On the polytypic variation of the Red-billed Ox-
pecker Buphagus erythrorhynchus (Stanley), with the characters of a new subspecies.
Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 81 (7): 128-131.

Grote, H. 1927. Buphagus caffer erythrorhynchus, subsp. nov. Ornith. Monatsber. 35: 13.

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 1970. Declaration 43, Repeal of
Article 23 (b). Bull. Zool. Nomencl. 27: 135-163. |

Pinto, A. A. da Rosa. 1968. Algumas formas novas para Angola e outras para a Ciencia
descobertas no distrito Cuando-Cubango (Angola). Bonner Zool. Beitr. 19: 280-288.

Ridgway, R. 1912. Color Standards and Color Nomenclature. Washington.

Sclater, W. L. 1930. Systema Avium Aethiopicarum, part 2: 671. London.

Address: Durban Museum, Smith St., Durban, 4001, S. Africa.

[Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 106
Agapornis swinderniana in Ghana

by D. W. Snow

Received 28 June 1976

The Black-collared Lovebird Agapornis swinderniana, the only member of its
genus confined to humid evergreen forest, is widely distributed in the
Cameroun and Congo forest region and known from a few localities in
Liberia about 2000 km to the west. The Liberian population, nominate
swinderniana, differs in colour from the Cameroun race, zenkeri, having a
much less bright and less extensive suffusion of red or orange below the
black of the. collar.

While examining specimens of Agapornis in the British Museum (Natural
History) I found a specimen of A. swinderniana collected by Boyd Alexander,
labelled “‘Sheramassi, Gold Coast Colony” and dated/10 February 1902. In
colour it resembles specimens from Liberia, about 900 km to the west,
except that the orange suffusion on the hind neck and breast is a good deal
stronger and mote extensive. In this it tends towards zenkeri. The ends of the
flight-feathers have been cut cleanly off, as though with scissors, suggesting
that the bird may have been in captivity. Boyd Alexander collected in the
Gold Coast (Ghana) between September 1901 and May 1902, but not very
extensively as he was engaged in military operations. He had earlier made a
very thorough collection in the country. Details of his itinerary appear not
to be known, but he was apparently moving slowly northwards between
February and April. There is a specimen from ““Gugu” collected on 6 Febru-
ary, then the ‘‘Sheramassi’”’ specimen, and then none until 4 — 11 March,
when specimens were collected at Kintampo (8° 06’ N, 1° 40’ W). On 18
April specimens were collected at Gambaga (10° 31’ N, 0° 22’ W). Boyd
Alexander labelled these two latter localities ‘‘“Gold Coast hinterland’’,
whereas Sheramassi and Gugu were labelled “Gold Coast Colony”’.

For locating for me the probable position of Sheramassi I am indebted to
Dr. Llewellyn Grimes, recently of the University of Ghana, who points out
(zn litt.) that Boyd Alexander was clearly using a phonetic spelling. There is
no “‘sh” spelling in Ghana, but the sh sound is written “hy” or possible “hw”’.
There is in fact a place called ““Hweremasi”’ at 6° 46’ N, 1° 24’ W, between
Kumasi and Mampong, in what would have been good forest in 1902. It
seems very likely that this is where Boyd Alexander obtained his specimen, a
deduction supported by the fact that there is a place called Agogo about 30
km to the east of Hweremasi, which may well be the “‘Gugu” where he
collected a specimen four days earlier. Accordingly it is intended to show
Hweremasi as a locality for Agapornis swinderniana in the Atlas of speciation
in African non-passerine birds, now in pteparation.

There is no obvious reason why A. swinderniana should be confined to a
small area of forest in Liberia, since the Upper Guinea forest once extended
continuously from Sierra Leone and Liberia east to eastern Ghana; but it is
curious that it is apparently so rare or else very patchly distributed. It is also
surprising that Boyd Alexander’s specimen should have been overlooked
for so long, since it was registered with the rest of his Ghana collections in

1930.

Address: British Museum (Natural History), Tring, Hertfordshire, England.

Me [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

Comments on the races of Lybius melanocephalus
(Cretzschmar) in Ethiopia

by C. Erard

Received 3 June 1976

Urban & Brown (1971), relying on White (1965), give only two races of
Lybius melanocephalus for Ethiopia: the nominate in the northeast, in the
north of the Rift Valley, and in the southeast; and L. m. stigmatothorax
(Cabanis) in the west and south, including the south of the Rift. In the
material collected during various expeditions from the Laboratoire de
Zoologie (Mammiféres et Oiseaux) du Muséum National d’ Histoire Naturelle,
Paris, there are specimens of L. . blandi (Phillips), which White (1965 : 259)
confines to “‘Northern Somalia”. In fact b/andi has been collected not only in
the north at Run, 60 km northeast of Garoe (8° 48’ N, 48° 52’ E), but also
by Roche in central and southern ex-Italian Somalia, near to Bugda Acable
(4° 03’ N, 45° 10’ E) and Afmadu (0° 27’ N, 42° 05’ E) (Berlioz & Roche
1963, Roche 1975: 121).

In Ethiopia proper, Erlanger (1905: 491-492) collected 11 specimens
which he assigned to b/andi, in Arussi, Ennia-Gallaland, Gurra and Garre-
Liwin. Further south he recorded stigmatothorax: 9, Malka-Ree, Dawa River;
2, Sidimun, near Bardera; 3g, 9, Kismayu. In fact, due to a lack of com-
parative material, the differences between the two forms were not well
presented by Erlanger; he regarded them as conspecific, but nevertheless, in
accord with the practice of many systematists of that time, as specifically
distinct from melanocephalus. Thus he attached undue importance to the
relative size of the beak and the presence or absence of a small patch of
red. on the centre of the chest. He also thought that speckling on the crown,
chin and throat was connected with age, although he should have been
aware from his considerable series of specimens that this was not so.

Reviewing Erlanger’s material, Zedlitz (1915: 14-15) made the same
mistake in attributing subspecific significance to characters which reflected
merely individual variation. Neither he nor Erlanger appreciated that they
were dealing with one race, namely b/andi. If Zedlitz had been aware of the
true characters of stigwatothorax, he would not have written:—‘“‘Wenn die
Form b/andi nicht schon bestande und von vielen namhaften Forschern
anerkannt worden ware, wiirde ich meinerseits keine Teilung befiirworten’”’,
in assigning all Erlanger’s specimens to that form. Thus this material
remained improperly determined, with b/andi believed to be restricted to
that part of Somalia whence it had been described originally. .

Fortunately Erlanger’s specimens still exist in the Natur-Museum und
Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Frankfurt-am-Main, and thanks to the
kindness of Dr. J. Steinbacher we have been able to examine them. The black
of the plumage of nominate me/anocephalus is replaced by brown, and there is
cream or pale yellow speckling (the latter colour in fresh plumage) on the
crown, chin and throat, of the following which belong without doubt to
blandi:—3, Ali Dera (¢ 8° 45’ N, 42° E); 9, Harro Ruffa (9° 24’ N, 41° 44’ E);
Q, Haroroba (8° 11’ N, 40° 32’ E); 3, Huluko (6° 59’ N, 40° 44’ E); 3, Kata,
Mane (6° 32’ N, 40° 41’ E); g, Burka (6° 13’ N, 40° 54’ E); 9, Harra-Ali
(6° 08’ N, 41° o1’ E); 2¢g, Darassum (5° 52’ N, 41° 08’ E); 9, Malka-Ree,
Dawa River (3° 59’ N, 41° 54’ E); 3, 9, Djeroko (3° 27’ N, 41° 15’ E); 9,

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 108

Sidimun (2° 25’ N, 42° 05’ E); 3g, 9, Kismayu (0° 25’ N, 42° 31’ E). The
first eight localities are in Ethiopia (provinces of Harrar and Bale), the others
in the south of ex-Italian Somalia.

To the material collected by Erlanger can be added that obtained by J.
Prévost, G. Jarry and the author in 1971, as follows :—3g, 15-19 February,
between 30 km west and 50 km southeast of Ghinir (7° 06’ N, 40° 40’ B),
province of Arussi; 3, 26 November, 45 km northwest of Bogol-Mayo
(4° 34’ N, 41° 29’ E); 3, 27 November, 36 km west-northwest of Filtu
(5° 08’ N, 40° 35’ E); 9, 1 December, near Debuluk (4° 15’ N, 38° 10’ EB),
75 km south of Yavello. The last three localities are in the province of
Sidamo. The final specimen is of interest in that it is intermediate between
blandi and stigmatothorax. L. m. stigmatothorax is characterised by dark sooty
brown on the head, back, chin and throat, instead of pale brown tinged
chocolate as in b/andi, and by an absence of speckling on the crown, chin and
throat. The Debuluk specimen is close to stigmatothorax in colour, although
the brown is slightly paler, and has yellowish white speckling on the anterior
half of the crown and on the chin. It was adult, and the presence of speckling
is not related to age. Furthermore, speckling in juveniles of b/andi is more
whitish, “cotton-like’’, as far as can be judged from a specimen collected by
Erlanger at Ali-Dera.

Commenting on the specimen from Afmadu, Berlioz & Roche (1963)
considered that, in view of the small red pectoral spot, it was intermediate
between stigmatothorax and blandi. Sach a spot is not peculiar to stigmatothorax
since it is apparent in five out of 15 nominate melanocephalus and eight out of
25 blandi examined, exclusive of individuals showing a trace of orange-
yellow.

Erlanger (1905: 492) attributed specimens from Malka-Ree, Sidimun and
Kismayu to s#igmatothorax on account of the red pectoral spot and especially
the heavier bill. It is true that those from Kismayu are relatively large-billed,
but this does not apply to the others. Robustness of bill is variable in speci-
mens of all three forms examined.

The only specimen examined which is definitely intermediate between
stigmatothorax and blandi is the one from Debuluk. Benson (1946: 28)
emphasised that two males obtained at Yavello (4° 57’ N, 38° 08’ E) were
blackish rather than brownish on the lower throat and down the centre of
the chest, with the crown more blue-black, less brown-black, than in stigma-
tothorax. He assigned them to nominate melanocephalus, but only had material
from Kenya for comparison. We collected 2gg and 12 on 2 December 1971,
52 km west of Yavello. These are clearly st7gwatothorax, although in the males
the hind part of the crown and the upper mantle are more blackish than
(Paris) specimens from Kenya. They are quite different from true me/ano-
cephalus, which has the crown, the cheeks and the upper mantle a dark black
with blue reflections and the chin and throat dull black.

To conclude, Lybius melanocephalus blandi (Phillips) must be regarded as
occurring in Ethiopia. Its distribution includes eastern ex-British Somaliland
(cf Archer & Godman 1961), the southeast of Ethiopia (provinces of Harrar,
Bale, Arussi and the southeast of Sidamo), and ex-Italian Somaliland as a
whole. In northwestern Somalia and the northeast of the province of Harrar
into the north of the Rift Valley in Ethiopia it is replaced by nominate
melanocephalus, and in southern Ethiopia west of Yavello by stigmatothorax.

109 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]}

Acknowledgements: We express our thanks to Dr. J. Steinbacher, who kindly lent us the
specimens collected by C. F. von Erlanger; and to our friend C. W. Benson, who has
commented on and translated the text of this paper.

References:

Archer, G. F. & Godman, E. M. 1961. The birds of British Somaliland and the Gulf of Aden 3.
Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

Benson, C. W. 1946. Notes on the birds of southern Abyssinia. /bis 88: 25-48.

Berlioz, J. & Roche, J. 1963. Etude d’une collection d’oiseaux de la Somalie. Bu//. Mus.
nat. Hist. Nat., Paris 2(35): 580-592.

Erlanger, C. F. von. 1905. Beitrage zur vogelfauna nordostafrikas. Journ. Ornith. 53: 432-
499.

Roche, J. 1975. Recherches ornithologiques en République de Somalie. Monitore Zool. Ital.
(n.s.) Suppl. 6: 103-140.

Urban, E. K. & Brown, L. H. 1971. A Check-list of the Birds of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa:
Haile Sellasie I University Press.

White, C. M. N. 1965. A Revised Check-list of African non-Passerine Birds. Lusaka: Govern-
ment Printer.

Zedlitz, O. G. 1915. Das siid-Somaliland als zoogeographisches gebiet. Journ. Ornith. 63:
1-69.

Address: Muséum National d’ Histoire Naturelle, 55 Rue de Buffon, 75-Paris (V°).

Chaplin’s Barbet Lydius chaplini: first description
of eggs, a new host record for the Lesser Honeyguide
Indicator minor

by J. F. R. Colebrook- Robjent & R. Styernstedt

Received 13 April 1976

Chaplin’s Barbet Lybius chaplini is to be treated as a full species (P. A. Clancey
in litt.) in the forthcoming Atlas of African Non-Passerines to be published
by the British Museum (Natural History). It is a relict species confined to the
Southern and Central Provinces of Zambia. It is known to nest in holes in
dead branches, but the eggs have never been described. Benson ef a/. (1971)
give four breeding records, based on evidence other than eggs, one each for
the months of August, September, October and February.

On 14 October 1975 J.C-R. and J. C. Sweetman investigated a nest hole of
Chaplin’s Barbet at Ringwood, 22 km southwest of Choma. The nest was
8 m up in the dead main trunk of an otherwise still living Sand Apple
Parinari mobola, in a vlei with scattered trees, including figs. One of the pair
left the nest tree before we reached it, but the incubating bird remained in the
hole until it was cut open. Fig. 1 (drawn to scale) shows the long nest tunnel.
The diameter of the entrance hole was 36 mm highand 40 mm wide. The back
wall was approximately 20 mm thick at the narrowest point. The inside
diameter of the nest chamber varied between 54 mm and 75 mm. The nest
contained 3 eggs lying on fine wood dust, two of the barbet’s and one of a
honeyguide. The barbet’s eggs are smooth-shelled long ovals with fine

[Bull. B:0.C. 1976: 96(3)] 110

longitudinal ridges, measuring 24-8 x 17°8 (3:7 g) and 24:6 x 18-0 mm
(3:9 g). They contained large embryos, but with sufficient yolk to see that it
was of a deep orange-yellow characteristic of eggs of this family. The
honeyguide’s egg is glossy and rounded at both ends and measures 22-2 X
16°6 mm (2-9 g). It contained a very large embryo which would have
hatched within 36 hours, showing the vicious bill hooks as illustrated on
Plate 5 in Friedmann (1955). This egg is too small to be that of a Greater
Honeyguide Indicator indicator. It cannot be the egg of a Scaly-throated
Honeyguide J. variegatus as this habitat is quite unsuited to it and according
to Benson ef a/. it is entirely absent from the Southern Province plateau.
The egg size and barbet host indicates that it is referable to the Lesser
Honeyguide J. minor, a species of frequent occurence in the Choma area.

Benson e¢ a/. give only one breeding record (September) for the Lesser
Honeyguide, evidently referring to an unaccompanied juvenile as no host
species is given.

Figure 1: Cross section of Chaplin’s Barbet Lybius chaplini nest hole (to scale).

Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1962) state that the call is unrecorded,
although Winterbottom (1932) had described it as “‘a loud, cackling sound,
suggestive of demoniacal laughter, and quite unmistakable”. On 29 April
1974 R. S. recorded on tape the call of this species at Muckleneuk, near
Choma. Certainly it is unmistakable, and may be described as a loud, strident,

Ill [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)]

ratchet-likie noise, harsh and high-pitched. There was a party of four indi-
viduals in a fig tree, probably only two of them contributing vocally and
simultaneously each at a slightly different speed and pitch, e.g. bird “A” at
¢. 10 beats per second, bird ““B” at ¢, 16 beats per second (and higher pitched).
Sometimes one or the other gave its series of notes in “bursts” rather than
in an even series, e.g. 8 groups per second, each group being of three notes.
In the same tree were five Black-collared Barbets L. torguatus which also
broke out into territorial song-calls from time to time. There seemed to be
a certain amount of inter-specific aggression between the two parties, which
helps to confirm the statement in Benson e¢ a/. that these two species must be
in competition.

Acknowledgement: We are most grateful to C. W. Benson for improving a preliminary
draft of this paper and for drawing our attention to the note by Dr. J. M. Winterbottom.

References:

Benson, C. W., Brooke, R. K., Dowsett, R. J. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1971. The Birds of Zambia.
London: Collins.

Friedmann, H. 1955. The Honey-Guides. U.S.N.M. Bull, 208.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1962. African Handbook of Birds: Birds of the
southern third of Africa. Vol. 1. London: Longmans.

Winterbottom, J. M. 1932. On Chaplin’s Barbet. /bis: 13(2): 722-723.

Address: Musumanene, P.O. Box 303, Choma, Zambia.

IN BRIEF

(a) The first recorded nest of the Pink-breasted Lark.
Mirafra poecilosterna (Reichenow)

The Pink-breasted Lark Mirafra poecilosterna is recorded in Mackworth-Praed
& Grant (1955: 20-21) as “breeding in northern Guaso Nyiro, Kenya,
March” and “in South Abyssinia (breeding condition), March”. There are
no other records known except of two young birds, of which P. L. Britton
collected one (now in the National Museum, Nairobi), soliciting attention or
food, near Wamba, Samburu District, Kenya on 31 July 1971.

On 12 December 1975 I found a nest of this species containing two eggs,
near Irima Hill about 12 km north of Voi in Tsavo National Park (East),
Kenya. The nest was under a Bauhinia taitensis bush 0-3 m high and ¢ 5 m
from a dirt road, surrounded by fairly dense bushes, mostly ¢ 2 m high. The
nest was simply a depression in the red sandy soil lined with dry grass. The
eggs were pale grey covered fairly evenly with chocolate-brown spots. On 19
December the nest was found to be empty.

I have another five records from Tsavo East which imply breeding—one
of a pair copulating, one of a bird carrying food and three of birds carrying

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(3)] 112

nest material. All were in November—December except one in April. In
Tsavo these are months when rain can be expected.

2 May 1976 Peter C. Lack

Reference:
Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1955. Birds of Eastern and North-Eastern
Africa. Vol. 2. Longmans, Green and Co., London.

Address: 'Tsavo Reseatch Project, P.O. Box 14, Voi, Kenya.

(b) The name of Eleonora’s Falcon

A curtent practice of systematists (e.g. Vaurie 1965) is to cite the provenance
of Falco eleonorae as ““Géné, 1839, Rev. Zool., p. 105. Sardinia”. This contains
a trivial error in that the author’s name was Gené (single accent); but the
matter goes further than that. The publication cited was not by Gené
himself but was an anonymous news-item based on his exhibition and naming
of a specimen, sent to him from Sardinia, at a meeting of the ““Academie
Royale de Turin” earlier in the year; the author’s own paper appeared in the
proceedings in 1840. This “‘leak”” has unfortunately scooped the priority;
moreover it is inaccurate both in introducing the misspelling of the author’s
name and in giving the date of the meeting as 1829 (making one look for a
publication in or soon after that year, instead of 1839). The British Museum
Catalogue (Sharpe 1874) cites the 1840 as well as the 1839 reference—a very
desirable practice where the prior publication is not the definitive one.
Vaughan (1961), in his comprehensive paper on the species, had these facts
correctly. It is of curious interest that the name was explicitly given in
honour of Eleonora d’Arborea (d. 1404), a heroine of Sardinia’s struggle for
independence, because she had promulgated a law protecting goshawks and
falcons at their nests.

24 June 1976 A. Landsborough Thomson

References:

Travaux inédits. 1839. Revenue Zoologigue 1839: 105.

Gené, G. 1840. Memoria della Reale Accademia della Scienze di Torino Serie 11, Tomo II: 41-48.
Sharpe, R. B. 1874. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum 1: 404.

Vaughan, R. 1961. [bis 103a: 114-128.

Vaurie, C. 1965. The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna Non-Passeriformes: 226.

Address: 42 Girdwood Road, London, SW18 5QS.

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Published by the BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB and printed by
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ISSN 0007 - 1595

Bulletin of the

British Ornithologists’ Club

y MX — H 4 ~,

Edited by
Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 96 No. 4 December 1976

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

Tuesday, 18 January 1977 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. at the Goat Tavern, 3 Stafford Street,
London, W.1 (between Old Bond Street and Albermarle Street, nearest underground
station Green Park). Dr. Peter Ward will speak on Palaearctic migrants in Nigeria. Those
wishing to attend must send a cheque for £2°30 per person to the Hon. Secretary, with
their acceptance on the enclosed slip.

Tuesday, 15 March 1977 at 6 p.m. in the Lecture Theatre at the British Museum (Natural
History), Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7. Mr. J. M. Forshaw, the author of the well-
known monograph on parrots, will give a talk on the ecology of parrots in Australia and theit
adaptations to changing environments, with coloured illustration. Supper will follow at
7.15 p.m. in the Conversazione Room. Members wishing to attend must inform the Hon.
Secretary by Thursday, 10 March 1977 and send him at the same time a cheque for {2:70
per person for the cost of supper (including wine or soft drinks).

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS MEETING IS AT 6 p.m.

This meeting is being held jointly with the International Council for Bird Preservation
(British Section).

Tuesday, 3 May 1977 at 6.15 p.m. for 6.45 p.m. at the Senior Common Room, South Side,
Imperial College, South Kensington (entrance in Princes Gardens, $.W.7, off Exhibition
Road). A symposium on Asiatic Birds, at which the speakers will include Lord Medway on
Migrants in Malaysia, Mr. M. W. Woodcock on the Indian Avifauna and Mr. I. C. Orr
on Ornithology in China.

Tuesday, 19 July 1977 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. at the Goat Tavern, 3 Stafford Street,
London, W.1, Mr. Stanley Cramp on The Birds of the Western Palaearctic (Vol. I of which it
is hoped will be published in May 1977).

COMMITTEE
J. H. Elgood (Chairman) P. Hogg (Vice-Chairman)
R. E. F. Peal (Hon. Secretary) M. St. J. Sugg (Hon. Treasurer)
Dr. J. F. Monk (Editor) Mrs. J. D. Bradley
Dr. C. J. O. Harrison C. E. Wheeler

Dr. G. Beven

as

17. Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

Bulletin of the
BRITISH RANI THOLOEISTS: CLUB

Vol. 96 No. 4 Published: 20 December 1976

The seven hundred and second Meeting of the Club was held at the Senior
Common Room, South Side, Imperial College, London, S.W.7 at 7 p.m.
on Tuesday, 21 September 1976.
Chairman: Professor J. H. Elgood: present 17 members and 10 guests.
Dr. M. P. Harris gave an illustrated talk on Puffins on St. Kilda, with
special reference to their fluctuations in numbers, both there and at other
breeding colonies in the British Isles.

The seven hundred and third Meeting of the Club was held at the Senior
Common Room, South Side, Imperial College, London, S.W.7 at 7 p.m. on
Tuesday, 16 November 1976.

Chairman: Professor J. H. Elgood: present 16 members and 11 guests.

Dr. H. N. Southern spoke on A population of Tawny Owls. He discussed
relationships between the Tawny Owls at Wytham Wood, Oxford, and their
prey and the changes there in size of breeding population. He illustrated his
talk with slides and played tape recordings showing that individual male
Tawny Owls could be identified by voice alone.

The duets of Laniarius atroflavus, Cisticola discolor
and Bradypterus barrathi

by L. G. Grimes
Received 6 May 1976

When Thorpe (1972) reviewed the occurrence of duetting in birds there
were no recordings, only verbal descriptions, of the duets of three species
which occur on Mount Cameroun (4095 m): the Yellow-breasted Shrike
Laniarius atroflavus, the Brown-backed Warbler C7sticola discolor (Serle 1950,
1965), and the East African and South African races of the Evergreen-forest
Warbler Bradypterus barratti (Vincent 1935, Moreau 1941). During a stay of
eight days in the montane forest, beginning 30 December 1974, I tape-
recorded the duets of all three species, using a Phillips cassette tape-recorder
(Model 2205) with a microphone (Phillips EL 1980/03) placed at the focus of
a parabola (0-6 m in diameter). Sonograms of sections of these recordings
were made using a Kaye Sonograph (Model 66IA) operating in the wide
band mode. For comparative studies I made sonograms of the duets of
relevant species using the published recordings of Chappuis (1974).

RESULTS
The Yellow-breasted Shrike Laniarius atroflavus was located at all
altitudes within the montane forest. Duetting was regularly heard each day
in specific areas. In a wooded ravine at 1900 m just above Hut I (1830 m)
these duetting bouts probably always involved the same pair, but no birds
were ringed for identification, and the main function of duetting appeared to
be territorial. Some of the longer duet sequences were obtained either by

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 114

playback to a pair of a recorded duet, either their own or that of another pair,
ot when a second pair was present. Birds duetting in the canopy, often in
sight of each other, would invariably approach the tape-recorder on hearing
the playback and continue to duet. A similar response to playback of duets
occurs in L. barbarus and L. erythrogaster (Thorpe 1972). In one series of
L. atroflavus duets, with both birds on the same side of the tape-recorder, the
mean reaction time was 145-10 (sd) msec and the mean time interval
between duets was 4:45-0-12 (sd) sec.

The frequency/time profile of the first component of a atroflavus duet
invariably had the inverted U profile shown in Fig. 1. The general lack of
variability in its profile is in marked contrast to the variability found in the
duets of barbarus and erythrogaster (Thorpe 1972). The second component
(Fig. 1) is a single “clicking” note described by Serle (1965) as ‘“‘chook’’,

KHy
!

4 4 4
2 2 2
| | |
1 2 3
4 4
KHy 3 3
| 2 2
| |
4 5
Lf,
4 4 4 4
kHy > 3 3 3
| 2 2 2 2
I Nas | |-
6 7 8
[owas ne
6) 1OSEC.

Figure 1. Diagrammatic sound spectograms (1-5) of the first component and (6-9) of the
complete duet of Laniarius atroflavus (male? dark, female? hatched. 1-5 are taken from
sepatate duet sequences and 6-9 from one duet sequence.

and is very similar to that given by barbarus, although in barbarus two ot
three such notes are added in response to the first component. It is, however,
quite different from the response of erythrogaster, which is described as a
prolonged snarl in which the frequency range is smaller than in the other
two shrikes (Thorpe 1972: 112).

The Brown-backed Warbler Cisticola discolor was the most vocal of the
birds encountered on the mountain, and duetting was also heard below the
forest belt, in grassland near Great Sopo (850 m). Paits were breeding at all
elevations within the forest. Territorial counter duetting between pairs was
frequent and regularly occurred in the same locations day after day so that

115 [Bull, B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

territorial boundaries were easily traceable. All duets recorded were in
response to either duets of neighbouring pairs or playback of a recorded
duet. After playback the birds approached within a few metres of the tape-
recorder and duetted, and this was often accompanied by audible wing
flapping by both birds, more strenuously so by one (male?), which also
bobbed up and down. Whenever one bird began its duet theme the second
bird, if separate from it, would fly to the first before joining in the duet;
duetting at a distance with the birds out of sight of each other was not
recorded. This coming together of the two birds has been noted in C.
nigricolis and C’. hunteri (Thorpe 1972).

0 |OSEC

Figure 2. Diagrammatic sound spectograms of eight themes (A—H) used as the first
component (? male) in 31 duet sequences of one pair of Cisticola discolor recorded in
the eucalyptus plantation above Buea, 28 December 1974. The beginning of the next
theme in the duet sequence is included in each diagram.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 116

Because of slight differences in the timing of the two components of a
single duetting pair it was possible unambiguously to identify the notes of
each bird by comparing sonograms of two or more sections of a duet. Each
component (Figs. 2, 3) consisted of the regularly spaced (timed) repetition

KHy

0)
“=.

“Sof

ms 4

ine)

y

!
Ap AL

O lOSEC

Figure 3. Diagrammatic sound spectograms of four examples of the second component
used in 31 duet sequences of Cisticola discolor recorded in the eucalyptus plantation
on 28 December 1974 (see Fig. 2). Each line shows a continuous recording.

of a phrase (consisting of a series of notes). Whereas the phrase of one bird
(male?) carried considerably from one duet to the next (Fig. 2), the same
variations re-occurring in later duets, the phrases of the second bird were
much more regular and varied little between duets (Fig. 3). Analysis of

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

117

SE

‘Aep yova soleus sues oy} 9q 0} pounsse oJaM pur ATIep JoYIIY} JO soyoied ous 94} WOIF SUIZUIS 919M SpIIq 94],
‘ayJOUR JUO 0} asuOdsaz UT BUISUIS 1440440g SnsatAposg 2TeUI OMY Aq pasn saouanbas Suos ay} Jo surezZoyeds punos snewUIEIseIqT “V Ins

94SO! (0)

Se. See 3 Se ee

WV NVIYOVEYAY WMA EMC
Wye

\ VAN ANAM

SZ6l¥Ol g
2

v

VA VA Vy Vy Vi

AAW AAEM

9

PPP Pre

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SZ6l YOTOAY4SISL

NAA (A A AAA

v

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 118

duets of other pairs of C.. discolour which I recorded on the mountain together
with those recorded by Chappuis (1974) showed that whereas the phrases
of the first component were different for each pair, none coinciding with
those in Fig. 2, the second component of the duet and its oscillatory nature
varied little between duetting pairs.

The male Evergreen-forest Warbler Bradypterus barratti was also very
vocal during my stay on the mountain, usually singing from within dense
thicket, creeping slowly through it between bouts of song. Males in song
were invariably singing in response to neighbouring conspecifics and the
function of the song appears, therefore, to be mainly territorial. A playback
of a song always brought the singing bird nearer the tape-recorder, and
resulted in further song. Serle (1965: 91) describes the song as “loud,
explosive in quality, unvaried in pitch and rhythm” consisting of a number
of repetitions of one phrase “‘o-chip, o-chip, o-chip”’, etc. On several oc-
casions I noted aurally that one warbler was singing the same song as a
neighbour, only to be proved wrong by the sonograms. These (Fig. 4)
show that a male has a large number of song types which are quite different
from those used by neighbours singing in competition. Other Evergreen-
forest Warblers recorded at various heights on the mountain all showed this
variability which suggests that a complex system of dialects exist. It is while
the male sings his loud song that the female may join in a duet, adding in
contrast a series of weak whistling notes (Fig. 5), only audible within a few

A hat ML
AAA

— a a a a |
fe) |OSEC
Figure 5. Diagrammatic sound spectograms of the duet structures of Bradypterus barratti
recorded near the forest-grassland boundary at 2100 m on Mount Cameroun. Male
dark, female open symbols.

KH3

metres of the singing bird. As the pair are close together when they duet and
visible to each other it is difficult to suggest a function for the duet, unless it
is linked to courtship. It is hoped that this vocalization data on the Cameroun
race, (B. p. lopezi), will be made use of in a comparative study of the other
allopatric races, B. b. mariae in East Africa and B. b. barratti south of the

Zambesi.
DISCUSSION

When Hall & Moreau (1970) highlighted the uncertainties in the taxo-
nomic relationships of some African passerines they based their conclusions

119 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

on their distribution patterns and morphological data, and it is only recently
that data on vocalizations have become available for use in taxonomix
studies (Chappuis 1974, Grimes 1974). Lanyon (1969) has indicated the use
of such data but the limitations and need for care in interpreting the data has
been emphasised by Smith (1970) and Nottebohm (1975). In particular, if
the species being compared learn their duets and are allopatric it would not
be surprising if their duets were different in structure even though the species
were closely related.

The four montane cisticolas of Africa (C’. chubbi, C’.. discolor, C. nigricolis and
C’. hunteri) duet and are all allopatric. Lynes (1930) considered them as four
species, White (1962) regarded them as conspecific, and Hall & Moreau
(1970) considered three were conspecific and hunteri a distinct species. The
complexity of the duet patterns of individual d/sco/or and the variability found
within the Cameroun mountain population suggest that the duets are learnt.
Some variability also has been found in the three other cisticolas (Thorpe
1972). Differences in the duet structures of the four allopatric species might,
therefore, be expected and indeed do occur; typical duets of chubbi, nigrocolis
and hunter are illustrated in Thorpe (1972). Whereas the duets of nigroci/is and
hunteri have little in common and are quite distinct from those of chubbi and
discolor, which latter two have close similarities. This prompted Chappuis
(1974) to suggest that chubbi and discolor were conspecific, but this requires
confirmation by further field experiments (Smith 1970): recently R. Sternstedt
(in litt.) found that discolor showed no response to a playback of a duet of
chubbi. Because of these facts I am inclined to follow Lynes (1930) and keep
all four as species, but agree with Hall & Moreau (1970) that placing them
in a superspecies Aynteri would indicate their close relationship.

Hall & Moreau (1970) erect the superspecies Laniarius barbarus and include
within it seven essentially allopatric shrikes (barbarus, erythrogaster, atrococ-
cineus, mufumberi, atroflavus, ruficeps, /ubderi). All duet but only the duets of
barbarus and erythrogaster have been studied in any detail (Thorpe 1972). The
present study indicates that the duet structure of atroflavus has closer simi-
larities to that of barbarus than erythrogaster, although the first component of a
atroflavus duet lacks the variability found in those of the other two shrikes.
The latter suggests that auditory signals are less important to atroflavus than
to barbarus and erythrogaster and probably reflects the differences in their
habitats; atroflavus living mostly in the open canopy of the montane forest
whereas the others are birds of low dense thicket.

Acknowledgements: 1 am grateful to the Frank M. Chapman Fund for financing my visit

to Cameroun and the Revs. L. Martin and L., Scheffle for their help during my stay at Buea.
Ithank Mr. F. Walsh and Dr. J. F. Monk for their helpful comments on the script.

References:

Chappuis, C. 1974. Illustration sonore de problemes bioacoustiques poses par les oiseaux de
la zone Ethiopienne. A/auda 42(4): 467-500.

Grimes, L. G. 1974. Duetting in Hypergerus atriceps and its taxonomic relationship to
Eminia lepida. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 93: 89-96.

Hall, B. P. & Moreau, R. E. 1970. An Atlas of Speciation in African Passerine Birds, London:
British Museum ’(Nat. Hist.).

Lanyon, W. E. 1969. Vocal characters and avian systematics. In Bird Vocalizations (Ed.
R.A. Hinde). 7 ok University Press.

Lynes, H. 1930. Review of the genus Cvsticola. [bis Suppl.

Moreau, R. E. 1941. Duetting in birds. /bis (14)5: 176-177.

Nottebohm, F. 1975. Vocal behaviour in birds. In Avian Biology No. 5 (Ed. D. S. Farner &
Jee King). Academic Press.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 120

Serle, Ms Pome A contribution to the ornithology of the British Camerouns. Ibis 92: 343-
376, 602-638.

— 1965. A third contribution to the ornithology of the British Camerouns. Jbis 107:
60-94, 230-246.

Smith, W. J. 1970. The acquisition and function of vocal behaviour. Science 167: 39-41.

Thorpe, W. H. 1972. Duetting and antiphonal song in birds. Behaviour Suppl. 18: Leiden.

Vincent, J. 1935. The birds of Northern Portuguese East Africa. [bis (13) 5: 485-529.

White, C. M. N. 1962. A check list of the Ethiopian Muscipidae (Sylviinae), Part 2 & 3
Occ. Pap. Natn. Mus. S. Rhod. 26B: 653-694, 695-738.

Address: Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancs. FY7 8JW.

Additional notes on the status of Eos goodsellowi
by D. T. Holyoak

Received 20 May 1976

In an earlier note (Holyoak 1970) it was argued that the two living specimens
from which Ogilvie-Grant (1907) described Eos goodfelloni were probably
juveniles of Eos bornea, as suggested previously by Siebers (1930), and
apparently overlooked by Peters (1937). Walters (1975) has recently argued
that FE. goodfelloni was unlikely to have been based on juveniles of E. bornea
because the birds seen by Ogilvie-Grant were said to have been obtained on
Obi in the Moluccas, where EF. bornea has not been recorded, and because he
considers that the coloration described by Ogilvie-Grant differs from that of
juveniles of FE. bornea. He also comments that ““To accept E. goodfellowi as
merely a juvenile of &. bornea would require that one accepted the existence
of a hitherto unknown population of bornea on Obi”, and speculates that EZ.
goodfellowi might be an “‘old”’ (s7c) and possibly extinct montane representa-
tive of the genus on Obi; although he later obscures these arguments by
also suggesting that the specimens obtained by Goodfellow might possibly
have been inter-island vagrants.

There is no evidence that the specimens originated in Obi nor that they
were in fact “captured” on Obi as stated in my earlier paper: indeed, the
most likely thing is that Goodfellow purchased two live bright red, caged
parrots on a short visit to Obi. However, inter-island trade was well es-
tablished by then and the origin of Goodfellow’s birds must be quite
uncertain if they were cage birds, although if so, they are more likely to have
been juveniles.

Examination of the same three specimens in the collection of the British
Museum (Natural History) on which I commented (1970) suggests to Walters
that EF. goodfellowi is not the juvenile of FE. bornea. Ogilvie-Grant (1907)
described goodfellowi as resembling EF. bornea (then known as EL. rubra), but
having lavender-blue ear-coverts and the back and thighs purplish-blue, one
bird having the feathers of the middle of the belly deeply edged with blue,
the other lacking any blue on the belly. I have recently located additional
specimens of FE. bornea showing some or all of these characters in the
American Museum of Natural History (AMNH, New York) and the
Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (MNHN, Paris).

The relevant specimens and their characters may be enumerated as follows:

AMNH 616962. Amboina, unsexed. Lavender-blue eat-coverts; deep lavender-blue
thighs; a few lavender-blue marks on tips of belly feathers;

:

121 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

AMNH 616945. Buru, unsexed. A little lavender-blue on ear-coverts; some lavender-
blue on thigh feathers although these are mostly missing ; lavender-blue feather tips in centre
of belly;

AMNH 616948. Buru, 9. Lavender-blue in feathers of ear-coverts; some lavender-blue
in feathers of thighs and centre of belly;

AMNH 616950. Buru, 3. Faint lavender-blue wash on feathers of ear-coverts; much
lavender-blue on thigh feathers and in centre of lower belly;

AMNH 616999. Little Key, Key Is. immature g. Dull lavender-blue ear-coverts; much
lavender-blue on thighs and in centre of lower belly;

AMNH 616995. Little Key Is. immature 3. Entirely lavender-blue ear-coverts ; middle of
lower belly and thighs almost entirely lavender-blue.

BM(NH) r910.12.28.101. Kei Is. g. Distinct lavender-blue ear-coverts; scattered feather
tips of violet-blue on thighs and belly.

BM(NH) 1913.6.10.47. Amboina, 9. Some lavender-blue on ear-coverts and a little
violet-blue on thighs and belly;

BM(NH) 1889.1.20.155. Labelled “‘Aru Islands’, but presumably in error, unsexed.
Faint lavender-blue tips to feathers of ear-coverts and scattered violet-blue feather tips on
thighs and belly;

MNHN ex Museum Boucard, Coll. Wallace. Buru, 3. One tiny blue feather tip in ear-
coverts; extensive lavender-blue on feather tips of thighs and lower belly;

MNHN ex Coll. H. O. Forbes, no. 639. Buru, 3. Lacks blue on ear-coverts, but has
scattered blue tips to feathers of thighs and lower belly;

It is impossible to deduce how Ogilvie-Grant was able to suppose that lack
of blue on the belly could decide maturity in goodfellowi (so that Walters’
comments are irrelevant on this point), especially as the relative extent of
blue on the belly and ear-coverts varies considerably in the above specimens.
AMNH 616962 has much blue on the ear-coverts but little on the belly,
whereas several others have the opposite. Walters emphasises that the three
BM(NH) specimens have “‘a great deal of brown on the belly”, which “‘is
charactersitic of juvenile Hos’’, and “Had there been any brown on the live
E. goodfellowi it seems unlikely that Ogilvie-Grant would have failed to notice
it and realise that this signified immaturity”. The dull brown colour of
juveniles is derived from the bases of the belly feathers and is only con-
spicuous when the red or blue feather tips are worn or when the plumage is
disarranged. The brown would probably be less conspicuous in a well-
groomed live bird than in most skins, but is anyway inconspicuous in some
skins (e.g. AMNH 616962).

It is not impossible that E. goodfe/lowi is a montane endemic of Obi, since
the birds of Obi are not very well known, but the only island where Los is
represented by both montane and lowland forms is Seran (Ceram) which is a
much larger island than Obi and with much more extensive montane forests.
A more compelling objection however is that the known presence of two
large lories on Obi, Fos squamata obiensis and Lorius garrulus flavopalliatus,
suggests by analogy with other islands of similar size that a third is unlikely
also to be present there. Collections from Obi do include a variety of small,
inconspicuous forest birds, so it is perhaps unlikely that a third species of
large and predominantly bright red lory that most likely lives in noisy flocks
should have been overlooked there.

Unless substantial evidence for the occurrence of a second species of Fos
on Obi can be obtained it seems best to regard goodfel/oni as likely to have
been based on introduced caged immatures of EF. bornea.

I am grateful to the Departments of Ornithology of the American Museum of Natural
History, British Museum (Natural History) and Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle for
facilities to examine specimens in their care.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 122

References:

Holyoak, D. T. 1970. The status of Eos goodfellowi. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 90: 91.

Ogilvie-Grant, W. R. 1907. Fos goodfellowi sp. nov. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 19: 102.

Peters, J. L. 1937. Check-list of Birds of the World. Cambridge, Mass. Vol. III.

Siebers, H. C. 1930. Fauna Buruana, Aves. Treubia 7, suppl.

Walters, M. P. 1975. The status of Eos goodfellowi Ogilvie-Grant. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 95:
129-131.

Address: School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, England.

Caprimulgus afinis as an utban species in Indonesia
by W. G. Harvey

Received 27 May 1976

The habitat of Caprimulgus affinis is described as “open sandy and shingle
beaches, on ridges with bare rocky areas” (Delacour), “bare and stony hills”
(Smythies) and “‘open forest, scrub” (King e¢ a/.). Although I have recorded
this nightjar feeding over rice fields near Jakarta and flushed it from sand
beaches on the South Java coast, in parts of West Indonesia it is very much
an urban species. I have recorded it since April 1974 in the towns of Medan,
Padang, Palembang and Mentok (Bangka Island) in Sumatra, and in Jakarta
on Java. D. A. Holmes (pers. comm.) can add Jambi and Telukbetung in
Sumatra, and (since 1976) Bogor in Java. I did not see it in Banda Aceh
(December) in Sumatra, in Pontianak (January) and Banjarmasin (December)
in Kaliamantan, nor in Bandung (June and August), Jogyakarta (June and
July) and Surabaya (June and July) in Java.

Most records refer to birds flying over the urban area after dusk and calling.
They are not common in the Sumatran towns, but they are very common in
Jakarta, where, during April and May, it is not unusual to see up to 12 birds
in the air at once or hear the call at up to 20 different places on a drive of no
more than to km through the city. I have recorded the species in every
month in Jakarta, but it is more conspicuous from March to July, when it
probably breeds, at the end of the wettest season. The birds are usually seen
flying slowly around lighted buildings after sunset, regularly calling—a
distinct two note screech. Often several birds fly round together and oc-
casionally courtship flights, involving a much slower version of the normal
flight with wings struck vertically upwards and downwards, has been
noted.

Large buildings (e.g. the large hotels in the Menteng area) although not
necessarily made attractive to flying insects by being lit outside, are neverthe-
less attractive to nightjars, which are often seen perched (and calling) on
their flat roofs. Occasionally daylight sightings of flushed birds have been
recotded. It was thought that the nightjars might be nesting on the flat roofs
in the manner of the Chordezles species in the United States, but several day
time explorations by D. A. Holmes and myself have revealed nothing. If
these roofs are not the normal breeding site, then either the birds nest,
presumably colonially, on the very few areas of fenced in waste ground
which are not invaded by human beings, or they nest outside the city (e.g.
on golf courses) and come into the city to feed at night. The latter seems
unlikely since numbers of birds moving into the city would presumably be
observed. Since the urban habitat of C. affnis is not, apparently, mentioned

es

123 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

in the literature it may well be a recent development, which it would be of
interest to follow-up throughout its range.

References:

Delacour, J. 1947. Birds of Malaysia. New York.

King, B., Woodcock, M. & Dickinson, E. C. 1975. A Field Guide to the Birds of South East
Asia. London.

Smythies, B. E. 1960. The Birds of Borneo. Edinburgh & London.

Address: c/o 17 Barton Road, Canterbury, Kent.

The Ostrich Struthio camelus in Darfur, Republic of Sudan

by R. T. Wilson

Received 30 July 1976

INTRODUCTION

Darfur occupies an area in excess of 400,000 km? in the northwest of the
Republic of the Sudan, bounded to the south by the seasonal Bahr el ’Arab
at about 9° 30’ N, stretching to the north at 29° N, to the west at ¢. 22° 30’ E
and to the east at ¢. 27° E. The annual rainfall decreases from about 900 mm
in the south to effectively nil in the north. The Jebel Marra, rising to about
3,000 m in the west-central area of the province, has some local effect on the
otherwise even northwards reduction in rainfall.

Altitude, with the exception of Jebel Marra and its associated uplands,
varies little, being ¢c. 500-Goo m, and rainfall is the principal factor in deter-
mining the vegetation pattern, although soil has some effect locally. In the
south tall, fairly dense deciduous savanna woodland, dominated by Combre-
tum hartmannianum, Anogeissus schimperi and Sclerocaryia birrea, with an
understorey of tall perennial grasses, gives way gradually to thorn woodland
at c. 11° N. The principal constituent of the latter is Acacia seyal on clay soils
and Acacia senegal on sandy soils: medium height annual grasses, mainly
Aristida spp. form the understorey. Semi-desert scrub, mainly Acacia
melliferra and Acacia nubica dominate a transition zone from ¢. 12°-14° N,
north of which true desert prevails, with the exception of some sparse
vegetation in scattered depressions and watercourses.

SOURCES OF DATA

This paper is based on a survey of the literature pertaining to the supply of
ostrich feathers and the distribution and abundance of the Ostrich Struthio
camelus in the recent past; on observations by the author during 1972-1974
and in 1976, whilst living and working in Darfur; and on aerial surveys
catried out in 1975 and 1976. An invaluable source of data has been the
Intelligence Reports of the Sudan Government from 1892 to 1924.

EARLY DISTRIBUTION AND IMPORTANCE

Almost 200 years ago, W. G. Browne, one of the earliest of European
travellers in the area, noted that Ostrich were common everywhere, and that
ostrich feathers were both a principal item of trade and also formed a large
part of the tribute of lesser chiefs to the Sultan of Darfur (Browne 1799).
Ostrich feathers, along with slaves and ivory, were one of the principal
exports of Darfur for very many years and Ostriches were kept as domestic
animals by many families until well into the twentieth century. In the early

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 124

1870s the birds were reported to be very common in the east of Darfur and
large bundles of feathers were seen rotting in the Sultan’s treasury (Nachtigal
1879, English translation 1971).

During the Mahdiya, from ¢. 1880-1898 and during the reign of Sultan
Ali Dinar 1898-1916, no Europeans visited Darfur and the distribution and
abundance of Ostrich at this time are accordingly unknown, except that the
military and civil intelligence reports contain several references to both
Ostriches and feathers, and it is probable that numbers underwent a decline
in the last two decades of the nineteenth century—one of the Sultan’s com-
manders at one time resorted to the capture of 300 domestic birds from a
local tribe (Sudan Intelligence Reports: No. 1, June 1892; No. 92, May
1902). Early in the twentieth century numbers appear to have increased,
particularly in the northeast of Darfur (SIR No. 92, May 1902) and in the
southwest (SIR No. 104, March 1903; No. 105, April 1903). Ostriches were
still kept in captivity in large numbers as late as 1916, when every household
among the Ma’aliya tribe was noted to have 2-3 birds (SIR No. 267, Oct.
1916), although it is not clear whether these were wild caught or bred in
captivity.

During the 1920s and 1930s considerable travel and exploration was
possible in Darfur as a result not only of the pacification of the country but
also due to the advent of the motor car. Ostriches were said (Maydon 1923)
to be “very common” in the vicinity of Um Gereinat (16° 30’ N, 26° 45’ E)
in herds of 50-100, and nests could be found everywhere containing 10-20
eggs: wandering Arabs were said to live almost entirely on these eggs. A
year later in a similar longitude but at 18° N, a district officer discovered
rock pictures of Ostrich as well as seeing many live birds (Newbold 1924) and
again in 1927 he saw many Ostrich at 16° 30’ N (Newbold & Shaw 1928).
Again, in 1932, Ostrich were seen (Bagnold 1933) as far north as 16° 30’ N
at between 24° E and 25° E and were present in large numbers in herds of
40-80 just south of this area: many unattended clutches of 6-10 eggs were
passed and one nest containing 94 eggs was found. In southern Darfur the
bird was reported (Madden 1934) as a common resident throughout and
chicks were seen in February.

The evidence suggests (as travel in the early days was confined to the dry,
cool weather) that the breeding season of the Ostrich throughout Darfur was
in the early part of the winter, eggs being laid from October onwards. In East
Africa the breeding season is throughout the dry season (L. H. Brown) and it
is possible that in Darfur, where the rains are from June to September, this
is also the case. Some synchronisation. of breeding, such as occurs in East
Africa (L. M. Hurxthal) can also be deduced, particularly from the large
clutches recorded and from the size of the herds, which probably comprised
mainly young birds of about one year old.

PRESENT DISTRIBUTION AND NUMBERS

Unfortunately none of the foregoing data are quantitative and it is not
possible to estimate total numbers from them. It is likely, however, that the
present area of distribution of the Ostrich in Darfur is not as widespread as
previously, when they were common from as far south as 9° 30’ N to at least
as far north as 16° 30’ N. Some Ostrich survive in northern Darfur, but
apparently very few occur over large areas in the centre of the province,

125 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

although two were seen on the Wadi el Ku in 1969 (A. Rendell). In southeast
Darfur low-level aerial surveys of the stratified random sample type carried
out during April and October of 1975 gave estimates of 1200-1500 birds,
largely confined to an area of 5,000 km? of open savanna on sand, centred
approximately on 10° N, 27° E. A similar aerial survey in April 1976 gave
estimates of 450-500 Ostrich on about 10,000 km? of similar country centred
on 12° 30’ N, 23° 45’ E, close to the international boundary of the Sudan with
Tchad and the Central African Republic.

These figures give densities of 0-24-0-30 and 0:04-0:05 Ostriches per
km? for the respective areas. The densities are broadly comparable with the
0:08-0:77 for Ostrich in the dry season in northern Tanzania (Lamprey
1964) and the range of 0:06-0:54 for other semi-arid areas of Tanzania and
Kenya (L. M. Hurxthal).

It is unlikely that the total number of Ostrich in Darfur exceeds 4,000
birds at present, but that in the two principal areas in which they still occur
the populations are fairly healthy. However, increasing pressure from human
and domestic livestock populations will probably lead in the future to further
reductions in range with a consequent reduction in total numbers.

References:

Bagnold, R. A. 1933. A further journey through the Libyan Desert, Geogr. J. 82: 103-130,
211-236.

Browne, W. G. 1799. Travels in Africa, Egypt and Syria from the year 1792-1798. London.

Lamprey, H. F. 1964. Estimation of the large mammal densities, biomass and energy
exchange in the Tarangire Game Reserve. FE. A. Wildl. J. 2: 1-46.

Madden, J. F. 1934. Notes on the birds of southern Darfur. Sudan Notes Rec. 17: 83-101.

Maydon, H. C. 1923. North Kordofan to south Dongola. Geogr. J. 61 (1): 34-41.

Nachtigal, G. 1879. Sahara and Sudan. IV Wadai and Darfur. (Translated [1971] from the
German by A. G. D. Fisher and H. J. Fisher). University of California Press, Berkeley
and Los Angeles.

Newbold, D. 1924. A Desert odyssey of a thousand miles. Sudan Notes Rec. 7: 43-101.

Newbold, D. & Shaw, W. B. K. 1928. An exploration of the south Libyan desert. Sudan
Notes Rec. 11: 103-194.

Address: R. T. Wilson, 21 Westfield Grove, Wakefield, U.K.

Comments on the Dusky Moorhen Gallinula tenebrosa
by C. M. N. White

Received 11 August 1976

Peters (1934: 203) listed three subspecies of Gallinula tenebrosa. He adopted
the arrangement then current, for there had been no critical study of geo-
graphical variation in the species, nor has there been subsequently. The
following notes result from a study of the status of the species in Wallacea.

Peters gave the range of nominate senebrosa Gould (1846) as Australia.
This requires qualification for it is known only from eastern and southwest
Australia (Macdonald 1973: map 44, Condon 1975: 105-106). G. ¢. frontata
Wallace (1863) is known in Wallacea from Celebes, Buru, Ambon, Seram,
Sumba, Flores and Timor. It is thus much more isolated from the nominate
form than is implied by Peters’ distributions, for +. ¢enebrosa is absent from
north Australia apart from north Queensland. The main character supposed
to distinguish frontata from ¢enebrosa is the colour of the legs and feet, mostly

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 126

red in frontata, mostly green or greenish yellow in senebrosa. The discovery of
frontata considerably antedated Gould’s description of senebrosa: Reinwardt
collected it in 1821 in north Celebes, and Temminck at the Leiden Museum
used a manuscript name Ga//inula haematopus for his specimens, thus empha-
sising the red legs, but did not publish the name.

Salvadori (1882: 279) cited Wallace as recording the legs red, green at the
joints. Meyer & Wiglesworth (1898: 714) using frontata binomially, gave its
English name as ““Red-legged Moor-hen’’, and quoted Guillemard for a bird
from Celebes as “tarsus red, olive green at the joints’. Dr. G. F. Mees (én
litt.) has informed me that Coomans de Ruiter noted of Celebes birds that the
legs were vermilion with grey joints. Five birds from Buru in the American
Museum of Natural History record on their labels “feet vermilion, joints
olive green”: in one from Timor “feet red with a greenish tinge”. In con-
trast Stresemann (1914: 55) described a bird from Seram as having the tarsus
brownish yellow with unfeathered tibiotarsus red. He made no comment on
this anomalous specimen.

Recent literature on Australian birds (Serventy & Whittell 1967, Frith
1969, Slater 1971, Macdonald 1973) states that in Australia the legs of G.
tenebrosa are green or greenish yellow, red on tibiotarsus. Most museum
specimens with the colour of the legs recorded on their labels confirm this,
but some birds do not conform to this description. Mees (én /i/t.) noted that
birds seen near Canberra in August had “dirty orange” legs. Goodwin (in
Hall 1974: 85) described a recent specimen from New South Wales as “legs
yellow, grey at ankle (“knees”) and toe joints, and orange on tibia above
ankle, and on front of tarsus”. When I recently examined this specimen, the
front of the tarsus had dried to a reddish shade. A skin in AMNH from Albert
Passage, South Australia is labelled as having the front of the tarsus orange.
In the same museum one from Gosford, New South Wales, and another
from Melbourne, Victoria describe on their labels the legs and feet as “‘red’’.
In the first the legs have dried to orange, in the second to red. There is thus
good evidence that Australian birds sometimes have the tarsus partly
orange. If the two skins quoted above are accurately labelled, some have red
legs. Whether these variations are seasonal or individual remains to be as-
certained.

Uncertainty over leg colour as a constant subspecific character is further
raised by a population of this species apparently localised in the Hall Sound
and Port Moresby area of south east New Guinea. Salvadori (1882) listed
three collected in 1875 at Bioto and Naiabui, Hall Sound. D’Albertis had
recorded the legs as red with greenish joints, and Salvadori accordingly
identified them as frontata. He also noted that Ramsay had earlier reported a
specimen from Laloki river as Zenebrosa, and queried that identification. None
of the many collectors working in the southern lowlands of New Guinea
since 1875 have found this species and Dr. R. Schodde (a /#+.) informs me
that there are no specimens from New Guinea in the CSIRO collections.
However Mackay (1970: 25) states that the species breeds in the Port
Moresby area. This New Guinea population is geographically remote from
frontata in Wallacea, but lives quite near to senebrosa in north Queensland. It
is thus surprising if it is really referable to frontata as the recorded leg colour
indicates. Further information about the legs of the Port Moresby birds
should be recorded.

127 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

The long accepted distinction between senebrosa and frontata based on the
colour of the legs is evidently valid for most specimens but not wholly
constant, and there are anomalies both in leg colour and distribution which
require further investigation. Meyer & Wiglesworth (1898) also stated that
frontata is darker below than /enebrosa. In the material which I have examined
six frontata viewed in series appear a little more sooty grey ventrally than
Australian birds, but most of the skins are old and may have undergone
postmortem changes. I should hesitate to rely on this character to distin-
guish frontata. | find some indication that the two forms differ slightly in size.
Australian birds exhibit a marked sexual disparity in size. Five males have
wings 214-223 mm, nine females 191-206 mm. On the other hand, in
frontata from Celebes four females’ wings measure 187-201 mm, eight
unsexed birds 188-206 mm. Unless the latter are all females, frontata shows
no marked sexual disparity in size.

One other record attributed to fronfata requires comment. Gyldenstolpe
(1955: 211) recorded, with hesitation, four specimens from the Vogelkop,
northwest New Guinea, as fronfata. He noted that they were very dark above
without any olive dorsal tinge and that the legs were reddish yellow with
grey-green joints. One of these skins is now in the Leiden Museum, and Dr.
Mees states that it is blacker than specimens from Celebes and Moluccas,
which are however older skins. It may be best to include the Vogelkop birds
in G. +. meumanni Hartert (1930), described from Sentani Lake, north New
Guinea, as a small form with blackish mantle lacking any olive brown
suffusion. The leg colours of the Vogelkop birds agree with some recorded in
neumanni. \ have not investigated the latter race in detail, but note that it is
known from three isolated populations which differ clinally in size. From
west to east wing measurements (mm) are :—

Vogelkop: 299, 198, 201, 2 99, 180, 186; Sentani Lake: 8 unsexed, 170-
188; Middle Sepik: 1 g, 170, 19 161.

Dr. Schodde (én /itt.) has commented that in Australia there have been
reported sightings of /enebrosa with white fleckings on the flanks, and that
this has prompted speculation that it may be conspecific with Gallinula
chloropus. Mayr & Short (1970) list them as members of a species group. Both
species were found breeding at the same locality in southeast Borneo by
Grabowski last century. In southwest Celebes Wallace obtained both together
at Makassar and Briutigam both at Bone, without information about
breeding. The two are sympatric at these localities. In the Lesser Sundas the
supposed sympatry is less clear. At Lombok ch/oropus is known but not
tenebrosa. At Sumbawa, Elbert obtained only senebrosa and Rensch only
chloropus, a juvenile, probably indicating breeding. Wallace obtained only
tenebrosa at Flores last century but, more recently Paynter (1963) reported
thence a series of ch/oropus including proof of breeding. It is thus possible
that the two species are not completely sympatric in the Lesser Sundas and
do not actually occur together at any locality. Since the dates when one or
other species has been obtained in Sumbawa and Flores are separated by
many years, the more recent being ch/oropus, the status of tenebrosa may have
changed. Up to date information about supposed sympatry in the Lesser
Sundas is needed.

Acknowledgments: 1 am grateful to Dr. D. W. Snow and Mr. I. C. J. Galbraith for facilities
to study material in the British Museum (Natural History), Tring; to Mrs. M. LeCroy for

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 128

very full data about material in the American Museum of Natural History, New York;
and to Dr. G. F. Mees and Dr. R. Schodde for information and comment.

References:

Condon, H. T. 1975. Checklist of the Birds of Australia. Part 1, non-passerines. Royal
Australasian Ornithologists Union.

Frith, H. J. (Ed.) 1969. Birds in the Australian High Country. Sydney: A. H. & A. W. Reed.

Gyldenstolpe, N. 1955. Birds collected by Dr. Sten Bergmann during his expedition to
Dutch New Guinea 1948-1949. Arkiv Zool. 8: 183-397.

Hall, B. P. (Ed.). 1974. Birds of the Harold Hall Australian expedition 1962-70. London:
Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History).

Macdonald, J. D. 1973. Birds of Australia. London: Witherby.

Mackay, R. D. 1970. The Birds of Port Moresby and District. Melbourne: Nelson.

Mayr, E. & Short, L. L. 1970. Species Taxa of North American Birds. Publ. Nuttall Orn.
Club. No. 9.

Meyer, A. B. & Wiglesworth, L. L. 1898. The birds of Celebes and the neighbouring islands.
Berlin: Friedlander.

Paynter, R. A. 1963. Birds from Flores, Lesser Sunda Islands. Breviora. No 182. Mus.
Comp. Zool.

Peters, J. L. 1934. Check-list of birds of the World. 2. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.

Salvadori, T. 1882. Ornithologia della Papuasia e delle Molucche. 3. Torino.

Serventy, D. L. & Whittell, H. M. 1967. Birds of Western Australia. Perth: Lamb Publs.

Slater, P. 1971. A Fieldguide to Australian birds. INon-passerines. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

Stresemann, E. 1914. Die végel von Seran. Novit. zool. 21: 25-153.

Address: 2 Belvedere Court, Kingsway, Ansdell, Lytham-St. Annes, Lancashire, England.

Haematozoa of British birds. I.* Blood parasites of birds
from Dumfries and Lincolnshire

by M. A. Peirce & C. J. Mead

Received 26 July 1976

Baker (1974) and Bennett e¢ a/. (1974), in reviewing the available data on the
prevalence of blood parasites in British birds, showed that relatively few
birds had been examined or parasites recorded. More recently Cheke e¢ a/.
(1976) have published a list of the parasites obtained from a survey of birds
in Hampshire and Yorkshire. To determine whether the low prevalence of
haematozoa in British birds is a localised phenomenon or merely seasonal,
birds have been examined in conjunction with the ringing programme of the
‘British Trust for Ornithology, primarily at Tring, Hertfordshire. This paper
reports similar observations from Lincolnshire and from Dumfries, Scotland.

All the birds examined (Table 1) were caught in mist-nets during routine
trapping for ringing purposes either at Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire (1-5
September 1975), or at two sites in Dumfries—Strathmilligan and Waterside _
Mains in the Penpont area of Thornhill (27 July-4 August 1975). 530 birds
were examined, of which 386 individuals of 23 species were from Lincolnshire
and 144 of 23 species from Dumfries.

Thin smears were made from blood taken from the tibial vein, air dried,
fixed in pure methanol and subsequently stained with Giemsa’s solution at a
strength of 1:10 at pH 7-2 for one hour. Microscopical examination was
carried out firstly under low power (X10) and then under a X90 oil im-
mersion objective for a more detailed morphological study.

*No. II in the series is appearing in J. Nat. Hist.

129 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

TABLE 1
Blood parasites found in birds from Dumfries, Scotland, and Lincolnshire, England.
Dumfries Lincolnshire
INumver Number
Examined|infected Examined|infected
Species ) «ne OR Faw ye Pee
Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula - - = = Ifo - - - =
Wryneck Jynx torquilla - - - = jo - = = =
Swallow Hirundo rustica cy oe pgal2—qsrre) af -xotcr*
House Martin Delichon urbica Ey Say agit te aga Se ee ee
Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea Ifo - - - = =— = - =
Pied Wagtail M. a/ba tlo - = = = Re
Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis = oy ore lo =— - - -
Wren Troglodytes troglodytes Of Loni coe UBM e sos — - =. =
Dunnock Prunella modularis Sgn cake ee SET TS eee eee
Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus
schoenobaenus Ifo - - - = > he ini
Reed Warbler A. scirpaceus - - - = 1jo - - -
Barred Warbler Sy/via nisoria - - - - Qo.mwat - -
Garden Warbler S. borin 2lo - - - - yar Ae
Blackcap S. atricapilla 2zlo - - = = a. s S.
- Whitethroat S. communis 2zlo - - - = 2zjo '- = - =
— Lesser Whitethroat S. curruca - - - = jlo - = - =
| Willow Warbler Phylloscopus
trochilus 1g ane hs ae ea SOLO r en Ss Dh er
Goldcrest Regulus regulus (:) an hil - - = =
Robin Erithacus rubecula 22/7 - 7 =- - —\- = "=
Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca - - - - Ifo - - = =
Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus - - - - fo - - = =
Blackbird Turdus merula 3/0 = 6 > - ri, Seer
Song Thrush T. philomelos /i- t - = - - = =
Willow Tit Parus montanus Gia “= 48 n= a® 2lo - - - =
Coal Tit P. ater A ee oe - - - =
Blue Tit P. caeruleus papper Hg = ts Sifes Sa Se ae
Great Tit P. major 8/4 —- 4* - = - - =
Tree Creeper Certhia familiaris Ifo - - - = - - = =
| Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus - - - = Iolo - - - =
| Goldfinch Cardeulis carduelis - = = = 30/0 - - -— =
Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs gpa iat) Bwiek = =
| Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula Ppp senrait Sow" - - - =
| Linnet Acanthis cannabina - - = = qJlo - - = =
_ Redpoll A. flammea - = = = 22/0 - - -— =
Starling Sturnus vulgaris jo - - = = 2zjo - - = =
TOTAL $44fag Bi, 27 igs I 296/50. ig. 8 24. | ae
H= Haemoproteus L=Leucocytozoon Hg=Haemogregarines T=Trypanosoma

* Denotes a new British host record

Results

Of the 144 birds examined from Dumfries, 49 (34%) of 14 species were
| found infected with one or more parasites. The most common genus of
_ parasite found was Lewcocytozoon, which occurred in 55°% of the infected
birds. The following parasites were identified :—
Leucocytozoon. L. dubreuili in Song Thrusht (1), L. majoris in Great
Tit (4), Blue Tit (7), Coal Tit (2) and Willow Tit (4), L. fringillinarum in
| Willow Warbler and Robin (7).

_ tFor scientific names see Table 1.

[Bull,. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 130

Hlaemoproteus. 1. orizivorae in Dunnock (1), Hi. fringillae in Dunnock
(1) and Chaffinch (2), and probably H. chelidonis in the House Martins (see
discussion).

Haemogregarines. Lankesterella spp. were observed in Goldcrest (3),
Wren (1) and Willow Warbler (1), the remainder being of the Hepatozoon type.

Mixed infections were seen in only four birds :—a haemogregarine and
L. majoris in Coal Tit (2), L. majoris and Trypanosoma sp. in Willow Tit, and
H1. chelidonis and a haemogregarine in House Martin.

From Gibraltar Point 50 (12-9 %) birds of 8 species were found to harbour
one or more parasites, the most common being haemogregarines (46% of
infected birds). Specific identification was possible for the following :—

Haemogregarines. Most were of the Hepatozoon type, although
Lankesterella sp. was identified in Swallow (2) and Willow Warbler (1).

Leucocytozoon fringillinarum in Willow Warbler (5) and Swallow (3).

Flaemoproteus. F1. orizivorae in Willow Warbler (2), Garden Warbler
(2), Blackcap (1) and Dunnock (1), HZ. fringillae in Willow Warbler (2).

Trypanosomes in the Swallows were all considered to be 77ypanosoma
phedinae, and that in the Blue Tit, 7. everetzz.

In addition to the records in Table 1, three birds, two Willow Warblers
and one Whitethroat, were infected with a Rickettsia-like organism.

Mixed infections were observed in only five birds; HZ. ortzivorae and
Rickettsia in Willow Warbler, L. fringilinarum and Rickettsia in Willow
Warbler, 7. phedinae and Haemoproteus sp. in Swallow, T. phedinae and L.
fringillinarum in Swallow and Trypanosoma sp. and a haemogtegarine in
Dunnock.

Discussion

The 34% infection rate in Dumfries was considerably higher than in
Lincolnshire and also higher than the May peak found in Hampshire and
Yorkshire, but comparable to that found in two areas in May and June in
Berkshire and Sussex (Cheke e¢ a/. 1976). The infection rate at Gibraltar
Point (12:9%%) was only slightly higher than that observed in 1972 (10%)
when far fewer birds were examined (Bennett e¢ a/. 1974). The most prevalent
parasites at Gibraltar Point were haemogregarines, and in Dumfries Leucocy-
fozoon spp.

One Robin from Dumfries showed a very light infection with L. fringi/-
linarum, but when re-trapped eight days later had a very high parasitaemia.
This suggests that the bird, which had fledged during that current breeding
season, had been infected towards the end of July. The absence of L. majoris
from the Paridae caught at Gibraltar Point, when by comparison it was
common in Dumfries, and the fact that the only birds infected with Lewcocy-
tozoon spp. were migrants, might suggest the absence of specific vectors in the
Gibraltar Point area.

The taxonomy of haemoproteids from the Hirundinidae is poorly under-
stood. Coatney & Roudabush (1937) named H. prognei from one infected
Purple Martin Progne subius from Nebraska. Their description and illustra-
tions were excellent, particularly when compared with those of the two
species described previously, H. chelidonis and H. hirundinis, and they con-
cluded that H. prognei most closely resembled H. birundinis, with only minor
differences. This could be expected from examining only one infected bird.
Because our own material consisted of light infections, we were unable to

131 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

identify conclusively the parasite in the Swallow as the same as that from the
House Martins, and pending the availability of more material, we prefer to
consider the parasite in the House Martins to be HZ. che/idonis, as originally
described by Franchini (1922). Yakunin (1972) has recorded H. chelidonis
from House Martin, Swallow and Sand Martin Aiparia riparia, in Kazakhstan,
although from only one specimen of each, out of 28, 450 and 138 birds of each
species respectively—a very low incidence. Future work will probably
determine whether any synonomy exists between the haemoproteids of the
Hirundinidae, but that those of Swallows and House Martins may be host
specific is suggested by the results of a study of the hippoboscid Crataerina
hirundinis. Sammers (1975) concluded that C. Airundinis was generally host-
specific for House Martins. It is quite probably the vector of 1. chelidonis;
so a similar situation might exist with the haemoproteids of Swallows and
House Martins, as indeed it does with the Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus and
the Rock Dove C. /ivia. In these, H. columbae and H. palumbis have morpho-
logically similar erythrocytic stages, but are transmitted by different vectors
and are host-specific (Baker 1967, 1975).

The haemogregarines from Swallows and House Martins were morpho-
logically indistinguishable from the Hepatozoon described from Cliff Swallows
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota in California (Clark & Swinehart 1966), but we believe
they probably represent a new species.

The large number of Swallows examined was for a specific purpose. Peirce
et al. (1976) described a new species of trypanosome 7. phedinae from the
Malagasy Swallow Phedina borbonica in Mauritius which closely resembled one
illustrated by Oosthuizen & Markus (1967) from European Swallows in
South Africa, some of which carried British rings (Markus pers. comm.).
We aimed therefore to determine whether the parasites were the same and
were being transmitted in Britain. Of the 11 birds found infected, six were
identified as having been reared in Britain during the current breeding
season, and therefore had become infected here, and we were able to show
that the parasites were morphologically indistinguishable from 7. phedinae.
Whilst most birds are almost certainly infected in Britain, this does not
preclude the possibility of reinfection or transmission to other birds on their
wintering grounds in South Africa.

One of the most interesting discoveries was that of a parasite resembling
Trypanosoma everetti in a Blue Tit from Gibraltar Point. Hitherto, 7. everetti
has been recorded only from a few birds from mainland Africa and the
Comoro Islands (Peirce & Cheke 1976). This present record suggests that the
parasite has a far wider geographical distribution although probably depen-
dent upon being brought to Britain by one of the trans-Saharan migrants.
This being so, there must still be a vector here, capable of transmitting the
parasite to other species.

The results generally show that there is a wider variety of blood parasites
in British birds than data from previous work would suggest. However, the
incidence would appear to be dependent on the local availability of appro-
priate vectors, rather than a strict seasonal occurrence of patency.

Summary

A survey of blood parasites in birds was carried out in Lincolnshire, England, and in

Dumfries, Scotland. 530 birds were examined of which 99 were found to be infected with

one or more parasites. The following parasites were identified; Haemoproteus orizivorae, H.
fringillae, H1. chelidonis, Leucocytozoon majoris, L. dubreuili, L. fringillinarum, Trypanosoma

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 132

phedinae, T. everetti, Rickettsia and haemogregarines. Leucocytozoon ssp. were mote prevalent
in Damfries, and haemogregarines in Lincolnshire. The results are discussed in relation to
both geographical and seasonal occurrences, together with the taxonomic implications to
some of the parasites observed.

References:

Baker, J. R. 1967. A review of the role played by the Hippoboscidae (Diptera) as vectors
of endoparasites. /. Parasit. 53: 412-418.

— 1974. Protozoan parasites of the blood of British wild birds and mammals. /. Zool.
Lond. 172: 169-190.

— 1975. Epizootiology of some haematozoic protozoa of English birds. J. nat. Hist. 9:
601-6o9.

Bennett, G. F., Mead, C. J. & Barnett, S. F. 1974. Blood parasites of birds handled for
ringing in England and Wales. /bis 117: 232-235.

Cheke, R. A., Hassall, M. & Peirce, M. A. 1976. Blood parasites of British birds and notes
on their seasonal occurrence at two rural sites in England. J. Wildl. Dis. 12: 133-138.

Clarke, G. W. & Swinehart, B. 1966. Blood parasitism in Cliff Swallows from the Sacra-
mento Valley. J. Protozool. 13: 395-397.

Coatney, G. R. & Roudabush, R. L. 1937. Some blood parasites from Nebraska birds.
Am. Midl. Nat. 18: 1005-1030.

Franchini, G. 1922. Haemoproteus chelidonis chez Vhirondelle Chelidon urbica Linn. Stades
probables de développment chez la puce Ceratophyllus hirundinis. Bull. Soc. Path.
Exot. 15: 13-18.

Oosthuizen, J. H. & Markus, M. B. 1967. Blood parasites of birds. Bokmakierie 19: 20-21.

Peirce, M. A. & Cheke, A. S. 1977. Some blood parasites of birds from the Comoro Islands.
J. Protozool. In press.

Peirce, M. A., Cheke, A. S. & Cheke, R. A. 1977. Blood parasites of birds in the Mascarene
Islands. /bis in press.

Summers, R. W. 1975. On the ecology of Crataerina hirundinis (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) in
Scotland. J. Zool. Lond. 175: 557-570.

Yakunin, M. P. 1972. Blood parasites of wild birds of South-East Kazakhstan. Trudy Inst.
Zool, Akad. Nauk Kazakh, SSR. 33: 69-79. (In Russian).

Addresses: M. A. Peitce, 6 Barrie House, Hartland Road, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 1JT.
C. J. Mead, British Trust for Ornithology, Tring, Herts HP23 5NR.

The race of Sterna bergii in Kenya
by P. L. Britton & T. O. Osborne

Received 9 August 1976

According to White (1965) and Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1952) the race
of the Swift Tern Sterna bergii occurring in Kenya is S. b. thalassina which
breeds on the islands of the Western Indian Ocean, though Jackson (1938)
listed Kenya birds as S. b. velox, which breeds in the Red Sea and northern
Somalia. In view of the dark colouration of Kenya birds, and the fact that
the few records available to them were from north of Mombasa, Britton &
Brown (1974) considered it likely that Kenya birds were S. b. velox. On the
other hand, recent breeding data from Latham Island, close to the Tanzania
coast, no doubt refer to S. b. thalassina, as probably do all Tanzania records
(Britton & Brown 1974).

In three years residence on the Kenya coast, Britton & Britton (1976)
have shown that S. bergéi is far commoner than previously supposed. It is
regular near Malindi, especially at the mouth of the Sabaki River, though
south of this area there are only three recent sightings, all of single birds.
The most southerly record is from Nyali (4° 2’ S) but this species is only
regular in any numbers south to the Sabaki River at 3° 9’ S. It occurs in all

133 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

months of the year, but flocks of 20 or more (up to 180) are recorded only
January—June. All birds seen by P.L.B. have the slate-grey mantle of JS. d.
velox, which breeds in northern Somalia August-September (Mackworth-
Praed & Grant 1952).

On 29 April 1976 two S. bergii were collected from a typical flock at the
mouth of the Sabaki River. With the assistance of the curator, T.O.O. has
compared these specimens with material in the National Museum, Nairobi
(Table 1). Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1952) give the wing-lengths of velox

TABLE 1
Measurements (mm) and weights (g) of Sterna bergii
Bill
Locality Date Wing to Skull Sex Weight Plumage
Sabaki, Kenya 29/4/76 360 65°2 -— 360 near breeding S
29/4/76 (330) 63°8 2 340 non-breeding S
Bender Beila,

Somalia 12/7/43 357 64°7 — — non-breeding S
Khormaksar, Aden 19/7/20 372 67:2 3 — breeding S
Remire Is., 21/9/67 351 §7°4 3 345 mnon-breeding P

Amirantes 21/9/67 (332) (51°6) 3 325 breeding P

21/9/67 (333) 58°6 3 350 mnon-breeding P
21/9/67 330 §4°5 ) 350 sub-adult P

Notes: S indicates mantle slate-grey, characteristic of S. b. velox.
P indicates mantle very pale grey, characteristic of S. b. thalassina.
Wing-lengths in brackets are of birds in almost completed moult, and the measure-
ments refer to the second long primary.
The bill of only 51-6 mm has a worn tip.

as 337-377 mm and ¢ha/assina as 318-348 mm. In mantle colouration the

Sabaki birds are indistinguishable from the Aden and Somalia birds, and all

_ three fully moulted wings from these darker mantled birds fall within the

range of velox and outside the range of tha/assina. One of the Amirantes, pale

| mantled, birds has a long wing, outside the range given for tha/assina. Birds
| with growing primaries can be recognised by the primary tips being silver-

grey rather than black or blackish; on the other hand the Aden bird and

_long-winged Amirantes bird have fresh, apparently complete primaries

though with this same silver-grey tip, and may not have attained full growth.
Bill measurements are perhaps more reliable in this small series. Mean bill-
length for the four velox is 65-2 mm against 56-8 mm for the three reliable
thalassina, a significant difference ( P <o-002, ¢+test). Female bills may be
smaller than male bills, and these small samples include both sexes, so that
it is probably unreasonable to assume that distributions are normal. But we
have little doubt that larger samples, analysed by sex, would show a signifi-

_ cant difference in bill length-between the two races, possibly without overlap.

Jackson (1938) implies that he collected S. berg’? near Mombasa at Kanamai

| (3° 55’ S), but there is no African specimen in the British Museum (Nat.
Hist.) where many of Jackson’s specimens are held (P. R. Colston zn Uitt.), so

that the two specimens from Sabaki may be the first from Kenya. Thus the

_non-breeding range of S. b. velox extends substantially south from its breeding

ground sin the Red Sea and northern Somalia, though S. bergid may in fact
breed much closer to Kenya than northern Somalia, as displaying pairs were
recorded at Brava in southern Somalia (1° N) by North (1945), a reference

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 134

seemingly overlooked by more recent authors. There is a dearth of suitable
tern and wader habitat on the Kenya coast south of the Sabaki River mouth
and nearby Mida Creek, and these latter areas probably therefore form the
southern limit for S. b. velox, as they probably also do for non-breeding
Caspian Terns Sterna caspia, Gull-billed Terns S. ni/otica and Broad-billed
Sandpipers Limicola falcinellus (Britton & Britton 1976). Thus it would seem
that the non-breeding ranges, as well as the breeding ranges, of S. b. velox and
S. b. thalassina may be considered discrete in eastern Africa.

In the Seychelles archipelago, to the east of Kenya at about 4° S, JS. d.
thalassina is widespread in all months, and has frequently been seen feeding
flying young, though nests have not been found (A. W. Diamond zu /:#z.),
and such records do not necessarily imply recent breeding or breeding in the
neat vicinity (Feare 1975). It is known to nest on the geographically close
Amirantes archipelago, politically a part of Seychelles (Diamond 7m Ui#.).
Feare’s sight record of a dark-backed S. bergii from Bird Island in the Sey-
chelles archipelago at 3° 43’ S on 11 September 1973 is noteworthy. This
dark bird was most probably S, 3. velox as the occurrence of the southern
breeding S. b. bergit, which is darker mantled than ¢thalassina but paler than
velox, in Seychelles is unlikely (White 1965). S. b. velox can be no more than
a vagrant in Seychelles, and it may similarly reach Tanzania very occasionally.

References:

Britton, P. & Britton, H. 1976. Records Section (Birds). FE. Afr. nat. Hist. Soc. Bull. 1976:
52-61.

Britton, P. L. & Brown, L. H. 1974. The status and breeding behaviour of East African
Lari. Ostrich 45: 63-82.

Feare, C. J. 1975. Post-fledging parental care in Crested and Sooty Terns. Condor 77: 368-

370.

Jackson, F. J. 1938. The Birds of Kenya Colony and the Uganda Protectorate. London: Gurney &
Jackson.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1952. Birds of Eastern and North Eastern
Africa, vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

North, M. E. W. 1945. Notes on the sea-birds of Brava. J/. E. Afr. nat. Hist. Soc. 81 & 82:
32-40.

White, C. M. N. 1965. A Revised Check List of African Non-Passerine Birds. Lusaka: Govt.
Printer.

Address: Box 90163, Mombasa, Kenya.

The nest and eggs of Tauraco fischceri
by P. L. Britton & H. A. Britton

Received 9 August 19 76

Despite their bright colouration, distinctive voice and fairly large size, forest
turacos are difficult to observe, and much remains to be learnt of their
breeding behaviour. The nests of all Musophagidae studied are flat, flimsy
structures of twigs, like those of the Columbidae, with two eggs that are
white or tinted (Moreau 1964). Tauraco fischeri occurs not uncommonly in
coastal forest, thicket and woodland from Tanga and the lowlands of
Usambatra in Tanzania to the Juba River in Somalia (White 1965), but its
nest and eggs are apparently undescribed.

On 1 June 1976, Mr. John Shaw informed us that a few days previously
he had seen a T. fischeri taking a stick into the canopy of a Msambarau
Syzygium cumini tree in his garden at Shimo-la-Tewa School, Mombasa,

135 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

Kenya. It was not possible to see any nest in the thick foliage of this large
tree, but it seemed likely that the bird was building a nest. H.A.B. visited the
site on 4 June. No bird or nest could be seen in this tree but a T. fischeri ina
nearby Msambarau called several times from thick foliage. Subsequent visits
were made but no bird was seen. Exceptionally heavy rain followed in mid
June, making the tree too slippery to climb, and although many leaves fell
during this wet period, it was still not possible to see any nest. A student at
the school, James Kalume, eventually climbed the tree on 22 June, and in
the part of the canopy where the bird was seen in late May, at 7-5 m above
the ground, he found a stick nest which he described as a loose platform of
twigs. There was no lining or other material in the nest, and it was not taken
as it could only be removed in pieces. It contained a single egg, in danger of
falling from the nest, and it is possible that a second egg had fallen earlier.
Although the evidence is circumstantial, there is no doubt in our minds that
this was the nest and egg of T. fischeri, which is the only musophagid oc-
curring at this locality.

When collected the egg was off-white with ill-defined but extensive pale
blue-grey underlying areas; but one month later it is now rather grey overall.
It is virtually spherical, measuring 36-1 x 34:6 mm, and weighed 22:6 g,
or 8-11 % of body weight (see Britton 1970, Moreau 1944). It was taken for
the National Museum, Nairobi, and when blown it was found to have
started to decompose. The yolk was rich orange in colour, as in the closely
related T. /ivingstonii (Mackworth-Praed & Grant 1952). Incubation was very
slight, but the egg had evidently been abandoned for several days, so that
it was probably laid in early June. A bird was probably incubating or laying
when the site was visited on 4 June.

Van Someren (1932) found this species nesting on the Kenya coast in
June, but no details are given of his record, which has not been incorporated
by later authors. A specimen from Sokoke, Kenya, in the National Museum
had enlarged ovaries in May. Coastal Kenya has an April-June rainfall
regime, so that breeding is apparently in the wettest months; northeastern
and coastal Tanzania on the other hand has long rains March—May and short
rains November—December (Griffiths 1958). Mackworth-Praed & Grant
(1952) mention young just out of the nest in Tanzania in October and March,
and there is a female in the National Museum which had active gonads when
taken in December at Amani. At Arusha, in northeastern Tanzania, seven
out of eight breeding records of T. hartlaubi are between August and January
(Beesley 1973), and a similar period, straddling the short rains, is the likely
pattern in 7. fischeri in the same climatic zone.

The almost spherical eggs of Musophagidae, Strigidae and Alcedinidae
ate mentioned by Lack (1968), and an egg of Musophaga rossae is used to

illustrate eggs of this shape (Hughes 1964). T. fischeri, T. persa, T. schutti, T.
livingstonii and T. corythaix ate considered members of a superspecies by
White (1965), but egg shape is curiously variable within this superspecies.
The eggs (mm) of 7. /ivingstonii (40 X 34), T. corythaix (38 X 32) and T.
schutti* (37 X 30) are somewhat oval, as are two eggs of T. persa (37 X 29),
* The T. schutti data probably include the two eggs collected by the late Capt. C. R. S.

Pitman in Bugoma Forest, Uganda on 24 May 1944, measuring 37-3 X 29-8 and 36-1 x

30°3 mm. As far as we are aware, exact measurements of eggs of this species have not

been previously published. They were supplied to H.A.B. by Capt. Pitman (i /i#t.) to
be copied onto E.A.N.H.S. nest record cards.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 136

though 7. persa eggs are typically more spherical (36 x 33) (data from
Mackworth-Praed & Grant 1952, 1970) and very close in shape to that of
I. fischeri.

We are grateful to John Shaw and James Kalume for their invaluable assistance in

finding this nest.

References:

Beesley, J. S. S. 1973. The breeding seasons of birds in the Arusha National Park, Tanzania.
Bull, Brit. Orn. Cl. 93: 10-20.

Britton, P. L. 1970. Some non-passerine bird weights from East Africa. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl.
90: 142-144, 152-154.

Griffiths, J. F. 1958. Climatic zones of East Africa. E. Afr. agric. J. 19§8: 179-185.

Hughes, A. M. 1964. Illustration of examples of outlines of eggs in Thomson, A. L. (Ed.)
A New Dictionary of Birds. p. 239. London: Nelson.

Lack, D. 1968. Ecological Adaptations for Breeding in Birds. London: Methuen.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1952. Birds of Eastern and North Eastern
Africa. Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

— 1970. Birds of West Central and Western Africa. Vol. 1. London: Longmans.

Moreau, R. E. 1944. Some weights of African and of wintering Palaearctic birds. /bis 86:
16-29.

— 1964. Article ““Turaco” zz Thomson, A. L. (Ed.) A New Dictionary of Birds. pp. 842-
844. London: Nelson.

Van Someren, V. G. L. 1932. Birds of Kenya and Uganda, being addenda and corrigenda
to my previous paper in Novitates Zoologicae 29 (1922). Novit Zool. 37: 252-380.
White, C. M. N. 1965. A Revised Check List of African Non-Passerine Birds. Lusaka: Govt.

Printer.

Address: Box 90163, Mombasa, Kenya.

New subspecies of Schizocaca fuliginosa and
Uromyias agraphia from Peru

by John P. O'Neill & Theodore A. Parker, IT

Received 22 June 1976

The Cordillera Carpish is a high mountain massif located (9° 40’ S, 76° 4’ W)
between the towns of Hudnuco and Tingo Maria in the Departamento de
Hudnuco of Peru. Its western slopes are under the influence of a rain shadow
and are quite arid, but the eastern slopes above ¢ 2060 m are covered with
luxuriant cloud forest (for details see Tallman 1974). From the vicinity of the
Carpish Tunnel, where the Carretera Central crosses the range at ¢ 2740 m,
one gets no idea that the highest peaks both northwest and southeast of there
tise above timberline and provide habitat for many species of birds that would
not otherwise be found in the region; such birds as Ampelion | Doliornis|
sclateri, Hemispingus rufosuperciliaris, Notiochelidon flavipes, Nephelornis oneilli
Tridosornis jelskii, Uromyias agraphia, and Schizoeaca fuliginosa were found to
be not uncommon.

In 1973, during studies in these areas by a field party from the Louisiana
State University Museum of Zoology, we obtained a series of the White-
chinned Thistletail Schizoeaca fuliginosa.

The Carpish population of S. fu/iginosa proved to be a well-marked race
that we propose to call

137 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

Schizoeaca fuliginosa plengei subsp. nov.

Type: Adult male, collected on 23 June 1973 by Erika J. Tallman at Bosque
Taprag above (NE) Acomayo, Departamento de Huanuco, Peru, elevation
¢ 3350 m. No. 74008, Louisiana State University Museum of Zoology. (Dan
A. Tallman original number 1328.)

Description: Differs from all known forms of Schizoeaca fuliginosa by
possessing a white superciliary stripe and by having the feathers of the throat,
malar region, breast, and belly marked with moderate to strong white shaft
streaks.

Measurements of type (mm): Wing (chord) 58-2, tail 105-7, tarsus 25-4,
culmen from base 16:4.

Range: So far as known, north and west of the Huallaga River in the
Carpish massif of the eastern Andes of Peruin the Departamento de Huanuco;
recorded from suitable habitats both northwest and southeast of Carpish
Tunnel,

Specimens examined: Schizoeaca f. fuliginosa (6). Venezuela: Paramo de Tama,
1g, 12 (AMNH 811984-985). Ecuador: Cerro Huamani, 12 1g, (AMNH
176074 and 180296); Oyacachi, 1f (AMNH 180295); Sumaco, 1g (AMNH
186385).

S. f. peruviana (11). Peru: Atuén, 29, 499 (ANSP 115322, 115324-328);
Llui, 19, 1 sex ? (ANSP 117508-—509); Bagazan, 12 (ANSP 117510); km 404
on Balsas-Leymebamba rd., 1g¢ (LSUMZ 80507); 25 km W Leymebamba, 13
(MVZ 156484).

S. f. plengei (14). Peru: Bosque Cutirragra, 1f (LSUMZ 74007); Bosque
Taprag, 1f (LSUMZ 74008, type); Bosque Magrapampa, 19, 1f (LSUMZ
74009-010); Huaylaspampa, 1g (LSUMZ 74011); Bosque Zapatagocha, 1
sex ?, 12 (LSUMZ 75209-210); Bosque Quiullacocha, 1 sex ? (LSUMZ
» 79684); Unchog, 5gd, 12 (LSUMZ 80501-506).

S. f. griseomurina (1). Peru: Huancabamba, road to San Ignacio, 1g (FMNH
222320).

Remarks: Not uncommon in the pajona/ just above timberline. As used in
Peru, the term pajonal refers to a wet, sometimes boggy area above timber-
| line that contains a mixture of grasses, scattered bushes, tree ferns, and, in
some areas such as in the Carpish mountains, clumps of terrestrial bromeliads.
We take great pleasure in naming this new form for Manuel A. Plenge,
_ both in recognition of his contributions to Peruvian ornithology and in
appreciation of the friendship and courtesies he has extended to ornitholo-
gists from all over the world who have come to his home in search of
| information concerning Peru’s avifauna.

The populations of Schizoeaca fuliginosa are divisible into two main groups,
a rufous- or buff-chinned one and a white-chinned one. The new form is
| white-chinned. As stated by Vaurie e¢ a/. (1972) populations of S. fuliginosa
' do not vary greatly in size, and we found this true of all four of the white-
chinned forms. We were fortunate in having recently-collected specimens of
, all forms of S. fuliginosa except S. f. vilcabambae available to us for making
_ colour comparisons. Material collected 4o to 50 years ago cannot safely be
| used in making colour determinations, though basic differences in patterns
| are still clearly evident. Thus the subterminal dusky markings on the belly
, feathers and the pale shaft streaks on the throat feathers of S. f. peruviana,

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 138

characters not mentioned by Cory (1916) when he described that race, nor
by Carriker (1933) when he gave reasons for rejecting it, are discernible in
all specimens examined regardless of their museum age. The ventral markings
are least pronouncedin S. f. fuliginosa and S. f. griseomurina, both of which are
essentially grey below. S. f. plengei, the southernmost of the white-chinned
races, has underparts that appear lightly streaked due to the presence of
white shaft markings, and S./. peruviana, to which the new race is most closely
related, has mottled underparts. S. f. palpebralis, the northernmost of the
rufous-chinned races, and the one that is found just south of S. f. plengei, is
plain grey below. S. f. palpebrals and S. f. griseomurina further differ from all
the other races by possessing large, striking white eye-rings and by the near

TABBE ‘a

Comparisons of colours of recently collected specimens of the four
white-chinned races of Schizoeaca fuliginosa

Dorsal colour
Superciliary
colour

Chin colour

Throat colour

S. f. fuliginosa
burnt umber

olive-grey

white

grey, obscure
white shaft

S. f. peruviana

burnt umber

olive-grey

white

grey, strong
white shaft

S. f. plengei
burnt umber
white, some
olive-grey
speckling
white

whitish, narrow
grey edging

S. f. griseomurina
mouse-brown
mouse-brown,
obscure

white

grey, unmarked

streaks streaks
Breast colour grey grey grey grey
Belly colour — greyish-white grey, feathers grey, feathers grey, slightly paler
unmarked with subterminal with white than breast
darker spot and _ shaft streak
tipped greyish and white tip
white
Flank colour _ olive-grey olive-grey rufescent-olive olive-brown
Rufous on little, not strong, reaching strong, reaching lacking, mouse-

primary 2,3 teaching shaft shaft shaft brown instead
absence of a superciliary line. S. f. griseomurina stands alone among the white-
chinned forms in its plainness. The presence of a form in both the white-
chinned and the rufous-chinned groups that is essentially unmarked below
and which possesses a striking white eye-ring is a matter of considerable
interest, but we have no explanation to account for the significance of this
variation.

Schizoeaca is not recorded between the Hudnuco localities north and west
of the Huallaga River south to Hda. Maraynioc in central Junin, where the
rufous-chinned, eye-ringed, form S. f. pal/pebralis occurs. The canyon of the
Huallaga cuts a major swath through the mountains of central Huanuco, and
the canyon of this river may form the boundary between the northern
white-chinned group and the southern, rufous- or buff-chinned complex.
Mountain areas to the west that attain elevations suitable for Schrzoeaca are

too dry for them; to the the east the Carpish massif drops off into lowlands

139 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

that are also unsuitable for Schzzoeaca. In Peru thistletails seem to be found
only over 3050 m in the wet pajonales of the eastern Andes, and are inhabi-
tants of thick, often mossy or grass-choked vegetation, where they creep
about in search of food. They rarely fly and may not be capable of long dis-
tance flights, and thus show mountain “island” distributional and evo-
lutionary patterns. Because of the paucity of Schzzoeaca habitat in the vicinity
of the “Northern Peruvian low” (see Vuilleumier 1968) we are sure that
neither of the two forms found north of the “low”’, S. f. fuliginosa and S. f.
Lriseomurina, make contact with S. f. peruviana, the form found south of this
unsuitable area. The two northern forms may make contact with each other,
but there is presently no indication that they do so; there is no information
about the degree of continuity of suitable habitat in the vast area intervening

TABLE 2

Selected measurements in millimeters of the four white-chinned
races of Schizoeaca fuliginosa

WING TARSUS CULMEN FROM BASE
males females males females males females
S. f. fuliginosa
ni—4 i=2 n=4 n=2 n='s q=2
60° ae. fe) §7°7-59°9 24°1I-25°2 22*8-23°0 15 °6-16°5 16*1I-17°0
(60-9) (58-8) (24:8) (22-9) (16-1) (16-6)
S. f. peruviana
n=5 n=6 n=5 n=G a6 n=6
59°1-64°2 55 °6-58-6 2§°1-25°7 22*1-24°8 16+2-18-0 1§*3-17°2
(61-4) (5776) (25-4) (23-8) (16-8) (16-3)
S. f. plengei
n—=9 n=3 n=9 n=3 n=9 n=3
54°§-58°2 §4°2-55°0 24°0-26°2 23°3-25°0O 16+2-17°2 16*9-17°0
(56-9) (54°6) (24:9) (24°1) (16-6) (16-9)
S. f. griseomurina
n=I n=1* n=I n=1* n=I n=1*
62-9 58-0 25°9 25°5 16°5 15°0

* measurement supplied by E. R. Blake, in “#t.

between the known ranges of S. f. plenget and S. f. peruviana to indicate
whether they are sympatric or separate.

E. R. Blake of the Field Museum, Chicago, has called to our attention
(pers. comm.) two Peruvian specimens of S. f. griseomurina in that collection.
This subspecies is known from southern Ecuador, but has not previously
been reported from Peru (Meyer de Schauensee 1970, treated therein as a full
species). They were taken by Celestino Kalinowski “‘on the road to San
Ignacio, Km 30, 3000 m [above] Huancabamba, Department of Piura’’. The
two specimens are a male, taken on 22 May 1954 (FMNH 222320), and a
_ female, taken on 20 May 1954 (FMNH 222319). We examined only the male.

Vautie’s (1971) decision to place all forms of the genus (sensu stricto) into
a single polytypic species may later prove to be incorrect. Most of the forms
will probably prove to be allopatric and for this reason few opportunities
will be provided for testing whether they are capable of interbreeding, but the
possibility should be kept in mind by field workers.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 140

In the Carpish area of Hudnuco and in the Ollantaitambo-Quillabamba
area in the Cordillera Vilcanota, Departamento de Cuzco, we also obtained
five specimens of the poorly-known Unstreaked Tit-Tyrant Uromyias
agraphia. The three specimens from the Carpish massif not only extend the
range of the species ¢ 550 km to the north-northwest, but they are recognizably
distinct from those of the southern population. We propose to call them

Uromyias agraphia squamigera subsp. nov.

Type: Adult male, collected on 21 July 1973 by Erika J. Tallman at Bosque
Cutirragra, south of Huaylaspampa, Departamento de Hudnuco, Peru,
elevation ¢ 2775 m. No. 74301, Louisiana State University Museum of
Zoology. (Dan A. Tallman original number 1552.)

Description: Differs from U. a. agraphia by having the feathers of the breast
both edged and prominently tipped with white, instead of only edged with
white, to form scalelike markings.

Measurements of type (mm): Wing (chord) 57-9, tail 68-5, tarsus 19:3,
culmen from base 13-7.

Range: Known from timberline forest and elfin-woods of the Cordillera
Carpish, Departamento de Hudnuco, Peru.

Specimens examined: Uromyias agilis (3). Colombia: La Victoria, 12 (FMNH
292223); Florente, 2g¢ (FMNH 292222 and 292226).

U. agraphia agraphia (2). Peru: 24 km NE Abra Malaga, 1g juv. (LSUMZ
78796); San Luis, 1g (LSUMZ 78797). .

U. a. squamigera (3). Peru: Bosque Cutirragra, 1f (LSUMZ 74301); Punta
de Esperanza, 1g (LSUMZ 79704); Carpish [=Carpish Tunnel], 1g (MVZ
160746).

Remarks: The name sguamigera is used in reference to the scaly effect
created by the white tips on the breast feathers. Although Uromyias agraphia
has only been reported from three areas, we suspect that it will eventually be
found to inhabit suitable areas between Hudnuco and Cuzco and that it may
range south to central Bolivia.

It forages in groups of two or three up to a half dozen individuals, unusual
for tyrannids. That there is no literature about the Unstreaked Tit-Tyrant
except a description of the type specimen is amazing as the species is common
both in the Cordillera Carpish and on the northeast side of the pass between
Ollantaitambo and Quillabamba in the Cordillera Vilcanota. We never saw
them hang upside down, but they forage restlessly and nervously, preferring
open or semi-open areas, especially where tangles and thickets with Chusquea
bamboo occur. Most food seems to be obtained by picking and gleaning.
Flycatching, in the strict sense, is uncommon. Uromyzas agraphia is mainly a
bird of timberline vegetation, but we have seen it at the edge of cloud forest
clearings as low as 2740 m.

Birds from the Carpish region are nearly identical in size to those from the
Departamento de Cuzco. Two of the three U. a. squamigera are much paler
yellow, and the third slightly paler yellow below than are the two U. a.
agraphia in the LSUMZ collection. Examination (J.P.O’N) of the type of the
species, collected at Idma near Santa Ana (Hda. Santa Ana=present-day
town of Quillabamba) by Edmund Heller and described by Chapman (1919)
showed it to be essentially identical to the LSUMZ specimens taken in the
same range c 120 km to the south-southeast.

141 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

When we first initiated this study we were of the opinion that U. agraphia
might be nothing more than the southern representative of U. agi/is, but
Melvin A. Traylor of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, has
informed us (é” /it.) of why he believes that the two are not conspecific.
Some of the differences are a matter of degree, such as the heavier ventral
streaking and brighter yellow breast of ag7/7s, but other characters are quite
distinct: agé/is has the back streaked, agraphia does not; agi/is has a pale base
to the mandible, agraphia does not; agz/is has black lores and a white super-
ciliary stripe that goes from the region of the nares to the distal tip of the
black crest, but in agraphia the superciliary stripe and the lores are mottled
grey and white and the stripe terminates just posterior to the eye; ag//is has
the tertials and inner primaries broadly edged with buffy white, but in
agraphia the edging is olive and not obvious. One of the most striking
differences is that the juvenal plumage of agi/is exhibits two distinct buffy
wing bars, while the juvenal plumage of agraphia (LSUMZ 78796 with skull
20% ossified) lacks any trace of wing bars. A further hint is that the popu-
lation of agraphia geographically nearest to agi/is, namely the Carpish popu-
lation with their scalloped breasts, is the most distinct phenetically. We thus
agree with Traylor that the two are best treated as separate species until
proven otherwise.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the LSUMZ Peruvian field work by
John S. MclIlhenny of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and in 1975 also by John F. Maher of
Houston, Texas. O’ Neill gratefully acknowledges a grant in 1975 from the Frank M. Chap-
man Memorial Fund. We are also grateful to the following for the loan of specimens:
E. R. Blake and Melvin A. Traylor (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago=FMNH),
Frank B. Gill (Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia ANSP), Ned K. Johnson
(Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley=MVZ), Wesley E. Lanyon and John Farrand,
Jr. (American Museum of Natural History, New York =AMNH). We thank Marc Douro-
jeanni R., Carlos Ponce P., and Antonio Brack E. of the Direcci6n General Forestal y de
Fauna, Ministerio de Agricultura, Lima, Peru, for their continued interest in our work and
for the issuance of neccessary permits. Ramon Ferreyra and Hernando de Macedo (Museo
de Historia Natural “‘Javier Prado” in Lima) have helped us in many ways. Robert S.
Kennedy, Carol S. O’Neill, Ronald J. Louque, and Dan A. and Erika J. Tallman were all
involved in the field work. Lastly we express our appreciation to George H. Lowery, Jr.,
under whose direction the Peruvian field work of the Louisiana State University Museum of
Zoology (LSUMZ) has been carried out.

References:

Carriker, M. A. 1933. Descriptions of new birds from Peru, with notes on other little-
known species. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 85: 1-38.

Chapman, F. M. 1919. Descriptions of proposed new birds from Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and
Colombia. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 32: 253-268.

Cory, C. B. 1916. Descriptions of apparently new South American birds, with notes on
some little known species. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Ornith. Series t: 337-346.

Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1970. A Guide to the Birds of South America. Wynnewood, Penn-
sylvania, Livingston Publ. Co.

Tallman, D. A. 1974. Colonization of a semi-isolated temperate cloud forest: preliminary
interpretation of distributional patterns of birds in the Carpish region of the Depart-
ment of Huanuco, Peru. Unpublished MSc. thesis, Louisiana State University.

Vaurie, C. 1971. Classification of the Ovenbirds (Furnariidae). London, H. F. & G. Witherby.

Vaurie, C., Weske, J. S. & Terborgh, J. W. 1972. Taxonomy of Schizoeaca fuliginosa (Fur-
natiidae) with description of two new subspecies. Bu//. Brit. Orn. Club 92: 142-144.

Vuilleumier, F. 1968. Population structure of the Asthenes flammulata superspecies (Aves:
Furnariidae). Breviora No. 297: 1-21.

Paget Museum of Zoology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70893,
US#:

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 142

Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature:
Opinions and Directions

In continuation of Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 95, 1975: 176, and by permission of the
International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, the following Rulings are
quoted as extracts from Opinions and Directions published in Bw//. Zool.
Nomencl. affecting birds:

OPINION 1037
(Bull. Zool. Nomencl. 32(2), 1975: 103)
Curruca affinis Blyth, 1845 (Aves) suppressed under the plenary powers—

(1) Under the plenary powers the specific name afinis Blyth, 1845, as
published in the binomen Curruca affinis is hereby suppressed for the pur-
poses of the Law of Priority but not for those of the Law of Homonymy.

(2) The following names are hereby placed on the Official List of Specific
Names in Zoology with the Name Numbers specified:

(a) althaea Hume, 1878, as published in the binomen Sylvia althaea
(Name No. 2546);

(b) b/ythi Ticehurst and Whistler, 1933, as published in the combina-
tion Sylvia curruca blythi, and interpreted by reference to the British
Museum specimen No. 98.9.101 (Name No. 2547).

(3) The specific name affnis Blyth, 1845, as published in the binomen
Curruca affinis (as suppressed under the plenary powers in (1) above) is
hereby placed on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Specific Names in
Zoology with the Name Number 1003.

OPINION 1046
(Bull. Zool. Nomencl. 32(4), 1976: 222)

Drepanididae Cabanis, 1847 (Aves) and Drepaneidae Gill, 1847 (Pisces):
placed on Official List of Family-Group Names in Zoology—

(1) The request to use the plenary powers to protect Name No. 306 on the
Official List of Family-Group Names in Zoology (i.e. Drepanididae Gadow,
1891) is refused.

(2) Under the plenary powers it is ruled that the stem of the generic name
Drepane Cuvier, 1831 (Pisces) for the purposes of Article 29 is Drepane-.

(3) The generic name Drepane Cuvier, 1831 (gender: feminine), type-
species of nominal genus, by subsequent designation by Jordan, 1917,
Chaetodon punctatus Linnaeus, 1758, is hereby placed on the Official List of
Generic Names in Zoology (Name Number 2020).

(4) The specific name punctatus Linnaeus, 1758, as published in the binomen
Chaetodon punctatus (specific name of type-seties of Drepane Cuvier, 1831) is
hereby placed on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology (Name
Number 2562).

143 [Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)]

: (5) The following family-group names are placed on the Official List of
Family-Group Names in Zoology:

: (a) Drepanididae Cabanis, 1847 (Aves) (correction, as a consequence
of the Ruling given in (1) above, of entry No. 306 in the Official List
: of Family-Group Names in Zoology) (type genus Drepanis Temminck
1820), (Name Number 306).

(b) Drepaneidae Gill, 1872 (Pisces) (type-genus Drepane Cuvier,
1831) (Name Number 479).

(6) The following generic names are hereby placed on the Official Index
_ of Rejected and Invalid Generic Names in Zoology:

(a) Drepanichthys Bonaparte, 1831 (Name Number 2065), 3
(b) Exixe Gistl, 1848 (Name Number 2066), and

(c) Harpochris Cantor, 1849 (Name Number 2067), all being junior
objective synonyms of Drepane Cuvier, 1831.

(7) The following family-group names are hereby placed on the Official
_ Index of Rejected and Invalid Family-Group Names in Zoology:

(a) Drepaninae Cabanis, 1847 (an incorrect original spelling of
Drepanididae Cabanis, 1847) (Name Number 467);

(b) Drepanidae Bonaparte, 1853 (an incorrect subsequent spelling of
Drepanididae Cabanis, 1847) (Name Number 468);

(c) Drepanididae Gadow, 1891 (determined through the Ruling in (1)
above to be a subsequent usage of Drepanididae Cabanis, 1847)
(Name Number 469);

(d) Drepanidae Gill, 1872 (determined through the Ruling given
under the plenary powers in (2) above to be an incorrect original
spelling of Drepaneidae Gill, 1872) (Name Number 470).

[It is to be noted that names (a), (b) and (d) under (7) in the above Ruling
are not only homonyms among themselves, but are all also junior homonyms
of Drepanidae Boisduval, [Nov. 1828] (Lepidoptera) (Name No. 307 on the
Official List of Family Group-Names in Zoology).]

DIRECTION 107
(Bull. Zool. Nomencl, 32(4), 1976: 248)

Correction of author and date for Loriidae (Aves) (Official List of Family-
Group Names in Zoology. Name Number 457)—

It is hereby directed that entry No. 457 placed on, the Official List of
Family-Group Names in Zoology by the Ruling given in Opinion 938 is to
be amended to read as follows:

Loriidae (correction of Loriana and Lorianae) Selby, 1836, Parrots, in
the Naturalist’s Library, Ornithology, 6: 57, 141, 142 (type-genus
Lorius Vigors, 1825) (Class Aves).

[The Ruling in Opinion 938 quoted in the Direction 107 above, was repro-
duced in Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 91, 1971: 116—Ed.]

[Bull. B.O.C. 1976: 96(4)] 144

IN BRIEF

Specimens of Neodrepanis hypoxantha in Dresden

I drew attention (Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 94(4), 1974: 141-143) to a specimen of
N. hypoxantha, in the Merseyside County Museums, bringing the then recog-
nised total of specimens up to eleven. However, I overlooked the note by
Eck (Zool. Abb. st. Mus. Tierk., Dresden 29(16), 1968: 229-230), who
recorded two specimens in the Staatlichen Museum fir Tierkunde, Dresden.
The first of these is the “‘one more adult male in another German museum”’
among the nine specimens accounted for by Salomonsen (O/seau et R. f. O.
35, no. spéc., 1965: 108). Collected by J. M. Hildebrant at Andrangoloaka,
central Madagascar, in November 1880, it was evidently close to breeding,
since it had bare skin around the eye, bronze-green encircled by beryl-blue.
The second specimen in Dresden was also obtained by Hildebrandt, in June
1880, and is said to be a juvenile male, the bill weaker and shorter than in the
adult. This juvenile therefore brings the total number of known specimens of
N. hypoxantha ap to twelve.

24 August 1976 ~ ast w Beftson

Address: Dept. of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge.

BOOKS RECEIVED (

Ferguson-Lees, J., Hockliffe, Q. & Zweets, K. 1975. A Guide to Bird-
Watching in Europe. Pp. 298, 22 maps, 36 pp. of tables, black and white
drawings. London: Bodley Head. £3-95.

Covers 25 areas, so generally and briefly for some as to be hardly more than
a useful list of birds and place names.

a

Scott, Bob & Forrest, Don. 1976. The Birdwatcher’s Key. Pp. 271, fully
illustrated in colour. London: Warne. {2:25.

Covers 382 species in the British Isles and N.W. Europe.

Ridgely, R. S. 1976. A Guide to the Birds of Panama. Pp. xv + 394, 32 colour
plates of nearly 500 species and black and white drawings by J. A. Gwynne,
Jr. Princeton: Princeton University Press. £10-50. Sponsored by the
International Council for Bird Preservation.

A very nicely produced, well illustrated volume, with a brief introduction
to climate, migration and conservation, followed by a text on the over 880
species of this important junction of two zoogeographical regions, giving
description, confusable similar species, status and distribution, habits and
range.

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NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS

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Published by the BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB and printed by
The Caxton and Holmesdale Press, 104 London Road Sevenoaks Kent.

BULLETIN

of the

BRITISH
ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB

EDITED BY

Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 97
1977

PRICE: FOUR POUNDS FIFTY PENCE

PREFACE

The Editor is glad to be able to thank Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Benson for their continued
goodwill and diligence in preparing the lists, index and corrigenda for this volume. Mr.
Benson has also once more been to much trouble to extract the relevent matter from
the Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature, with the kind permission of the International
Trust for Zoological Nomenclature.

The Club continues to be fortunate in the punctual publication of the Bulletin each
quarter, due in no small part to the efficiency of Mr. K. E. Wiltsher and his staff at the
Caxton and Holmesdale Press.

JAMES F. MONK

COMMITTEE

1976-77 1977-78
Prof. J. H. EtGoop, Chairman (1974) P. Hoce, Chairman (1977)
P. Hoce, Vice-Chairman (1974) Dr. G. BEVEN, Vice-Chairman (1977)
Dr. J. F. Monk, Editor (1976) Dr. J. F. Monk, Editor (1976)
R. E. F. Peat, Hon. Secretary (1971) R. E. F. Peat, Hon. Secretary (1971)
M. St. J. Succ, Hon. Treasurer (1974) M. St. J. Succ, Hon. Treasurer (1974)
Dr. G. BEVEN (1976) Mrs. J. D. BRADLEY (1975)
Mrs. J. D. BRADLEY (1975) C. E. WHEELER (1975)
Dr. C. J. O. Harrison (1974) B. Gray (1977)

C. E. WHEELER (1975) C. F. MANN (1977)

iil

LIST OF MEMBERS: AMENDMENTS UP TO 31st DECEMBER, 1977
(Compiled by the Hon. Treasurer)

New Members

ArmiraGE, J. S., 39 Bly Road, Darfield, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Asn, Dr. J. S., pH.p., National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
WAsHINGTON D.C. 20560, U.S.A.

BEALES, R. W., B.sc., P.O. Box 2161, Bandar Seri, Begawan, Brunei.

Biser, J.-P., Culterty Field Station, Newburgh, Ellon, Aberdeenshire AB4 O0AA.
CarswELL, Dr. M., Dept. of Surgery, P.O. Box 7051, Kampala, Uganda.
CuristMAs, T. J., 72 Glenferness Avenue, Talbot Woods, Bournemouth, Dorset.
Davies, O. J. H., Barbers Orchard, Little Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex.

De Naurots, Prof. Dr. R., M.c., D.sc., Grand Parc de Brunoy, E114 7 Rue Christofle,
91800 Brunoy, France.

Etey, J. T., 1 Bloomfield Close, Timsbury, Bath BA3 1LP.
FRONTERAS, Capt. P., Middlewatch, 56 Macey Street, Torpoint, Cornwall.

GREEN, Prof. J., pH.D., Dept. of Zoology, Westfield College, Hampstead, London NW3
Foe

GREENWOOD, J. G., B.sc., Dept. of Biology, Liverpool Polytechnic, Byrom Street, Liver-
pool L3 3AF.

Harpum, Dr. J. R., St. Paul’s College, Cheltenham, Glos. GL50 4AZ.
Harrison, I. D., m.a., Hafan Deg, Panteg Road, Aberaeron, Dyfed, Wales.
JacossEN, P. E., Ivar Huitfeldtsgade 66, 8200 Arhus N, Denmark.

James, P. C., 231 Fell Avenue, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

LINDBERG, P., Kallsprangsgat 3, S-41320 Gothenburg, Sweden.

Linpsey, T. R., P.O. Box 8, Malanda, Queensland, Australia.

LiversiDGE, Dr. R., pH.p., P.O. Box 316, Kimberley, Cape 8300, South Africa.
Lurs, Dr. P., Naturhistorisches Museum Bern, 3005 Bern, Switzerland.
Macnusson, A. H., Ramsays Strand 5A1, S-F 00330 Helsinki 33, Finland.
Orron, D. A., The Limes, Alvechurch, Worcs.

Pain, H. M., B.A., 9 Beeches Court, Avondale Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 4ER.
ParKER, J. G., B.A., Tye House, Bramford Tye, Ipswich, Suffolk.

Perry, J. W., 9 Cornwall Avenue, Blackpool FY2 9QN.

Raynor, E. M., B.sc., Priorsmead, Nash Meadow, South Warnborough, Hants.
REDMAN, N. J., 111 Harestone Valley Road, Caterham, Surrey CR3 6HR.

RoperTson, K. W., 210/129 Muang Thong Nives 2, Thanon Pattanakarn, Prakanong,
Bangkok, Thailand.

iv
SPEED, P. H., 298 Victoria Avenue, Ockbrook, Derby DE7 3RN.
Stuart, S. N., Greenclose Farm, Wimborne Minster, Dorset BH21 2AL.

Trums, P. D. W., Charlbury, la Bell House Lane, Brentwood, Essex CM14 5PP.

TINKER, B. F., Lahr Senior School, C.F.P.O. 5000, D-7630, Lahr-Schwarzwald, West
Germany.

Tucker, J. J., 5 Larches Road, Foley Park, Kidderminster, Worcs. DY11 7AA.
Warre, R. K., B.A., Dept. of Psychology, University of Keele, Keele, Staffs. ST5 5BG.

Resignations

Massey, M. J. McKetvie, J. N.

Death

The Committee much regrets to record the death of Sir A. LANDsBoROUGH THOMSON,
C.B., O.B.E., D.SC., LL.D., Vice-Chairman 1935-38, Chairman 1938-43.

Vv

LIST OF AUTHORS AND CONTENTS

TR eg et ae a ne oe et na SE OT OTe 2-3
ANGLE, J. PHILLIP

See OLSON
PE FE MERAT. MEETING (85th)... om )t'yp jodi immed eves Saale 0 had 33
Asu;.J. 8.

Four species of birds new to Ethiopia and other notes nes 4-9

First known breeding of the Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea south of the

Re Pe A ce ed RR ee bree ne, Gaede 56-59

Asn, J. S.and Howe, T. R.

The Bald Ibis or Waldrapp Geronticus eremita in Ethiopia 0.00 es 104

AsHForD, R. W. and Bray, R. S.
Confirmation of the occurrence of the Egyptian Nightjar Caprimulgus
BRU RGR UDEAS. 10, TRDIOPIA. ie Ac diem \ pen ee eee Te 53-54
BENDER, KRISTEN E.
See COLLINS

BENSON, C. W.

Telacanthura ussheri benguellensis in Zambia ene ore sate eae pt 135-136
Benson, C. W. and CoLEBROOK-RoBjENT, J. F. R.

Erythrism in the Fiery-necked Nightjar Caprimulgus pectoralis wave 37-39
Benson, C. W. and WinrErBotrtom, J. M.

The distribution and habitat of Telacanthura ussheri benguellensis occas 46-48
BENson, C. W.

See also HANMER
I Et tie Bo Ry ce + Oe aes nual iv ate” Wiad fi etn 32. 72.036
BOsWALL, JEFFERY

Notes on tool-using by Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus oc oe 77-78
Bray, R. S.

See ASHFORD
BritTON, PETER L.

First African records of two Malagasy sea-birds ses 54-56
Brosset, A. and Erarp, C,

memernmistic secotds from.Gabon.. win | hun ¢ nec | one eeheaoe 125-132
BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE

ORAL TOGO. .nninrr Iyletaiaciad 2h slyortid aor (len ial Roe pase 31

Bete BOR LOG0 ANG TOGO fac hi tine edt Sette pte es 104
Cxiark, A.

Review of the records of three Palaearctic ducks in Southern Africa ___..... 107-114
CoLEBROOK-ROBJENT, J. F. R.

eremosiot the Teita Falcon Falco faxctinucha 0. ° oe sie | ee 44-46

POM Ee MS OL ol Fahd DULPUTASCNS 0) oop ek, Ben Lah Doane 81-82

See also BENSON
CoLiins, CHARLES T. and BENDER, KrisTEN E.

Metvical Neossoptiles in a Neotropical Passerine = 0 et 133-135
Pee ee SELL TO REPORT, OF rygqo 0) } cage) bos Atty PA eI een) seed sete I
CrAMP, STANLEY

An illustrated address on The Birds of the Western Palaearctic (© ene sss 73

Davipson, N. C.

See GREIG-SMITH
DowsertT, R. J., LEMAIRE, FRANCOISE, and STJERNSTEDT, R. ww oe a;

iiiie -yoice,.of the coutser:brnopttlus-cinttus), decoy sade eR ge Paw. 73-75
ERARD, C.

See BROSSET
ERICKSON, RICHARD

First record of the Knot Caldris canutus, and other records, from Belize

(LENG EIS GMM) ICS 106 DUE) SIA ca SN a ea M+ AEC AS 78-81

FEARE, C, J.

Phedina borbonica madagascariensis in the Amitantes .. ees 87-89

vi
ForsHaw, J. M.
An illustrated address on the ecology of parrots in Australia un. 33
GOCHFELD, M.
See SNow, B. K.
GREEN, ARTHUR A.
New nesting records for Ruppell’s Griffon Gyps rueppellii in West Africa 9-I0
GREIG-SmMITH, P. W. and Davipson, N. C.
Weights of West Africam Savannabirds’.\ oy.) Get OE ee 96-99
Hanmer, D. B. and BENson, C. W.
Normal and aberrant specimens of the Spotted-backed Weaver Ploceus
CUCUNIGIES SEND REG TO EBRD PARE “VST, EL SN, SUS 89-93
Harpy, JoHN WitiiaM and Raitt, RALpH J.
Relationships between the two races of the San Blas Jay Cyanocorax san-
DIGGS acer meses oN UO LA RS OS TOU a Tet 27-31
Harrison, I. D.
Extension of Range of the White-headed Robin-chat Cossypha heinrichi 20-21
HAVERSCHMIDT, F.

The occurrence of the Crimson Fruitcrow Haematoderus militaris in Surinam 76
Hoxicomps, Larry C.,

Euplectes diadematus and Coliuspasser axillaris breeding in Somalia ... — ...... I5-I7
Homes, D. A.

Faunistic notes and further additions to the Sumatran avifauna ks... 68-71

Horyoak, D. T.
See SCHODDE
Horyoak, D. T. & TuHrsBautt, J. C.
Ffalcyon gambieri Oustalet, an extinct Kingfisher from Mangareva, South

Pacine Cea eI eC au Sel age | tae, ee Se) ar 21-23
Howe Lt, T. R.
See AsH
Hupson, ROBERT
Choragnins, semipalmains itt the AZOfES) nr wd Ba ee 135

JANy, EBERHARD
The Blue Rock Thrush of East Asia, Monticola solitarius philippensis (Miller),
ii the Moliedas.\~"" — “cee RYT Rey) See te eee Se 18-20
LEMAIRE, FRANCOISE
See DowsErt
MAcpbona.Lp, M. A. and Tay tor, I. R.

Notes on some uncommon forest birds in Ghana =... ~/2. 0 RES ee iiG—1 20
MADGE, S. G.

Hole Nesting by Bat Falcon Falco rufigularis in Belize... ee seen sane 41-42
Mepway, Lorp

Symposium om Asian Birds (it part) yaoi. 6 2, (wt) Ate 33
MELVILLE, DAvip

INew Maridac records: from,Hong Kong > .-...c ee ea ee eee 34-37
Oxson, Storrs L. and ANGLE, J. PHILLIP

WW eights of Some: Puerto Rican Bids 2.254455. Ba oe eh eae IO5—107
OpeeaeC)

Symposium on. Asian Birds (in ‘patt) i.) Saas) Va AE ee 33

PARKES, KENNETH C,

An undescribed subspecies of the Red-legged Honeycreeper Cyanerpes cyaneus 65-68
PAYNE, ROBERT B.

Juvenile plumages of Cuculus canorus and Cuculus gliris in Aftica 0 oa 48-53
Penry, E. H.

Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus on Frigate Island, Seychelles ..... __...... 120-121
PRIGOGINE, A.

The Orange Ground-thrush Turdus tanganjicae (Sassi) a valid species __...... 10-15
Rarrt, RAupH J.

See Harpy
REMSEN, J. V., Jr.

A third locality in Colombia for the Dusky-chested Flycatcher Tyrannopsis

VURCWDOUBT ES —— sitice ists RRO ST EEO 93-94

vii

ScHoDDE, R. and Hotyoak, D. T.

Application of Halcyon ruficollaris Holyoak and Alcyone ruficollaris Bankier Cee
SERLE, WILLIAM

The aberrant eggs of Turdoides plebejus in Nigeria and their relation to co-

operative breeding and to victimisation by C/amator cuckoOsS oo, aes 39-41
SEVERINGHAUS, S. R.
First record of the Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus from Taiwan __e..... 103-104

Snow, BarBaARA K. and GOcCHFELD, M.
Field notes on the nests of the Green-fronted Lancebill Doryfera /udoviciae

and the Blue-fronted Lancebill Doryfera johannae 0. oe ee tts 121-125
Snow, D. W.
The display of the Scarlet-horned Manakin Pipra cornuta oo ae sts 23-27

STJERNSTEDT, R.

See DowsEtt
Stoppart, D. R.

Roemuty Ot pelicans on St. Joseph Atoll, Amirantes 2.00 uu) ne ce 94-95
STRAUCH, JOSEPH G., Jr.

Smee tad welonts trom Panama ee ee dee thn OP ee 61-65
Tarnor, 1. R:

See MACDONALD, M. A.
THIBAULT, J. C.

See HoLyoAk
TYLER, STEPHANIE

An illustrated address on the avifauna of Ethiopia... este 105
Voous, K. H.

Miatteter s Specimens of Sterna cantiacafrom Brazil... nak the 42-44
WaLkeER, C. A.

The rediscovery of the Blofeld and the Wilkes Collections of sub-fossil birds

Pk 5 A a CO See RR ean fa est ars FU wae 114-116

Watsu, J. FRANK

Nesting of the Jabiru Stork Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis in West Africa 136
Warp, P.

An illustrated address on Palaearctic migrants in Nigeria _.....
Weers, 1. R.

Muscicapa williamsoni Deignan;ateappraisal 2. eee
Wuire, C. M.N.

MiGtes on some non-passetine bitds of Wallacea) et ae 99-103
WILLIAMSON, KENNETH

Blyth’s Pipit Anthus godlewskii in the Western Palaearctic _......
WINTERBOTTOM, J. M.

See BENSON
Woopcock, M. W.

Syeposiuin on Asian birds (in patt) .. a) ae
WorxLpD WILDLIFE FUND

Co-operation invited on the protection of the Bald Ibis Geronticus eremita 72
WyYNNE-Epwarps, V. C.

An address on social competition controlling population density in birds ..... 105
ZONFRILLO, B.

Re-discovety of the Andean Condor Vultur gryphus in Venezuela _ .....

viii

INDEX TO SCIENTIFIC NAMES

(Compiled by C. W. Benson with the assistance of
Mrs. C. W. Benson and Mrs. M. Hawksley)

All generic and specific names (of birds only) are indexed. Subspecific names are included only if new

and are also indexed in bold print under the generic and the specific names.

abingoni, Campethera 97
abyssinicus, Dendropicos 59

— ‘Turtur 96
Accipiter fasciatus 100
Acrocephalus agricola 7

— baeticatus 7, 129

— dumetorum 7
acuta, Anas 59, 78, 107, 109
acutipennis, Chordeiles 62
adelaidae, Dendroica 106
adsimilis, Dicrurus 97
Aechmorhynchus cancellatus 22
aegyptius, Caprimulgus 53
aeneus, Molothrus 64, 80
afer, Euplectes 98

— Nilaus 97

— Turtur 96
africana, Verreauxia 118
africanus, Cassinaetus 118

— Gyps 125

— Pseudogyps 9
agami, Agamia 61
Agamia agami 61
Agapornis swinderniana 118
_— = taranta 59
Agelaius xanthomus 106
agricola, Acrocephalus 7
alba, Calidris 62, 79

— Gygis 115

— Motacilla 128

— Tyto 70-71
albescens, Synallaxis 63
albicapilla, Cossypha 97
albicollis, Saltator 65
albilinea, Tachycineta 64
albitorques, Columba 59
albobrunneus, Campylorhynchus 64
albus, Corvus 8

— Eudocimus 78
Alcedo azurea 32

— caerulescens 71

— cristata 96

— pulchra 32

— quadribrachys 96

— speciosa 7I
alcinus, Macheiramphus 69
Alcyone ruficollaris 32
Alethe choloensis 128

— poliocephala 128
alfredi, Bradypterus 6

alleni, Porphyrio 96
altera, Corapipo 63
altiloquus, Vireo 106
altirostris, Turdoides 39
amandava, Estrilda 107
Amazilia edward 62

— tutila 80

— tzacatl 62
Amazona autumnalis 62
americana, Parula 106
Anas acuta 59, 78, 107, 109

— capensis 107

— clypeata 59, 107, 110-111

— crecca 59

— gibberifrons 71

— penelope 59

— querquedula 59, 107-108

— tubripes 112

— smithi 110-111

— sparsa 59

— undulata 59
ani, Crotophaga 62, 106
anneae, Euphonia 64
Anous minutus 55

— stolidus 54-55

— tenuirostris 54-55
antaios, Upupa 115
Anthoscopus flavifrons 131
Anthracothorax dominicus 105

— nigricollis 62

— viridis 106
Anthus campestris 60-61

— cervinus 59

— godlewskii 60-61

— novaeseelandiae 60-61
Apalis goslingi 130

— mnigriceps 129

— rufogularis 130

= ‘sharp i Loe 130
Aphriza virgata 62
Apus batesi 118

— pacificus 71
aquatica, Muscicapa 98
arcuata, Dendrocygna 99—100
argentatus, Larus 34
Arremon aurantiirostris 65
Arremonops conirostris 65
Artomyias fuliginosa 130
Asio otus 127
assimilis, Chlorostilbon 62

assimilis, Puffinus 115

— Turdus 64
astrictocarpus, Porzana 115
aterrimus, Phoeniculus 97
Atlantisia podarces 115
atratus, Coragyps 17
atriceps, Hypergerus 98
Attila spadiceus 63
Aulacorhynchus prasinus 63
aurantiifrons, Hylophilus 64
aurantiirostris, Arremon 65
aurantiiventris, Trogon 62
aureola, Pipra 24
auricapillus, Icterus 64
aurita, Sporophila 65
aurocapillus, Seiurus 106
australis, Treron 96
autumnalis, Amazona 62
axillaris, Coliuspasser 15-16

— Myrmotherula 63
azurea, Alcedo 32
azuteus, Ceyx 32

baeticatus, Acrocephalus 7, 129
barbarus, Laniarius 97
barbatus, Pycnonotus 96—97
Bartramia longicauda 62
Basileuterus delatrii 64
batesi, Apus 118

— Terpsiphone 130
Batis minima 130

— senegalensis 98
beecheii, Cyanocorax 30
bengala, Estrilda 99
bernsteinii, Ptilinopus 101
biarmicus, Falco 59
bicolor, Tiaris 107
bifax, Bulweria 115
blissetti, Diaphorophyia 130

— Platysteira 130
boehmi, Chaetura 46

— Neafrapus 46-47

— Sarothrura 125-126
borbonica, Phedina 87-88
borealis, Nuttallornis 63
Bostrychia carunculata 59, 104
bouvieri, Scotopelia 126
brachyptera, Cisticola 97
brachyura, Camaroptera 98

— Chaetura 62

— Sylvietta 98
Bradornis pallidus 98
Bradypterus alfredi 6
brazzae, Phedina 88
Brotogeris jugularis 62
brunneicapillum, Ornithion 64
brunnicephalus, Larus 34-35
Bubo 126

— sumatrana 127
buffonii, Chalybura 62

bulocki, Merops 96-97
Bulweria bifax 115
Butorides striatus 96
Bycanistes fistulator 118

cabanisi, Emberiza 98
Cacicus cela 64

— uropygialis 64
Cacomantis dumetorum Io1

— variolosus 101
caerulescens, Alcedo 71

— Dendroica 106

— Estrilda 98

— Muscicapa 129
Cairina scutulata 69
Calandrella cinerea 127
Calidris alba 62, 79

— canutus 78-79

— mauri62

— minuta 59
Callonetta leucophrys 112
camaronensis, Geokichla 1o

— Turdus 129
Camaroptera brachyura 98
camelus, Struthio 77
Campephaga phoenicea 97
Campephilus 42

— melanoleucos 63
campestris, Anthus 60-61
Campethera abingoni 97

— punctuligera 97
Camptostoma obsoletum 64

Campylorhynchus albobrunneus 64

cancellatus, Aechmorhynchus 22
canivetii, Chlorostilbon 80
canorus, Cuculus 48—53
cantiaca, Sterna 42-43
canus, Larus 34, 36
canutus, Calidris 78-79
capensis, Anas 107
capistrata, Nesocharis 98
Caprimulgus aegyptius 53

— clarus 54

— climacurus 96

— europaeus 73

— fossil 74

— inornatus 53

— noctitherus 106

— nubicus 73

— pectoralis 37-39, 74
caprius, Chrysococcyx 96
Capsiempsis flaveola 64
carolina, Porzana 61
Carpodacus mexicanus 135
carunculata, Bostrychia 59, 104
carunculatus, Grus 59
caspia, Hydroprogne 34

— Sterna 79
Cassidix mexicanus 64

Cassinaetus africanus 118 chrysomelas, Chrysothlypis 65
cassini, Malimbus 119-120 Chrysothlypis chrysomelas 65

— Muscicapa 130 Ciconia episcopus 69
cassinii, Leptotila 62 — stormi 69
castanea, Dendroica 64 cinctus, Rhinoptilus 73

— Diaphorophyia 130 cinerascens, Fraseria 129-130

— Platysteira 130 cinerea, Calandrella 127
castaneicollis, Francolinus 59 cinereum, Todirostrum 64
castaneoventris, Lampornis 62 cinereus, Circaetus 45
Catoptrophorus semipalmatus 62, 79 cinnamomeus, Pachyramphus 63
cayana, Dacnis 64 Circaetus cinereus 45
cayanensis, Myiozetetes 63 Cisticola brachyptera 97
cayennensis, Columba 62 — erythrops 97
cela, Cacicus 64 — exilis 71
Celeus loricatus 63 — galactotes 97
Centropus monachus 6 — lateralis 97
Ceratopipra 23 — tufa 97
Cercococcyx mechowi 126 — tuficeps 97

— olivinus 126 citrea, Protonotaria 64
Cercomactra nigricans 63 Clamator 39

— tyrannina 63 — levaillantii 40, 96
Cercomela familiaris 97 Claravis pretiosa 62

— sordida 59 clarus, Caprimulgus 54
cetthia, Dendrocolaptes 63 climacurus, Caprimulgus 96
certhiola, Locustella 86 clypeata, Anas 59, 107, 110-111
cervinus, Anthus 59 Cnipodectes subbrunneus 63
Ceryle maxima 96 Cochlearius cochlearius 61
Ceyx azureus 32 cochlearius, Cochlearius 61

— picta 97 Coereba flaveola 106
Chaetura boehmi 46 Coliuspasser axillaris 15-16

— brachyura 62 collaris, Charadrius 62
chalybeata, Vidua 82, 98 collybita, Phylloscopus 8, 121
Chalybura buffonii 62 colombica, Thalurania 62
Charadrius collaris 62 Colonia colonus 63

— hiaticula 135 colonus, Colonia 63

— semipalmatus 62, 135 Columba albitorques 59

— wilsonia 62, 106 — cayennensis 62
chelicuti, Halcyon 97 — flavirostris 80
chinensis, Oriolus 102 — squamosa 106
chiriquensis, Elaenia 64 Columbina minuta 62
Chiroxiphia lanceolata 63 — passerina 106

— pareola 24 — talpacoti 62
Chlidonias leucopterus 7o comitata, Muscicapa 130
Chlorocichla flavicollis 5, 97 comitatus, Pedilorhynchus 130
chloromeros, Pipra 23, 26 communis, Sylvia 129
Chlorophanes spiza 64 concreta, Diaphorophyia 130
chloropus, Gallinula 62, 78 — Platysteira 130
Chlorostilbon assimilis 62 conirostris, Arremonops 65

— canivetii 80 ~ Contopus latirostris 106

— maugaeus 106 = sordidulus 63
choloensis, Alethe 128 — virens 63

Coragyps atratus 17
Corapipo altera 63
cornuta, Pipra 23-24, 26

Chordeiles acutipennis 62
— gaudlichii 80

7 . Milor Bo coronata, Pipra 63
chrysater, Icterus 64 cotvina, Corvinella 97
Chrysococcyx caprius 96 Corvinella corvina 97

— flavigularis 126 Corvus albus 8

— klaas 96 p — crfassirostris 59

chrysoconus, Pogoniulus 97 — monedula 76

Corvus ruficollis 8

— _ splendens 8
Cossypha albicapilla 97

— heinrichi 20-21

— niveicapilla 97
crassirostris, Corvus 59

— Larus 34
crecca, Anas 59
crinitus, Myiarchus 63
crispus, Pelecanus 94-95
cristata, Alcedo 96

— FPulica 59
cristatus, Lanius 86, 103
croceus, Macronyx 128
crossleyi, Geokichla 10
Crotophaga ani 62, 106

— major 62

— sulcirostris 106
Crypturellus soui 61
cucullata, Lonchura 99
cucullatus, Ploceus 89-92, 98
Cuculus canorus 48-53

— gularis 48-52

— tymbonomus Iot
cuprea, Nectarinia 98
cyanea, Platysteira 98, 130
Cyanerpes cyaneus 64-68

Cyanerpes cyaneus holti, subsp. nov. 67

cyaneus, Cyanerpes 64-68
Cyanochen cyanopterus 59
Cyanocompsa cyanoides 65
Cyanocorax beechei 30

— melanocyanea 30

— sanblasiana 27-30

— yucatanica 30
cyanoides, Cyanocompsa 65
cyanopterus, Cyanochen 59
Cygnus olor 112
Cymbilaimus lineatus 63
Cyporhinus phaeocephalus 64
Cypsiurus parvus 48

Dacnis cayana 64

— venusta 64
dactylatra, Sula 56
Damophila julie 62
decumanus, Psarocolius 64
deiroleus, Falco 42
delatrii, Basileuterus 64
delawarensis, Larus 79
Dendrocincla fuliginosa 63
Dendrocolaptes certhia 63
Dendrocygna arcuata 99-100

— guttata 100
Dendroica adelaidae 106

— caetulescens 106

— castanea 64

— pensylvanica 64

— petechia 106

— tigrina 106

xi

Dendropicos abyssinicus 59
dentata, Petronia 98
diadematus, Euplectes 15-16
Diaphorophyia blissetti 130

— castanea 130

— tonsa 130
Dicaeum trochileum 71
Dicrurus 131

— adsimilis 97

— leucophaeus 103

— ludwigii 97
Diglossa plumbea 64
dimidiatus, Ramphocelus 65
doliatus, Thamnophilus 63
dominicensis, Icterus 106

— Tyrannus 106

dominicus, Anthracothorax 106

dorsomaculatus, Ploceus 131
Doryfera johannae 121-124
— ludoviciae 121-124

Dryocopus lineatus 63

Dryoscopus gambensis 97

dubius, Lybius 97

dumetorum, Acrocephalus 7
— Cacomantis Io1

edolioides, Melaenornis 98
edward, Amazilia 62
Elaenia chiriquensis 64

— flavogaster 64

— frantzii 64

— martinica 106
elatus, Tyrannulus 64
Electron platyrhynchum 62
elegans, Sarothrura 125
Emberiza cabanisi 98

— forbesi 98

— tahapisi 98
eminentissima, Foudia 92

Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis 136

episcopus, Ciconia 69

— Thraupis 65
epulata, Muscicapa 130
eremita, Geronticus 72, 104
Eremomela pusilla 98
erythrocephala, Pipra 23-27
Erythrocercus mecallii 130
erythrops, Cisticola 97

— Quelea 98
erythroptera, Prinia 97
estella, Oreotrochilus 124
Estrilda amandava 107

— bengala 99

— caerulescens 98

— larvata 99

— melpoda 96, 98
Eucometis penicillata 65
Eudocimus albus 78
Euphonia anneae 64

— fulvicrissa 64

Euphonia gouldi 65

— laniirostris 64

— luteicapilla 64

— minuta 64

— musica 106
Euplectes afer 98

— diadematus 15-16

— hordeaceus 98

— macrourus 98

— ofix 16, 98
Eupodotis humilis 4

— senegalensis 4
europaeus, Caprimulgus 73
Eurostopodus macrotis 102
eutygnatha, Sterna 43
eutystomina, Pseudochelidon 127
Eurystomus glaucurus 88
exilis, Cisticola 71
exsul, Myrmeciza 63

Falco biarmicus 59

— deiroleus 42

— fasciinucha 44

— pelegrinoides 45

— peregrinus 45

— rufigularis 41

— sparverius 106

— subbuteo 41
familiaris, Cercomela 97
fasciatoventris, Thryothorus 64
fasciatus, Accipiter 100

— Myiophobus 63
fasciinucha, Falco 44
ferruginea, Tadorna 56-59
Ficedula hypoleuca 98
fistulator, Bycanistes 118
flammulatus, Megabyas 130
flava, Piranga 65
flaveola, Capsiempsis 64

— Coereba 106
flavicollis, Chlorocichla 5, 97

— Macronyx 59
flavifrons, Anthoscopus 131

— Poicephalus 59
flavigaster, Hyliota 98
flavigularis, Chrysococcyx 126
flavipes, Hylophilus 64

— Tringa 62
flavirostris, Columba 80
flavogaster, Elaenia 64
flavovirens, Phylloscartes 64
flavoviridis, Vireo 64
fluviatilis, Locustella 6
Fluvicola pica 63
forbesi, Emberiza 98
forficata, Muscivora 63
formosa, Megaloprepia 101
formosus, Ptilinopus 1o1
fossii, Caprimulgus 74
Foudia eminentissima 92

xii

Foudia madagascariensis 92, 121
Francolinus castaneicollis 59
— psilolaemus 59
frantzii, Elaenia 64
Fraseria cinerascens 129-130
— ocreata 130-131
frontalis, Nonnula 63
Fulica cristata 59
fuliginosa, Artomyias 130
— Dendrocincla 63
fuligula, Hirundo 59
fulva, Hirundo 106
fulvicrissa, Euphonia 64
fulviventris, Myrmotherula 63
funereus, Oryzoborus 65
— Parus 119, 130
fuscatus, Margarops 106
fuscicauda, Habia 65

galactotes, Cisticola 97
Galerida malabarica 59
galinieri, Parophasma 59
Gallinula chloropus 62, 78
gambensis, Dryoscopus 97
gambieri, Halcyon 21-22
gaudlichii, Chordeiles 80
Gelochelidon nilotica 79
Geokichla camaronensis 10

— _ crossleyi 10

— gurneyi 10-11, 14

— oberlaenderi 10-11

— plaggiae 10-11

— prince Io

— williamsi 11-14
Geothlypis trichas 106
Geottygon montana 106
Geronticus eremita 72, 104
gertrudae, Halcyon 21-22

— Todirhamphus 21-22
Gerygone sulphurea 84
gibberifrons, Anas 71
Glareola nordmanni 5

— ocularis 5

— pratincola 5
glareola, Tringa 59
glaucescens, Larus 35
Glaucidium perlatum 96
Glaucis hirsuta 62, 124, 133
glaucoides, Larus 35
glaucurus, Eurystomus 88
godlewskii, Anthus 60-61
goertae, Mesopicos 97
Goldmania violiceps 62
goslingi, Apalis 130
gouldi, Euphonia 65
Grafisia torquata 131
granadensis, Myiozetetes 93
griseigularis, Myioparus 130
griseus, Passer 98
grossus, Pitylus 65

xiii

Grus carunculatus 59 hypoleucos, Tringa 59
gtyphus, Vultur 17-18

guatemalensis, Sclerurus 63 ichthyaetus, Larus 34
gularis, Cuculus 48—52 icterocephala, Tangara 65
— Paroaria 133-134 icteronotus, Ramphocelus 65
gurneyi, Geokichla 10-11, 14 Icterus auricapillus 64
guttata, Dendrocygna 100 — chrysater 64
guttatus, Xiphorhynchus 63 — dominicensis 106
guy, Phaethornis 62 — icterus 106
Gygis alba 115 icterus, Icterus 106
Gymnocichla nudiceps 63 Indicator indicator 97
gymnogenys, Turdoides 39 — minor 97
Gymnopithys leucaspis 63 indicator, Indicator 97
Gymnostinops montezuma 64 indicus, Metopidius 69, 71
Gyps africanus 125 infuscata, Muscicapa 130
— rueppellii 9 inornata, Tangara 65
gyrola, Tangara 65 inornatus, Caprimulgus 53

inquisitor, Tityra 63
Habia fuscicauda 65

Haematoderus militaris 76 Jacana jacana 62
haematodus, Trichoglossus 102 jacana, Jacana 62
Halcyon chelicuti 97 Jubula lettii 126

— gambieri 21-22

— gertrudae 21-22 klaas, Chrysococcyx 96

— leucocephala 97

— malimbica 97 lachrymosus, Xiphorhynchus 63

— mangaia 32 Lagonosticta rara 99

— reichenbachi 21 — rhodopareia 81-82

— tuficollaris 32 — rufopicta 99

— sancta 32 — senegala 82, 99

— senegalensis 97 Lalage nigra 84
heinrichi, Cossypha 20-21 Lampornis castaneoventris 62
Heliodoxa jacula 62 Lamprotornis mevesii 47
Heliomaster longirostris 62 lanceolata, Chiroxiphia 63
Henicorhina leucophrys 64 Laniarius barbarus 97

— leucosticta 64 laniirostris, Euphonia 64
heuglini, Ploceus 98 Laniocera rufescens 63
hiaticula, Charadrius 135 Lanius cristatus 86, 103
Himantopus himantopus 70-71 Larus argentatus 34
himantopus, Himantopus 70-71 — brunnicephalus 34-35
hirsuta, Glaucis 62, 124, 133 — canus 34, 36
hirundineus, Merops 97 — crassirostris 34
Hirundo fuligula 59 — delawarensis 79

— fulva 106 — glaucescens 35

— rustica 80, 127 — glaucoides 35
hirundo, Sterna 62 — hyperboreus 34-35
holti, Cyanerpes 67-68 — ichthyaetus 34
hordeaceus, Euplectes 98 — ridibundus 34
humilis, Eupodotis 4 — saundersi 34, 36
Hydranassa tricolor 61 — schistisagus 34
Hydroprogne caspia 34 larvata, Estrilda 99
Hyliota flavigaster 98 — Tangara 65

— violacea 119, 130 lateralis, Cisticola 97
Hylophilus aurantiifrons 64 latimeri, Vireo 106

— flavipes 64 latirostris, Contopus 106
Hylophylax naevioides 63 — Muscicapa 83-87
hyperboreus, Larus 34-35 Legatus leucophaius 63
Hypergerus atriceps 98 Leptotila cassinii 62
hypogrammica, Pytilia 98 lettii, Jubula 126

hypoleuca, Ficedula 98 — Lophostrix 126

leucaspis, Gymnopithys 63
leucocephala, Halcyon 97
leucogaster, Sula 56
leucomelas, Parus 98
leuconotus, Parus 59
leucophaeus, Dicrurus 103
leucophaius, Legatus 63
leucophrys, Callonetta 112

— Henicorhina 64
leucopterus, Chlidonias 70
leucosticta, Henicorhina 64
leucotis, Thryothorus 64
levaillantii, Clamator 40, 96
lherminieri, Puffinus 115
lictor, Pitangus 63
lineatus, Cymbilaimus 63

— Dryocopus 63
Locustella certhiola 86

— fluviatilis 6

— luscinioides 7
Lonchura cucullata 99

— punctulata 69
longicauda, Bartramia 62

— Trochocercus 98

longicaudus, Stercorarius 34, 36

longirostris, Heliomaster 62
— Rallus 106

Lophostrix lettii 126

loricatus, Celeus 63

Loriculus vernalis 71

Loxigilla portoricensis 107

luctuosus, Tachyphonus 65

ludoviciae, Doryfera 121-124

ludovicianus, Pheuticus 65

ludwigii, Dicrurus 97

lugens, Sarothrura 126

luscinioides, Locustella 7

luteicapilla, Euphonia 64

luteiventris, Tyrannopsis 93-94

luteolus, Ploceus 98

Lybius dubius 97

Macheiramphus alcinus 69
Macronyx croceus 128

— flavicollis 59
macrorhynchus, Notharchus 63
macrotis, Eurostopodus 102
macrouta, Vidua 98

— Zenaida 106
macrourus, Euplectes 98
maculatus, Myiodynastes 63

madagascariensis, Foudia 92, 121

magna, Sturnella 64
major, Crotophaga 62

— Taraba 63
malabarica, Galerida 59
Malaconotus sulfureopectus 97
Malacoptila panamensis 63
malimbica, Halcyon 97
Malimbus cassini 119-120

xiv

Malimbus rubriceps 98

— tubricollis 119

— scutatus 119-120
Manacus vitellinus 63
mangaia, Halcyon 32
Margarops fuscatus 106
marginatus, Microcerculus 64
marttinica, Elaenia 106
maugaeus, Chlorostilbon 106
mauri, Calidris 62
maxima, Ceryle 96

— Sterna 79
maximus, Saltator 65
mecallii, Erythrocercus 130
mcleannani, Phaenostictus 63
mechowi, Cercococcyx 126
Megabyas flammulatus 130
Megaloprepia formosa 101
Megarhynchus pitangua 63
Melaenornis edolioides 98
Melanerpes portoricensis 106

— pucherani 63

— pygmaeus 80

— tubricapillus 63
melanocephalus, Vanellus 59
melanocyanea, Cyanocorax 30
melanoleucos, Campephilus 63
melanops, Myadestes 64
melanopygia, Telacanthura 118
melanospila, Ptilinopus 70
melpoda, Estrilda 96, 98
mentalis, Pipra 23, 26-27, 63

— Sphenoeacus 97
Merops bulocki 96-97

— hirundineus 97

— pusillus 97
Mesopicos goertae 97
Metopidius indicus 69, 71
mevesii, Lamprotornis 47
mexicanum, Tigtisoma 61
mexicanus, Carpodacus 135

— Cassidix 64

— Todus 106
Micrastur semitorquatus 61
Microcerculus marginatus 64
militaris, Haematoderus 76
Mimus polyglottos 106
minima, Batis 130
minor, Chordeiles 80

— Indicator 97
minuta, Calidris 59

— Columbina 62

— Euphonia 64

— Piaya 62

— Sporophila 65

— Tchagra 97
minutus, Anous 55

— Xenops 63
Mionectes olivaceus 64
Mniotilta varia 64, 106

XV

Molothrus aeneus 64, 80 nigriceps, Serinus 59
momota, Momotus 62 nigricollis, Anthracothorax 62
Momotus momota 62 — Ploceus 98
monacha, Oriolus 59 — Sporophila 65
monachus, Centropus 6 nigromitratus, Trochocercus 119, 130
Monasa morphoeus 63 Nilaus afer 97
monedula, Corvus 76 nilotica, Gelochelidon 79
montana, Geotrygon 106 niveicapilla, Cossypha 97
montezuma, Gymnostinops 64 noctitherus, Caprimulgus 106
Monticola solitarius 18—19 Nonnula frontalis 63
morphoeus, Monasa 63 nordmanni, Glareola 5
Motacilla alba 128 Notafrapus sheppardi 47
mozambicus, Serinus 96, 98 Notharchus macrorhynchus 63
Muscicapa aquatica 98 — pectoralis 63

— caerulescens 129 novaeseelandiae, Anthus 60-61

— cassini 130 nubicus, Caprimulgus 73

— comitata 130 nudiceps, Gymnocichla 63

— epulata 130 nudipes, Otus 106

— infuscata 130 Numenius phaeopus 62

— latirostris 83-87 Nuttallornis borealis 63

— olivascens 130

— williamsoni 83-86 oberlaenderi, Geokichla 10-11
Muscivora forficata 63 obscura, Psalidoprocne 97
musculus, Troglodytes 64 obsoletum, Camptostoma 64
musica, Euphonia 106 ocreata, Fraseria 130-131
Myadestes melanops 64 ocularis, Glareola 5
Myiarchus crinitus 63 oleaginea, Pipromorpha 64

— panamensis 63 olivacea, Tiaris 65, 106

— stolidus 106 olivaceus, Mionectes 64

— tuberculifer 63 — Picumnus 63
Myiobus sulphureipygius 63 — Rhynchocyclus 64
Myiodynastes maculatus 63 olivascens, Muscicapa 130
Myiopatus griseigularis 130 olivinus, Cercococcyx 126

— plumbeus 98, 130 olor, Cygnus 112
Myiophobus fasciatus 63 onocrotalus, Pelecanus 95
Myiozetetes 94 Onychognathus tenuirostris 59

— cayanensis 63 Oporornis tolmiei 64

— granadensis 93 oreas, Picathartes 129

— similis 93 Oreotrochilus estella 124
Myrmeciza exsul 63 Oriolus chinensis 102
Myrmotherula axillaris 63 — monacha 59

— fulviventris 63 orix, Euplectes 16, 98

| ornatus, Trichoglossus 102

naevia, Tapera 62 Ornithion brunneicapillum 64
naevioides, Hylophylax 63 Oryzoborus funereus 65
Neafrapus boehmi 46-47 Otus nudipes 106
Nectarinia cuprea 98 otus, Asio 127

— pulchella 98

— senegalensis 98 Pachyramphus cinnamomeus 63

— vetticalis 98 — polychopterus 63
Neochelidon tibialis 64 pacificus, Apus 71
Neophton percnopterus 77 pallidus, Bradornis 98
Nesochartis capistrata 98 palmarum, Thraupis 65
Nesospingus speculiferus 106 panamensis, Malacoptila 63
niger, Phalacrocorax 71 — Mryiarchus 63

— Quiscalus 106 pareola, Chiroxiphia 24
nigra, Lalage 84 Parmoptila rubrifrons 120
nigricans, Cercomacra 63 Paroaria gularis 133-134
nigricapillus, Thryothorus 64 Parophasma galinieri 59

nigticeps, Apalis 129 Parula americana 106

Xvi

Parus funereus 119, 130 Piranga flava 65

— leucomelas 98 — fubra 65

— leuconotus 59 pitangua, Megarhynchus 63
parvus, Cypsiurus 48 Pitangus lictor 63
Passer griseus 98 — sulphuratus 63
Passerculus sandwichensis 80 Pitylus grossus 65
passerina, Columbina 106 platyrhynchum, Electron 62
pectoralis, Canrimulgus 37-39, 74 Platysteira blissetti 130

— Notharchus 63 — castanea 130
Pedilorhynchus comitatus 130 — cyanea 98, 130
Pelecanus crispus 94-95 — tonsa 130

— onocrotalus 95 plebejus, Turdoides 39-41, 97

— fufescens 95 Plocepassert superciliosus 98
pelegrinoides, Falco 45 Ploceus cucullatus 89-92, 98
peli, Scotopelia 126-127 — dorsomaculatus 131
pelios, Turdus 97 — heuglini 98
penelope, Anas 59 — luteolus 98
penicillata, Eucometis 65 — nigricollis 98
pensylvanica, Dendroica 64 — pfeussi 131
percnopterus, Neophron 77 — superciliosus 131
peregrinus, Falco 45 — tricolor 131
perlatum, Glaucidium 96 plumata, Prionops 97
petechia, Dendroica 106 plumbea, Diglossa 64
Petronia dentata 98 — Polioptila 64
Phaenostictus mcleannani 63 plumbeus, Myioparus 98, 130
phaeocephalus, Cyporhinus 64 — Turdus 106
phaeopus, Numenius 62 Pluvialis squatarola 62
Phaethornis guy 62 podarces, Atlantisia 106

— superciliosus 62 Podiceps ruficollis 59
Phalacrocorax niger 71 Pogoniulus chrysoconus 97

— sulcirostris 71 Poicephalus flavifrons 59
Phedina borbonica 87-88 poliocephala, Alethe 128

— brazzae 88 Polioptila plumbea 64
Pheucticus ludovicianus 65 polychopterus, Pachyramphus 63
phoenicea, Campephaga 97 polyglottos, Mimus 106
phoenicoptera, Pytilia 98 pomarinus, Stercorarius 34
Phoeniculus aterrimus 97 Porphyrio alleni 96

— purpureus 97 portoricensis, Loxigilla 107
Pholidornis rushiae 120, 131 — Melanerpes 106
Phylloscartes flavovirens 64 Porzana astrictocarpus 115
Phylloscopus collybita 8, 121 — carolina 61

— sibilatrix 7, 121 ptasinus, Aulacorhynchus 63

— trochilus 97, 120-121 pratincola, Glareola 5
piaggiae, Geokichla 10-11 pretiosa, Claravis 62

— Turdus 11-14 preussi, Ploceus 131

— Zoothera 11 princei, Geokichla 10
Piaya minuta 62 — Turdus 129
pica, Fluvicola 63 _ Prinia erythroptera 97
Picathartes oreas 129 — subflava 97
Picoides temminckii 102 Prionops plumata 97
picta, Ceyx 97 Prosobonia 22
Picumnus olivaceus 63 Protonotaria citrea 64
Pipra aureola 24 Psalidoprocne obscura 97

— chloromeros 23, 26 Psarocolius decumanus 64

— corfnuta 23-24, 26 Pseudochelidon eurystomina 127

— coronata 63 Pseudogyps africanus 9

— etythrocephala 23-27 psilolaemus, Francolinus 59

— mentalis 23, 26-27, 63 Pterodroma rupinarum 115

— tubrocapilla 23, 26-27 Ptilinopus bernsteinii 101

Pipromorpha oleaginea 64 — formosus 101

Ptilinopus melanospila 70
pucherani, Melanerpes 63
Puffinus assimilis 115

— lherminieri 115
pulchella, Nectarinia 98
pulchra, Alceco 32

— Sarothrura 125-126
punctatus, Thamnophilus 63
punctulata, Lonchura 69
punctuligera, Campethera 97
purpurascens, Vidua 81-82
purpurata, Querula 63
purpureus, Phoeniculus 97
pusilla, Eremomela 98
pusillus, Merops 97
Pycnonotus barbatus 96-97
pygmaeus, Melanerpes 80
Pyrocephalus rubinus 41
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax 59
pyrrhocorax, Pyrrhocorax 59
Pytilia hypogrammica 98

— phoenicoptera 98

quadribrachys, Alcedo 96
Quelea erythrops 98
querquedula, Anas 59, 107—108
Querula purpurata 63
Quiscalus niger 106

Rallus longirostris 106
— rougetii 59
Ramphocaenus rufiventris ¢4
Ramphocelus dimidiatus 65
— icteronotus 65
rara, Lagonosticta 99
reichenbachi, Halcyon 21
reinwardii, Turdoides 97
Rhinoptilus cinctus 73
Rhodinocichla rosea 65

thodopareia, Lagonosticta 81-82

Rhynchocyclus olivaceus 64
ridibundus, Larus 34
rosea, Rhodinocichla 65
rougetii, Rallus 59
rubinus, Pyrocephalus 41
rubra, Piranga 65
rubricapillus, Melanerpes 63
rubriceps, Malimbus 98
rubricollis, Malimbus 119
rubrifrons, Parmoptila 120
rubripes, Anas 112
rubrocapilla, Pipra 23, 26-27
rueppellii, Gyps 9
rufa, Cisticola 97

— Sarothrura 125-126
rufalbus, Thryothorus 64
rufescens, Laniocera 63

— Pelecanus 95
ruficeps, Cisticola 97
ruficollaris, Alcyone 32

xvii

ruficollaris, Halcyon 32
ruficollis, Corvus 8

— Podiceps 59
rufigularis, Falco 41
rufiventer, Terpsiphone 130
rufiventris, Ramphocaenus 64
rufocinerea, Terpsiphone 130
rufogularis, Apalis 130
rufopicta, Lagonosticta 99
rufus, Tachyphonus 65

— Trogon 62
rupinarum, Pterodroma 115
rushiae, Pholidornis 120, 131
rustica, Hirundo 80, 127
ruticilla, Setophaga 106
rutila, Amazilia 80
rutilus, Thryothorus 64

Saltator albicollis 65

— maximus 65
sanblasiana, Cyanocorax 27-30
sancta, Halcyon 32
sandvicensis, Sterna 42-44, 79

— Thalasseus 62
sandwichensis, Passerculus 80
Sarothrura boehmi 125-126

— elegans 125

— lugens 126

— pulchra 125-126

— rufa 125-126
saundersi, Larus 34, 36
Saurothera vieilloti 106
Schiffornis turdinus 63
schistisagus, Larus 34
scintilla, Selasphorus 62
Sclerurus guatemalensis 63
Scotopelia bouvieri 126

— peli 126-127
scutatus, Malimbus 119-120
scutulata, Cairina 69
Seiurus aurocapillus 106
Selasphorus scintilla 62

semipalmatus, Catoptrophorus 62, 79

— Charadrius 62, 135
semitorquatus, Micrastur 61
senegala, Lagonosticta 82, 99

— Tchagra 97
senegalensis, Batis 98

— Ephippiorhynchus 136

— Eupodotis 4

— Halcyon 97

— Nectarinia 98

— Streptopelia 96

— Zosterops 98
Serinus mozambicus 96, 98

— mnigriceps 59
Setophaga ruticilla 106
sharpii, Apalis 119, 130
sheppardi, Notafrapus 47
sibilator, Sirystes 63

sibilatrix, Phylloscopus 7, 121
similis, Myiozetetes 93
Sirystes sibilator 63
smithi, Anas 110-111
solitarius, Monticola 18-19
sordidulus, Contopus 63
soui, Crypturellus 61
spadiceus, Attila 63
spatsa, Anas 59
sparverius, Falco 106
speciosa, Alcedo 71
speculiferus, Nesospingus 106
Sphenoeacus mentalis 97
Spindalis 105

— zena 106
spiza, Chlorophanes 64
Spizaetus tyrannus 78
splendens, Corvus 8
Sporophila aurita 65

— minuta 65

— nigricollis 65
squamiceps, Turdoides 41
squamosa, Columba 106
squatarola, Pluvialis 62
Stercoratius longicaudus 34, 36

— pomatinus 34
Sterna 78

— cantiaca 42-43

— caspia 79

— eurygnatha 43

— hirundo 62

— maxima 79

— sandvicensis 42-44, 79
stolidus, Anous 54-55

— Mryiarchus 106
stormi, Ciconia 69
Streptopelia senegalensis 96
striatus, Butorides 96
Struthio camelus 77
Sturnella magna 64
Sturnus vulgaris 128
subbrunneus, Cnipodectes 63
subbuteo, Falco 41
subflava, Prinia 97
Sula dactylatra 56

— leucogaster 56

— sula 55
sula, Sula 55
sulcirostris, Crotophaga 62

— Phalacrocotax 71
sulfureopectus, Malaconotus 97
sulphuratus, Pitanzus 63
sulphurea, Gerygone 84
sulphureipygius, Myiobius 63
sulphurescens, Tolmomyias 64
sumatrana, Bubo 127
superciliosus, Phaethornis 62

— Plocepasser 98

—— ' Ploceus 131
swinderniana, Agapornis 118

XVili

Sylvia communis 129
Sylvietta brachyura 98
Synallaxis albescens 63

Tachycineta albilinea 64
Tachyphonus luctuosus 65

— rufus 65
Tadorna ferruginea 56-59

— tadorna 112
tadorna, Tadorna 112
tahapisi, Emberiza 98
talpacoti, Columbina 62
tanganjicae, Turdus 10-14
Tangara gyrola 65

— icterocephala 65

— inornata 65

— larvata 65
Tapera naevia 62
Taraba major 63
taranta, Agapornis 59
Tchagra minuta 97

— senegala 97
Telacanthura melanopygia 118

— ussheri 46-48, 135
temminckii, Picoides 102
tenuitostris, Anous 54-55

— Onychognathus 59
Terpsiphone batesi 130

— rufiventer 130

— rufocinerea 130

— vitidis 98, 130
Thalasseus sandvicensis 62
Thalurania colombica 62
Thamnophilus doliatus 63

— punctatus 63
Thraupis episcopus 65

— palmarum 65
Thryothorus fasciatoventris 64

— leucotis 64

— nigricapillus 64

— tufalbus 64

— futilus 64
Tiaris bicolor 107

— olivacea 65, 106
tibialis, Neochelidon 64
tigrina, Dendroica 106
Tigrisoma mexicanum 61
Tityra inquisitor 63
Todirhamphus gertrudae 21-22
Toditrostrum cinereum 64
Todus mexicanus 106
tolmiei, Oporornis 64
Tolmomyias sulphurescens 64
tonsa, Diaphorophyia 130
torquata, Grafisia 131
Treron australis 96

— waalia 96
trichas, Geothlypis 106
Trichoglossus haematodus 102

— ofnatus 102

tricolor, Hydranassa 61

— Ploceus 131
Tringa flavipes 62

— glareola 59

— hypoleucos 59
trochileum, Dicaeum 71
trochilus, Phylloscopus 97, 120-121
Trochocercus longicauda 98

— nigromitratus 119, 130
Troglodytes musculus 64
Trogon aurantiiventris 62

— rufus 62
tuberculifer, Myiarchus 63
turdinus, Schiffornis 63
Turdoides altirostris 39

— gymnogenys 39

— plebejus 39-41, 97

— reinwardii 97

— squamiceps 41
Turdus assimilis 64

— camaronensis 129

— pelios 97

— piaggiae 11-14

— plumbeus 106

— pfincei 129

— tanganjicae 10-14

— williamsi 11-14
Turtur abyssinicus 96

— afer 96
tymbonomus, Cuculus ror
tyrannina, Cercomacra 63
Tyrannopsis luteiventris 93
Tyrannulus elatus 64
Tyrannus dominicensis 106
tyrannus, Spizaetus 78
Tyto alba 70-71
tzacatl, Amazilia 62

undulata, Anas 59

Upupa antaios 115

uropygialis, Cacicus 64

ussheri, Telacanthura 46-48, 135

Vanellus melanocephalus 59

varia, Mniotilta 106
variolosus, Cacomantis 101
venusta, Dacnis 64
vernalis, Loriculus 71
Verreauxia africana 118
verticalis, Nectarinia 98
Vidua chalybeata 82, 98

— macroura 98

— purpurascens 81-82
vieilloti, Saurothera 106
violacea, Hyliota 119, 130
violiceps, Goldmania 62
virens, Contopus 63
Vireo altiloquus 106

— flavoviridis 64

— latimeri 106
virgata, Aphriza 62
viridis, Anthracothorax 106

— Terpsiphone 98, 130
vitellinus, Manacus 63
vulgaris, Sturnus 128
Vultur gryphus 17-18

waalia, Treron 96

wagleri, Zarhynchus 64

williamsi, Geokichla 11-14
— Turdus 11-14

williamsoni, Muscicapa 83—86

wilsonia, Charadrius 62, 106

Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus 64
xanthocephalus, Xanthocephalus 64
xanthomus, Agelaius 106
Xenops minutus 63
Xiphorhynchus guttatus 63

— lachrymosus 63

yucatanica, Cyanocorax 30

Zarhynchus wagleri 64
zena, Spindalis 106
Zenaida macroura 106
Zoothera piaggiae 11
Zosterops senegalensis 98

Corrigenda

p. 5, lines 1, 31: ‘GJareola’, not ‘Clareola’
p. 5, line 38: ‘Malindi’, not ‘Inalindi’

p. 9, lines 13, 17: ‘rueppellii’, not ‘ruppellii’ or ‘ruppellii”
p. 10, line 49: “camaronensis’, not “cameronensis’
p. 15, line 51: ‘Coliuspasser’, not “Colliuspasser’

p33, linevan:*C. F. Mann’; not “y./F. Mann’
p. 59, line 37: “cyanoptera’, not “cyonoptera’
p. 64, line 30: ‘rufwentris’, not ‘rufriventris’
p. 71, line 30: ‘Dicaeum’, not ‘Dicaem’
p. 81, line 44: “Lagonosticta’, not ‘Tagonosticta’
p. 88, line 4o: ‘ Burystomus’, not ‘ Eurystomas’
p. 93, line 21: “Zyrannopsis’, not ‘Tyrrannopsis’
p. 97, line 20: ‘tndicator’, not “indictaor’

p. 97, line 51: ‘Sphenoeacus’, not ‘Sphenoaeacus’
p. 98, line 17: ‘Trochocercus’, not ‘Trochocerus’
p. 98, line 45: ‘afer’, not “afra’

p. 98, line 47: ‘hordeaceus’, not ‘hordeacea’

p. 109, line 25: “Anas acuta’, not ‘anas Acuta’

. 119, line 18: ‘sharpii’, not ‘sharpei’
Pp. 119 )

The Caxton & Holmesdale Press, Sevenoaks

NN EEEEEoEEEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeeeEeEeEeEeEeEeEeEe—e—e—EeEeeeeee

ISSN 0007 - 1595

Bulletin of the

British Ornithologists’ Club

fc
2) :
i.
ey
Edited by
Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 97 No. 1 March 1977

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The Annual General Meeting of the Club will be held in the Senior Common Room,

South Side, Imperial College, Prince’s Gardens, London, S.W.7 at 5.45 p.m. on Tuesday,
3 May, 1977.

AGENDA
1. Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting.
2. Report of the Committee and Accounts for 1976.
3. The Bulletin.
4. Election of Officers.

The Committee proposes that :—

(a) Mr. P. Hogg be elected Chairman vice Professor J. H. Elgood, who tfetires on
completion of his term of office and is ineligible for re-election.

(b) Dr. G. Beven be elected Vice-Chairman vice Mr. P. Hogg, who retires on
completion of his term of office and is ineligible for re-election.

(c) Mr. M. St.J. Sugg be re-elected Hon. Treasurer.
(d) Mr. R. E. F. Peal be re-elected Hon. Secretary.

(e) Mr. C. F. Mann be elected a member of the Committee vice Dr. C. J. O. Harrison,
who retires by rotation.

(£) Mr. B. Gray be elected a member of the Committee in the event of Dr. G. Beven
being elected Vice-Chairman.

5. Any other business of which notice shall have been given in accordance with Rule (7).
By Order of the Committee,

RONALD E. F. PEAL.
Honorary Secretary.

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

Tuesday, 3 May 1977 at 6.15 p.m. for 6.45 p.m. at the Senior Common Room, South Side
Imperial College, South Kensington (entrance in Prince’s Gardens, S.W.7, off Exhibition
Road). A symposium on Asiatic Birds, at which the speakers will include Lord Medway on
Migrants in Malaysia, Mr. M. W. Woodcock on the Indian Avifauna and Mr. I. C. Orr on
Ornithology in China. Those wishing to attend must send a cheque for £3°45 per person
to the Hon. Secretary with their acceptance on the enclosed slip.

Tuesday, 19 July 1977 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. at the Goat Tavern, 3 Stafford Street, London,
W.1, Mr. Stanley Cramp on the Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North
Africa (The Birds of the Western Palaearctic), Vol. 1 of which is due for publication in June

1977.

COMMITTEE
J. H. Elgood (Chairman) P. Hogg (Vice-Chairman)
R. E. F. Peal (Hon. Secretary) M. St.J. Sugg (Hon. Treasurer)
Dr. J. F. Monk ( Editor) - Mts. J. D. Bradley
De; C.J. ©. Harrison C. E. Wheeler

Dr. G. Beven

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

Bulletin of the oh
amirisoH ORNITHOLOGISTS CLUB

Vol. 97 No. 1 Published: 18 March 1977

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR 1976

— In 1976 inflation continued at a headlong rate. This has hit the Club directly
through much higher costs and indirectly through its dire effect on home
Members. It is therefore encouraging that 33 new Members joined in the
year. Resignations numbered five and 11 Members were struck-off under
Rule (4). At the end of the year there were 274 Members and 132 non-
Member subscribers to the Bu//etin up-to-date with their subscriptions.

Meetings were held in January, March and July at the Goat Tavern in
Mayfair and in May, September and November in the Senior Common
Room at Imperial College. We are fortunate as the meals at both venues are
excellent value (prices for dinner at the Goat having been £2: 10—f{2-25 and
at Imperial College £2-95;—£3-25), especially as our numbers are smaller
than caterers may welcome. At 159, the total attendances at meetings were
only very slightly down on the previous year and the May meeting, the
Club’s seven hundredth, was a particular success with outstanding speakers
for a symposium on aspects of African ornithology.

The size of the Bulletin was reduced to 144 pages, but it is hoped to main-
tain it at this size in 1977 despite a probable total increase in costs during the
— year of over 15%. The waiting time for publication of papers remains at a
_ satisfactory six months or less. The Bu//etin is a valuable reference work for
museums and libraries; information would be welcome from Members
about institutions, especially in other countries, which might become
_ subscribers, since a larger circulation makes possible either a larger Bulletin
or a lower subscription rate. In this connection, the rates of membership and
_ Bulletin subscriptions have risen in the last 10 years by 133% and 150%
- respectively; but against a harder currency (e.g. the Swiss Franc or the German
_ Mark), Sterling at the end of 1976 was only 36% of its value ten years before, so
_ for those who pay in such currencies subscription rates are lower than in 1966.
_ The accounts for 1976 show an excess of income over expenditure, but
this does not reflect the true situation as they include money from sources

other than 1976 subscriptions, some of them outstanding from 1975. Also
included are many gifts and donations from generous members.

The Committee has tried to minimise the Club’s running costs, but the
only way to establish a sound financial basis is by increasing income. All
‘members can assist by actively encouraging others to join and by covenanting
their subscriptions if they have not already done so.

* x *

The Seven hundred and fourth Meeting of the Club was held at the Goat
Tavern, 3 Stafford Street, London, W.1at 7p.m.on Tuesday, 18 January, 1977.
Chairman: Professor J. H. Elgood; present 19 members and six guests.

Dr. Peter Ward spoke on Palaearctic migrants in Nigeria. He dealt es-
pecially with seasonal movements within tropical Africa of a number of
species which breed only in the Palaearctic region. He showed slides illus-
trating the extensive nature of these movements and there followed a wide-
ranging and stimulating discussion.

97(1)]

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977

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[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 4

Four species of birds new to Ethiopia and other notes
OY if Say

Received 4 August 1976

These notes present data on four species of birds new to Ethiopia, and
additional information about four other species recently found there (Ash

1973).

Europoris HuMILIS Little Brown Bustard

Previously only known from a rather restricted area of northern Somalia
(ex British Somaliland), this species is now known to occur over a wide area
of eastern Ethiopia in the Ogaden and to its north. In a journey through the
Ogaden Oct-Nov 1975 at least 27 birds were seen, 1-6 Nov:—near Godere
(51° 03’ N, 43° 59’ EB), 12 birds in an area up to 12 km south, 30 km north
and 46 km west; El Behid Wells (5° 05’ N, 43° 25’ E.), 3 at 5 km east; El
Adeile Wells (5° 03’ N, 43° 29’ E.), 4 at 8 km south; El Gigle Wells (5° 02’ N,
43° 28’ E.), 4; Danan (6° 30’ N, 43° 30’ E.), 2 at 14 km east; Kebredehar
(6° 45’ N, 44° 17’ E.), a pair at 79 km north. The remains of a bird found
30 km north of Godere on 2 Nov 1975 were of this species (Dr. G. E.
Watson zn itt.) and are deposited in the Smithsonian Institution. As some of
these localities are along the disputed Ethiopia/Somalia border, the species
must also occur in the Upper Juba province of Somalia.

Gerhard Nikolaus travelled through a more western part of the Ogaden
in October 1975, and reported twice seeing bustards which, from his notes
made at the time, were undoubtedly this species:—pairs of birds on 7 Oct
at about 63 km northeast of Imi (6° 28’ N, 42° 10’ E.) and on 9 Oct at 5 km
west of Dagabur (8° 13’ N, 43° 33’ E.). On 22 Dec 1975, he also saw a lone
male much further north, at about 30 km south of Aisha (10° 45’ N, 42° 35’ E.
close to the Somalia/T.F.A.I. border. None was seen on other journeys in
Nov and Dec through the country to the east of a line Dire Dawa (9° 35’ N,
41° 52’ E.)-Adigalla (10° 25’ N, 42° 15’ E.)—Aisha, and in the country
between Jijiga (9° 20’ N, 42° 47’ E.) and the Somalia border to the northeast
and east.

One is obliged to conjecture that the whole of the region under discussion
has been colonised by this species in the past few years. In September 1971,
a long journey throughout the Ogaden failed to reveal the species anywhere
—if it had been as common then as it is now, we could not have failed to see
it, since it is not an inconspicuous bird in the light open thornbush country
which it inhabits. Possibly one of the effects of the prolonged drought over
the whole of this region in recent years has been to drive the species west-
wards in quest of less arid conditions.

The diagnostic characters which in conjunction separate it from all other
bustards were well seen:—small size (even smaller than the Senegal Bustard
Eupodotis senegalensis), brown upperparts speckled with black, much more
heavily marked with black in the 9, black spots on the nape of the J, often
forming a V, a black chin mottled with white, neck greyish white, breast
buffish brown, belly white (the underparts of some 99 are mottled with darker
brown), a long narrow white wing bar, with two black spots at the carpal
joint in both the closed and open wing, black axillaries, iris yellow brown,
bill dark reddish at base, legs yellow. |

5 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

CLAREOLA NORDMANNI B/lack-winged Pratincole

On 3 Jan 1970 at Pukwo (8° 12’ N, 34° 22’ E.) on the Baro River in
Illubabor Privince, western Ethiopia, a flock of 500 pratincoles was seen
on the far distant side of the river. Some occasionally flew close enough to
be identified clearly as this species by the colour of their under-wing coverts.
G. pratincola was not seen. The presence of large numbers of G. nordmanni in
western Ethiopia has been confirmed subsequently (¢” /#t.):—at Itang
(8° 10’ N, 34° 14’ E.) a short distance further downstream the Baro River on
9-11 Dec 1972 John Farrand, Jr., saw c. 500 G. nordmanni and G. pratincola
together in about equal numbers.

G. Nikolaus found 150 pratincoles, mostly sordmanni, at Itang on 12 Dec
1972, and later with Hans Rupp, whilst travelling down the Baro into the
Sudan, saw ¢. 10,000 pratincoles between Berhane Salam (8° 14’ N, 34° o1’ E.)
and Jekaw (8° 23’ N, 33° 45’ E.) on 29 Jan 1973, both species being present
in roughly equal numbers.

This area is clearly an important focus for wintering G. xordmanni,
isolated by a great distance from the main wintering area in southern Africa
(Moreau 1972). It is not known to which form the numerous G. pratincola
belonged and whether they are of the Palaearctic race or one of the African
races is unknown. G. pratincola also occasionally occurs eastwards along the
Baro as far as Gambela (8° 15’ N, 34° 35’ E.), where a bird examined by John
Farrand and myself on 13 Dec 1972 proved to be G. p. /imbata.

G. nordmanni is now known also from much further east. Three birds,
again clearly identified by their black underwing coverts, flew close past me
neat to the ground on 7 Oct 1972, at Lake Abiata (7° 36’ N, 38° 40’ E.) in the
Ethiopian Rift Valley. G. pratincola is the common and widespread pratincole
in this area, and was first shown to be breeding in Ethiopia only in 1971
(Ash 1972), either G. p. Ambata or fuelleborni. A little further north at Koka
(8° 27’ N, 39° 06’ E.), 2-4 birds were present 21-24 Sep 1975, and Dr. S. J.
Tyler saw one at the same place on 19 Oct.

CLAREOLA OCULARIS Madagascar Pratincole

In an irrigated area along the River Awash at Dubte (11° 44’ N, 41° 05’ E.)
in Dancalia, Eastern Ethiopia, a single “rather uniform looking” pratincole
was seen on 29 Oct 1973 sitting on a mud bank on flooded land, and on close
approach, the main distinguishing features of this species, the white spots
behind and below the eye, the absence of a black ‘“‘necklace” and the almost
unforked tail, were seen clearly. I have seen this species in hundreds along
the Kenya coast north of Inalindi. Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1957)
mention that G. ocularis has been recorded as far north as the southern coast
of Italian Somaliland, so the present record, the first in Ethiopia, is an ex-
tension northwards of ¢. 1500 km beyond its known non-breeding season
range.

CHLOROCICHLA FLAVICOLLIS Ye//ow-throated Leaf-love

The suspicion raised, in the description of the first Ethiopian occurences
(Ash 1973), that this species might prove to be more widespread, has been
substantiated :—at the original Didessa site (9° 02’ N, 36° 09’ E.) 1-3 occur-
red daily from 18 Jan to 1 Feb 1973 and 1-5 or more daily, 14-28 Feb 1974.
On 21 Feb 1974, on the Didessa River above the bridge where the Nekempte
—Gimbi road crosses it, the species was fairly common along the river bank

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 6

on the forest edge. On 1 Mar 1974, there were at least two birds in trees
alongside a small stream ¢. 30 km north of Nekempte at 9° 18’ N, 36° 32’ E.
On 12 May 1974 one was seen and heard singing in gallery woodland, along
a stream at 1140 m a.s.l. at 22 km along the track from Alem Teferi to
Dembidollo at ¢. 8° 51’ N, 35° 08’ E, in Illubabor Province. G. Nikolaus and
H. Rupp kindly let me examine and identify a 2 ,which contained a fully
developed egg, collected by them on 1 Apr 1974 at the Didessa River at
8° 38’ N, 36° 26’ BE, near Argio in Wollega Province. Dr. S. J. Tyler recorded
the species in 1974 at Angar Gutin (9° 37’ N, 36° 37’ E.), also in Wollega.
There were 2-5 on 7 days at Didessa between 11 and 19 Sep 1975. On 15
Feb 1976, G. Nikolaus found a juvenile 2 at 16 km west of Bure at 8° 17’ N,
35° 03’ E, and I saw two birds along the River Gilo at Mungum (7° 30’ N,
34° 27’ E.) on 16 Mar 1976; both localities are in Illubabor.

Measurements are now available for 18 birds, including five retraps, from
Didessa:—Werght: range 37:0-45-8, mean 40:7-+2:79 g. Wing: range 94—
107, mean 102:8-+ 3-68 mm (13 individuals, excluding the retraps). Repeat
weights of individual birds have been as follows: 38-°8-37°0; 43° lguer a

40°53 41°4-42°1; 38°3-39°6 g.

BRADYPTERUS ALFREDI Bamboo Warbler

I have netted this species, new to Ethiopia, four times in three localities in
Ethiopia. The first was eaten by a Blue-headed Coucal Centropus monachus in
a mist-net, at Didessa (9° 02’ N, 36° o9 ’E.) on 7 Mar 1970; only the head
could be found, but it was identified in the British Museum by Mr. Derek
Goodwin as B. alfredi. The second was netted at Bulcha Forest (6° 27’ N,
38° 11’ E.), 360 km southeast of Didessa, on 10 Jun 1971. The head of this
bird matched the Didessa specimen exactly, and the key in Mackworth-
Praed & Grant (1957) also indicated B. a/fredi. A third specimen occurred at
Bulcha on 21 June 1974, and a fourth on 29 Apr 1975 at Gambela (8° 15’ N,
34° 35’ E.), 200 km southwest of Didessa. The identifications of the last three
specimens have been confirmed by Dr. G. E. Watson and J. Farrand Jr. at the
Smithsonian Institution.

The Gambela site, at 525 maz.s.l. is a complex mosaic of riverline marshland
Combretum|Terminalia savanna, crops, mixed deciduous woodland and native
habitations. There are no bamboos in the immediate vicinity. The Didessa
locality, at 1260 m a.s.l. in Shoa Province, was near the bottom of the river
valley, in tall dead grass in open Combretum|Terminalia woodland, only a few
miles from bamboo covered hills. The Bulcha locality, at 1320 m a.s.L, in
Sidamo Province, was on the edge of dense gallery forest in thick bushes
amongst scattered trees; no bamboos are known within 50 km. All three
areas would appear to be a typical habitat for the species, and the Ethiopian
records provide a remarkable extension from the known restricted range
of the species in western Uganda and western Tanzania.

A discussion of the identification of the Ethiopian material in relation to
other species of Bradypterus and with regard to previously described sub-
species of B. a/fredi will appear elsewhere (Watson, Farrand & Ash, in prep.).

LOcUSTELLA FLUVIATILIS River Warbler
Following the previous Ethiopian occurrences (Ash 1973) three further
examples have been netted. The first, was in thick bushes below trees on the

7 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

forest edge at Bulcha (6° 27’ N, 38° 11’ E.), Sidamo Province, on 19 Nov
1972, weight 19-8 g at 0730, wing 73 mm. Two others were caught at Koka
(8° 27’ N, 39° 06’ EB) in thick lakeside thornbush:—one on 16 Sep 1975,
weight 16-9 g at o6o0, primaries in moult (weight 17-1 g on 18th at 0930);
and one on 23 Sep 1975, weight 19-6 g at 1800, wing 74 mm.

The third bird listed in Ash (1973) (wing 69 mm, weight 14-2 g) must be
deleted, since it has been reidentified as Locustella /. luscinioides: a salutary
reminder of the care required in separating these two species.

A summary of the measurements of Ethiopian specimens is now:—
Weight: range 14:8—-19-8, mean 17:8-+1-61 g (8 birds); Wing: range 69-77,
mean 73:3+2-58 mm (6 birds).

ACROCEPHALUS BAETICATUS African Reed Warbler

Following the report of several specimens in 1970-1972 in two Ethiopian
localities (Ash 1973), it is of particular interest to record four more examples,
of which three are from new localities. Two were collected by G. Nikolaus
and H. Rupp 20 km northeast of Bonga at 7° 23’ N, 36° 20’ E in Kaffa
Province on 25/26 Mar 1974. My identification as A. baeticatus cinnamomeus
has been confirmed at the Smithsonian Institution. As both were in breeding
condition, it is possible that they were about to breed in the immediate
area in which they were collected. Another bird was caught at Koka, one of
the original sites, on 28 May 1975 (wing 54 mm, weight 7-6 g), and another
at a new locality, Gambela (8° 15’ N, 34° 35’ E.) on 20 Apr 1975 (wing 56
mm, weight 6-2 g). The measurements of Ethiopian A. baeticatus are as
follows: Wing, range 54-58, mean 55-9+1-:25 mm (8 birds); Wezght, range
6-2-8-1, mean 7:6--0:56 g (11 birds).

Fry et al. (1974) consider A. baeticatus and A. dumetorum to be conspecific.
Smith’s (1964) record from the Eritrean mangroves, which now needs to be
included in this category, was one of many singing there, and had enlarged
testes at the end of January. When I was on Scek Said Island (15° 36’ N,
39° 28’ E.) off Massawa, on 28 Dec 1972, there were several unstreaked
Acrocephaline warblers actively displaying and singing in the mangroves.
I assumed these were Smith’s A. dumetorum, but was unable to revisit the
site owing to the political situation. Brother Edmund Johnson managed to
visit the island on 7 Jan 1976 and very kindly obtained a specimen for me.
This bird is not A. dumetorum, and does not agree with any known Acro-
cephalus, although it is nearest to A. agricola. Kumerloeve (1974) describes
another Acrocephalus of unkown association from Ethiopia and all these will
be discussed elsewhere.

At the best, A. baeticatus must be rare in the Ethiopian localities away
from coastal mangroves, for only these few specimens have been seen in the
course of several months of intensive work at all seasons over a period of
seven years in the localities mentioned. With the exception of the November
record, all the others fall between 13 Mar and 28 May; with the probability
of breeding near Bonga, there is a strong suggestion that this bird is an
intertropical migrant only present in the country for a short time of the year.

PHYLLOSCOPUS SIBILATRIX Wood Warbler

Ash (1973) describes the first Ethiopian record of this species. Two more
were watched in the Gibe gorge (8° 14’ N, 37° 35’ E.), Shoa Province, on 5
Nov 1972. They were feeding actively with a small party of Chiffchafts

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 8

Phylloscopus collybita in a leafy tree, where they were observed closely on two
occasions during the day.

CORVUS SPLENDENS Indian House Crow

There has been doubt about the identification of crows occuring in
Massawa (15° 35’ N, 39° 29’ E.) on the Ethiopian Red Sea Coast (Boswall
1971, Urban & Brown 1971). During a visit there, 26-28 Dec 1972, up to 50
C. splendens were seen daily in the town. Their blackish face masks deep
grey necks, and blackish wings distinguished them from Brown-necked
Ravens Corvus ruficollis with which apparently they had been confused
previously. During brief and limited visits to Eritra I have not seen any
ravens except around Assab (13° 02’ N, 42° 35’ E.). Smith (1957) did not
record them north of Thio (14° 41’ N, 40° 56’ E.) and it seems unlikely that
over the course of a few years Massawa was populated by a large number of
C. ruficollis, which were teplaced by similar numbers of C. splendens in less
than three years. Dr. A. S. Cheke (zm (#t.) recorded C. splendens in Djibouti
in 1966 and I found them to be fairly common there in December 1975. It is
curious that it has not colonised Assab in Ethiopia, a port lying halfway
between the above-mentioned towns.

Corvus RUFICOLLIS Brown-necked Raven

Urban & Brown (1971) accept the Brown-necked Raven from Assab
recorded by Beals (1966) as C. r. ruficollis, but birds I saw in September 1974
consorting with Pied Crows C. a/bus, appeared to be C. r. edithae, which
is common over much of lowland Ethiopia. Smith (1957) thought that all
these northern birds were referable to edithae, and one I collected on 9 Jun
1974, 20 miles north of Gewani (10° 10’ N, 40° 38’ E.) was confirmed as such
by Dr. G. E. Watson at the Smithsonian Institution.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to the following: Dr. A. S. Cheke, J. Farrand Jr., G. Nikolaus, H. Rupp,
and Dr. S. J. Tyler, for making their observations available to me; to J. Farrand, D.
Goodwin, Dr. D. W. Snow, and Dr. G. E. Watson for their good services in identifying
material; to Brother Edmund Johnson for presenting me with the Acrocephalus specimens ;
to Drs. J. F. Monk, C. K. Wallace and G. E. Watson for comments on drafts of this paper.

The observations in this paper were made in the course of research supported in part by
the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and the Office of Naval Research under Contract No.
Nooo14-67—A-0399-0009 and Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Work Unit MRo41.09.
o1.0014. The opinions and assertions contained therein are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the official views of the Navy Department or of the Naval Service at
large.

References:

Ash, J. S. 1972. Charadriiform birds in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. Walia 4: 14-18.

— 1973. Six species of birds new to Ethiopia. Bul]. Brit. Orn. Cl. 93: 3-6.

Beals, E. W. 1966. Eight additions to the avifaunal list of Ethiopia. /. E. Afr. Nat. Hist.
Soc. 25, No. 3 (112): 227-2209.

Boswall, J. 1971. Notes from coastal Eritrea on selected species. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 91:
81-84.

Fry, C. H., Williamson, K. & Ferguson-Lees, I. J. 1974. A new sub-species of Acrocephalus
baeticatus from Lake Chad and a taxonomic reappraisal of Acrocephalus dumetorum. Ibis
116: 340-346.

che iae E. 1974. Uber die Balgsammlung Ludwig Graf von Huyns und weiteres
athiopisches vogelmaterial im Zoologischen Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexan-
der Koenig. Bonn. Zool. Beitr. 25: 56-57.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1957. Birds of Eastern and North Eastern Africa.
London: Longmans.

9 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

Moreau, R. E. 1972. The Palaearctic-African Bird Migration Systems. London: Academic
Press.

Smith, K. D. 1957. An annotated list of the birds of Eritrea. [bis 99: 1-26, 307-337.

— 1964. Acrocephalus dumetorum in Africa. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 84: 172.

Urban, E. K. & Brown, L. H. 1971. A Checklist of the Birds of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa:
Haile Sellassie I University Press.

Watson, G. E. & Ash, J. S. In prep. The affinities of a species of Acrocephalus in Ethiopian
and Sudanese mangroves.

Watson, G. E., Farrand, J. & Ash, 3. S. In prep. Bradypterus alfredi in Ethiopia, with a
reappraisal of the species and its races.

Address: Medical Ecology Division, NAMRU-5, c/o American Embassy, P.O. Box 1014,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

New nesting records for Ruppell’s Griffon Gyps ruppellit
in West Africa

by Arthur A. Green

Received 10 March 1976

Although Ruppell’s Griffon Gyps rijppellii is widely distributed in West
Africa, Bannermann (1953) could not quote reliable breeding data. Serle
(1943) visited the inselberg (a granite outcropping) at Kotorkoshi in Sokoto
Province, northwestern Nigeria, in September 1939 where he found over 100
Riippell’s Griffons in the evening. Villagers told him that they nested there
in February. Dobbs (1959) said they nested there in February 1948, but gave
no details. Morel & Morel (1962) gave the first definite record for West
Africa: two nests, each with a single egg, in December 1961 in the Senegal
Valley. The breeding site at Kotorkoshi was confirmed by Mundy & Cook
(1973) when they saw and photographed three chicks there in February 1971,
and when they photographed another chick there in March 1972 (1974a).
They also reported (1974b) a nesting colony of at least a dozen nests with
incubating birds in late December on the inselberg at the entrance to Waza
National Park, northern Cameroon. This note records two other breeding
sites from West Africa, and in addition I have been informed of three
nesting sites (as yet unpublished) from Mali and Senegal.

From March 1972 to April 1975 I was carrying out ecological surveys in
Arli National Park, which together with adjoining wildlife reserves occupy
over 7000 km? of southeastern Upper Volta. The Park lies within the Sudan
Savanna zone. About 1000 mm of rain falls annually between May and late
September, and the dry season is long and severe. This sparsely settled region
is well endowed with big game, and vulture food is abundant. Ruppell’s
Griffons are found in the Park throughout the year, usually in company
with the more numerous White-backed Vulture Psendogyps africanus.

In March 1972 a nesting colony of Riippell’s Griffons was found just
outside the Park boundary at Pagou (11° 40’ N, 1° 28’ E), a mesa of 2 km?
which rises with sheer cliffs 150 m above the plain. A few hundred metres
north of Pagou is a 130 m high sandstone butte on which 8-12 birds nest
each year. In March 1972 four nests were inspected, and two contained
single young birds. Breeding was recorded during the following three years.
Nesting generally begins in November, with most eggs hatching during the

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 10

first three weeks of December (although one nest produced a chick in mid-
January 1975). Young birds leave the nest between late March and early
May. When an observer visits a nest, adult birds soar overhead until after
his departure. Chicks under six weeks of age exhibit no fear of Man, but
older ones cower against the cliff face or thrust their heads into crevices.

At the four accessible nests, during four seasons the nesting success was
only about 25 9%. Baboon predation accounted for a few of the failures. Nests
on higher ledges were better protected, and nesting success was probably

center.
In November 1974 I noticed Riippell’s Griffons soaring above the 150 m
high sandstone cliffs of the escarpment at Tambarga (11° 27’ N, 1° 13’ EB)
about 36 km southwest of Pagou. Villagers reported that vultures nested
there annually. In March 1975 I climbed to three nests. The young birds in
two nests seemed about ready to fly, but the third chick appeared to be only
about 6 weeks old. Three other, inaccessible, nests were seen; there were
probably others. During my visit about 25 adults soared overhead.

There are other mesa and escarpment cliffs in this region which may also
yield nesting colonies of Rippell’s Griffons, and it is probable that the
species is a common, although local, breeder in West Africa as a whole.

References:

Bannerman, D. A. 1953. Birds of West and Equatorial Africa. Vol. 2. Oliver and Boyd,
Edinburgh.

Dobbs, K. A. 1959. Some birds of Sokoto. Part 1. Niger. Fld. 24: 102-118.

Motel, G. & Morel, M. Y. 1962. La reproduction des oiseaux dans une région semi-aride:
la vallée du Sénégal (suite). Alauda 30: 241-269.

Mundy, P. J. & Cook, A. W. 1973. Sokoto Province, part 3, Kotorkoshi. Bull. Niger. Orn.
Soc. 8: 46-47.

— 1974a. Sokoto Province, part 4, excluding the Sokoto town area. Bull. Niger. Orn. Soc.

: 18-21.
— ame Waza, Cametoon—access and avifauna. Bull. Niger. Orn. Soc. 9: 16-18.
Serle, W. 1943. Further field observations on Northern Nigerian birds. [bis 85: 264-300.

Address: Voluntaire Americain, B.P.¥II,*Tanguiéta, Republique Populaire du Bénin,
West Africa.

The Orange Ground-thrush Turdus tanganjicae (Sassi)
a valid species
by A. Prigogine
Received 28 June 1976

The African ground-thrushes of the former genus Geokich/a have for a long
time puzzled the systematists because the differences between the species are
so small. Thus, Geokichla piaggiae was considered by Sclater (1930) as a race
of Geokichla gurneyi. The rare Geokichla oberlaenderi was treated first as a race
of G. gurneyi (Sclater 1930), later as a race of G. piaggiae (Mackworth-Praed &
Grant 1937). It was even supposed that ober/aenderi might be the female and
G. crossleyi pilettei the male of a single species (see Chapin 1953). Some years
ago I showed (Prigogine 1965) that, in accordance with Bannerman (1936) and
White (1962), cross/eyi must be considered as a race‘of G. gurneyi and that the
bird described by Sassi (1914) as G. princei graueri, regatded by Chapin (1953)
as an immature G. princei batesi, represents in reality the eastern race of G.
cameronensis, as already suggested by Sclater (1930). !

II [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

When Macdonald (1949) described Geokichla piaggiae williamsi, only the
type-specimen, collected by J. G. Williams on Mt. Muhavura, southwest
Uganda, was available to him. But, after comparing this bird with the ex-
tensive series of the orange eround-thrushes i in the collection of the British
Museum, he found its differences with all known races of G. piaggiae, i.e.
nominate piaggiae, hadii, kilimensis and rowei, sufficiently great to warrant
description of wélliamsi from a single specimen. Macdonald also asked Sassi
to compare his Baa bird with the tees of oberlaenderi, then considered a

gee
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E al

4 {i 1

Su

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al

Figure 1. Distribution of Turdus piaggiae and Turdus tanganjicae in East and central Africa.

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sure
Ge -

O T. PIAGGIAE

@ T. TANGANJICAE

150 200 om

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race of piaggiae. It seems that Sassi did not at the same time compare Mac-
donald’s specimen with the type of G. gurneyi tanganjicae, a name put in the
synonymy of G. piaggiae (Sclater 1930), although the specimen was also in
the collection of the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna.

The new race was not accepted by all specialists in African ornithology.
Chapin (1953) noted that wi//amsi would seem to require confirmation, and
White (1962) put w7//amsi in synonymy with nominate pzaggiae. On the other
hand, williamsi is listed by Deignan ef a/. (1964) in Peter’s Check-list of Birds
of the World as a race of Zoothera piaggiae.

The sub-specific status of Turdus piaggiae in Zaire has remained confusing.
Schouteden (1954) first admitted the presence of two races, nominate piaggiae

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 12

and williamsi, but later considered all specimens as wél/iamsi (Schouteden
1969).

Ning collected a long series of orange ground-thrushes supposed to
belong to T. pzaggiae in eastern Zaire, especially in the Itombwe Mts., I had
noticed that, on several specimens, the crown and the whole upperparts were
olive, less rufous than on the others, but I had assigned these colour differen-
ces to individual variation or to immaturity (Prigogine 1971). Recently I had
the opportunity to study almost all specimens collected in the montane
forests along the Albertine Rift and this leads me to draw the following
conclusions:

1. Most specimens have a rufous head and nape contrasting with the
mote olive mantle, and the rump and upper tail-coverts rufous brown also in
contrast with the mantle. These specimens correspond to wé/liamsi and they
have been found at the following locations: Impenetrable Forest (Friedmann
& Williams 1968, Keith & Twomey 1968, Keith e¢ a/. 1969), Virunga
Volcanoes (Schouteden 1938, Macdonald 1949), Nyungwe (former Rugege)
Forest (Schouteden 1966, Kunkel & Kunkel 1969, Prigogine & Vande weghe
in prep.), Kahuzi Range, Itombwe Mts. (Sassi 1914, Schouteden 1969,
Prigogine 1971) and Mt. Kabobo (Verheyen 1947, Prigogine 1960). All
localities from which I have examined specimens of »//iamsi are shown on
Fig. 13

. Other specimens, with the rufous colour limited to the forehead, with
a more brownish or olive crown and nape passing gradually to the olive
brown mantle, and with the rump and upper tail-coverts of about the same
colour as the mantle, correspond to T. piaggiae. They have been collected in
the following regions: Lendu Plateau*, Ruwenzori (Jackson 1906, Ogilvie-
Grant 1910, van Someren & van Someren 1949, Friedmann & Williams 1968),
Kahuzi Range (Schouteden 1969) and Itombwe Mts. (Schouteden 1954,
Prigogine 1971). The localities of all examined specimens are also shown in
Fig:

: The nilliamsi type and the piaggiae type have both been found on two
mountain ranges as follows:

Kahuzi Range: wlliamsi at Bitale; piaggiae at Mumba.

Itombwe Mts.: williamsi at Ibachilo, Luiko, Musangakye, Mutombwe,
Tubangwa, “Urwald westlich von Tanganyika See”;
piaggiae at Mt. Kandashomwa, Kilumba, Kitoga,

Sibatwa, “80 km westlich von Russisi’”’, “‘120 km west-
lich von Tanganika”, “Ruzizi-Kivu”’.

4. Inall localities of these two ranges where two or three specimens have
been secured, as at Ibachilo, Mt. Kandashomwa, Kilumba, Kitoga, Luiko
and Mumba, they all belong either to wi/liamsi or to piaggiae. There appears
to be an altitudinal segregation of the two forms on these mountain ranges,
williamsi being confined to lower altitudes, between 1530 and 2040 m, while
piaggiae is restricted to higher altitudes, between 2090 and 2760 m.

5. Lurdus p. piaggiae and similar populations from East Africa and central
Africa are characterized by a high tail/wing ration varying from 78-4 to 86-1
percent with a mean of 82-2 percent (Table 1). It must be emphasized in

*This juvenile specimen from Mt. Wago had been previously misidentified as G. gurneyi
pilettei (Prigogine 1965).

97(1)]

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977

13

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someds-qns pue sisdo1d snpan 7 3O (aur) syuauornsvoyy

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 14

particular that the “olive” birds from Kahuzi and Itombwe have exactly
the same high value for this ratio as other specimens of this species (see
Table 1). On the other hand, w7//iamsi has a small tail/wing ratio varying from
70-0 to 78-2 percent with an average of 74-2 percent (Table 2).

6. I have not found specimens with intermediate characteristics.

In view of the clear morphological differences and the distribution (Fig. 1),
it appears best to regard williamsi and piaggiae as specifically distinct. There
remains, however, a problem of nomenclature. When he published the
description of wé/liamsi, Macdonald (1949) overlooked the fact that a similar
bird had been described in 1914 by Sassi as Geokichla gurneyi tanganjicae.
Thanks to the extreme kindness of Dr. H. Schifter I was able to examine
the type of sanganjicae. It is indeed a juvenile “rufous headed” bird. In
consequence, Turdus williamsi (Macdonald) is a synonym of Turdus tanganjicae
(Sassi) and the new species must take this name.

Thus, two species of orange ground-thrush inhabit some of the mountain
ranges along the Albertine Rift:

Turdus piaggiae, a widespread species, distributed from Ethiopia to Tan-
zania, but found also on Lendu Plateau, Ruwenzori, Kahuzi and Itombwe;

Turdus tanganjicae, a more localized species, recorded from the Impenetrable
Forest, the Virunga Volcanoes, the Nyungwe Forest and the Kahuzi Range
south to Mt. Kabobo.

The two species live in proximity, but are altitudinally separated in the
Kahuzi and Itombwe ranges. Their altitudinal distribution is characterized
as follows (Prigogine 1975) :—

I. piaggiae I. tanganjicae
Number of specimens 7 9
Mean altitude 2390 m 1865 m
Normal altitudinal limits 2100-2760 m 1660-1980 m
Altitudinal limits 2090-2760 m 1530-2040 m

On the other hand, Macdonald’s type of wé/iamsi (=tanganjicae) was °
collected at 2900 m, an exceptionally high altitude for this species. The first
specimen known from the Virunga Volcanoes was secured at Burambi, also
at the unusually high altitude of 2325 m. Thus, where 7. praggiae seems to be
absent, as on the Virunga, 7”. sanganjicae ascends to higher altitudes. Likewise,
only 7. praggiae has been recorded from the Ruwenzori Range where it has
been collected principally between 1800 and 2700 m. A young male was
obtained even at 1700 m, at Burusi (Prigogine 1965). Thus, on Ruwenzori
where T. tanganjicae is not present, T. pzaggiae comes down to lower levels
than on the Itombwe and Kahuzi Mts.

The altitudinal separation in these ranges may thus indicate competition
and mutual exclusion of two species of very similar measurements, presum-
ably due to food and other ecological requirements.

As T. piaggiae and T. tanganjicae seem confined to different altitudes on the
two mountain ranges where they are sympatric and are allopatric elsewhere,
they can be considered as members of a superspecies.

Acknowledgements: I like to express my gratitude for the loan of material to Chr. Erard,
J. Farrand, I. C. J. Galbraith, A. Goepel, G. Mauersberger, J. R. Northern, H. Schifter,
D. W. Snow, M. A. Traylor and H. E. Wolters. I am particularly indebted to J. Farrand
and M. P. S. Irwin who sent detailed descriptions of specimens in the collections of the
American Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Rhodesia respectively.
P. Devillers kindly commented on my manuscript.

15 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

References:

Bannerman, D. A. 1936. The Birds of Tropical West Africa. Vol. TV. London: The Crown
Agents for the Colonies.

promi P. 1953. The birds of the Belgian Congo. Part 3. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.
75A: 1-786.

Deignan, H. G., Paynter, R. A. & Ripley, S. D. 1964. Turdinae in Peters’ Check-list of Birds
of the World, Vol. X. Cambridge: Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Friedmann, H. & Williams, J. G. 1968. Notable records of rare or little-known birds from
western Uganda. Rev. Zool. Bot. afr. 77: 11-36.

Jackson, J. J. 1906. Ona collection of birds made by Geoffrey Archer during a journey to
the Ruwenzori Range. [bis 6: 505-570.

Keith, S. & Twomey, A. 1968. New distributional records of some East African birds. [bis
110: §37-548.

Keith, S., Twomey, A., Friedmann, H. & Williams, J. G. 1969. The avifauna of the
Impenetrable Forest. Amer. Mus. Nov. 2389: 1-41.

Kunkel, I. & Kunkel, P. 1969. Contribution a la connaissance de l’avifaune de la foret du
Rugege (Rwanda). Rev. Zool. Bot. afr. 74: 327-351.

Macdonald, J. D., 1949. A new race of Orange Thrush from Uganda. Bu//. Brit. Orn. Cl.
69: 16.
Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1937. Systematic notes on East African birds.
Part XVI. 37. On the Orange Thrushes of eastern Africa. /bis 1 (ser. 14): 874-877.
Ogilvie-Grant, W. R. 1910. Aves in Ruwenzori expedition reports. 16. Trans. Zool. Soc.
London 19(4): 253-481.

Prigogine, A. 1960. La faune ornithologique du massif du mont Kabobo. Amn. Mus. roy.
Congo, 8°, Sc. zool. 85: 1-46.

— 1965. Notes sur quelques Geokich/a de la République du Congo. Rev. Zool. Bot. afr. 71:
230-244.

— 1971. Les oiseaux de l’Itombwe et de son hinterland. Aun. Mus. roy. Afr. Centr., 8°,
Sc. zool. 185: 1-298.

— 1975. Contribution a l'étude de la distribution verticale des oiseaux orophiles. Gerfaut
64: 75-88.

Prigogine, A. & Vande weghe, J. P. In prep. L’avifaune de la foret de Nyungwe.

Sassi, M. 1914. Einige neue Formen der innerafrikanischen Ornis aus der Kollektion
Grauetr. Anz. k. Akad. Wiss. Wien 51: 308-312.

Schouteden, H. 1938. Oiseaux in Exploration du Parc National Albert. Mission G. F. de Witte
(7933-1935). Bruxelles: Institut des Parcs Nationaux du Congo belge.

— 1954. De Vogels van Belgisch Congo en van Ruanda-Urundi. VI. Passeriformes (1).
Aan. Mus. roy. Congo. belge. C. Zool. Série IV. Vol. 1, fasc. 1: 1-226.

— 1966. La faune ornithologique du Burundi. Doc. zool. Mus. roy. Afr. Cenir. 11: 1-81.

— 1969. La faune ornithologique du Kivu. II. Passereaux. Doc. zool. Mus. roy. Afr.
Centr. 15: 1-188.

Sclater, W. L. 1930. Systema avium Aethiopicarum. 11. London: Taylor and Francis.

van Someren, V. G. L. & van Someren, G. R. C. 1949. The birds of Bwamba. Uganda Journ.
13, spec. suppl.: 1-111.

Verheyen, R., 1947. Liste d’une collection d’oiseaux rares réunie a Albertville. Bu//. Mus.
roy. Hist. nat. Belg. 24 (9): 1-4.

White, C. M. N. 1962. A Revised Check-list of African shrikes, orioles, etc. Lusaka: Govern-
ment Printer.

Address: Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Rue Vautier 31, B-1040
Bruxelles, Belgium.

Euplectes diadematus and Colliuspasser axillaris
breeding in Somalia
by Larry C. Holcomb

Received 13 August 1976
Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1955) could give no breeding records of
Euplectes diadematus except one in breeding condition in April in Kenya.
Williams (1962) and Van Someren (1971) have since reported definite
breeding in Kenya. Williams stated that the species has a restricted distribution

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 16

that includes eastern districts of Somalia, but gave no evidence for breeding
in Somalia, although R. G. Allan has suggested to me that this species
has probably nested near Mogadiscio.

During and following the long rains of 1975, I found EF. diadematus nesting
in Somalia, 10 km south of Afgoye, in and around the periphery of an
irrigated rice scheme. Two displaying males were collected on 21 July, when
at least 30 other males were seen, but no females. At 0830 on 12 August I
found a nest with one egg, 24 cm above the ground in a tight tangle of grass
in a fallow field. The female remained nearby. At 0915 on 16 August, the
same nest held three eggs with dimensions between the ranges of 13-0 xX
17:7 mm. The nest and eggs were collected.

On 8 September 1975, in a 100 m stretch of ground lying along an irri-
gation ditch between two rice fields I found seven Explectes orix nests and
two Euplectes diadematus nests. The E. orix nests were 30 to 150 cmabove the
ground, firmly woven and built in large annual plants and small bushes. In
contrast the diadematus nests were not more than 30 cm above the ground
built into the top of the mat of dense vegetation. The or7x nests contained
eggs or nestlings. One nest of dadematus contained three eggs and the other
contained five eggs and two nestlings which were 7-8 days old. I cannot
account for the mixture of eggs and nestlings in the same nest and since these
eggs were not opened, the time of laying was not determined. Seven eggs
would be quite exceptional for one female of FE. diadematus. There is a
possibility that this was a nest in which more than one female laid eggs. The
C/3 eggs weighed 1-5 g, dimensions between the ranges of 12-8 X 18-1
mm. The two diadematus nests were about 50 m apart, one of them within
3m of two ortx nests. These details of clutch size, eggs, egg size and nests
agree with Williams (1962) and Van Someren (1971), but whereas in southern
Somalia E. diadematus breeds at least in August and September, breeding in
Kenya occurs in January and May.

I agree with Van Someren (1971) that diadematus appears to be monoga-
mous; but he also reported competition between diadematus and orix for
herbaceous plants to use as nest sites or territorial posts for males, whereas
the difference in the niche which I observed for diadematus nests (ie. at the
top of a grass mat) and those of orix (higher above the ground and in annual
plants and small bushes) suggests that if there is adequate suitable habitat
these two species may co-exist without competition.

The crop and stomach of 14 male and 5 female LE. diadematus collected
between 26 July and 24 September contained only small grass seeds (perhaps
Echinochloa). Although orix was frequently observed feeding on rice there
was no evidence of diadematus doing so. |

In the same area I also found Colliuspasser axillaris (probably C. a. phoent-
ceus) breeding during and following the long rains of 1975. There was one
territorial male every 0- 5-1-5 hectares throughout six 36-ha fields of irri-
gated rice. Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1955) give no breeding or distri-
bution records for Somalia.

My first sight of the species was in mid-July. One male was collected in
full breeding condition on 21 July and one nest with three eggs and supported
by rice stems was found on 15 August. Another nest, also supported by rice
stems, was found on 8 October containing three nestlings, nearly ready to
fledge.

17 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

All six males and two females collected 1 August-8 October had been
eating rice from the cultivated fields. Six of these individuals were eating
small grass seeds and insects in addition to the rice.

To my knowledge no one has reported nesting in grain fields. The des-
cription of Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1955) was of nesting in grass tufts
over water, not significantly different from conditions in which I found them
except that in cultivated fields the irrigation water would be present only
periodically, and the nests were not grouped.

These observations were made whilst I was engaged in work for the Food and Agricul-
ture Organization of the United Nations, RAF 73/055 “Research into Control of Grain-
eating Birds’ and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Somali Democratic Republic. I thank
R. G. Allan and J. J. Jackson for comments on this paper.

References:

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1955. African Handbook of Birds. Series 1,
Vol. 2. London: Longmans.

van Someren, G. R. C. 1971. Euplectes diadematus Fischer and Reichenow; Courtship, nests
and eggs. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 91: 119-121.

Williams, J. G. 1962. An addition to our knowledge of Euplectes diadematus. Bull. Brit. Orn.
Cl. 82: 172-173.

Address: UNDP-FAO, Box 24, Mogadiscio, Somalia.

Re- discovery of the Andean Condor Vultur gryphus
in Venezuela

by B. Zonfrillo

Received 23 September 1976

Phelps & Phelps (1958) summarise the published records of Andean Condor
Vultur gryphus in Venezuela as “‘... known in the country by two specimens
in the British Museum, from the cordillera de los Andes near Merida, the
most recent collected around the yeat 1912, according to Swann 1921 ” De
Schauensee (1971) re-iterates this information and, more recently, Alden
(1975) recommends excluding the species as occurring in Venezuela.

On 7 July 1976, on the road from Merida to Jaji, near the waterfall at La
Chorrera (30 km from Merida), R. A. Jeffrey, G. T. White, E. M. & R. W.
Forrester and myself sighted a condor flying along the mist-enshrouded
cliffs above the waterfall. Later, on a wooded cliff face, about 3 km nearer
Jaji, we saw two Andean Condors ona broad, recessed cliff ledge where they
had just landed. Both birds were adult, one a male. For a while the wings
were spread in typical vulture pose, showing the large silvery-grey patches
on the upper wing surfaces. The head wattle of the male was visible when
viewed with a 55 x telescope. When soaring, the white neck ruff was the
most distinctive feature, even at considerable distance. In the air, the big birds
appeared very manoeuverable, dangling the talons when banking prior to
landing. After taking off, one Condor showed considerable aggression
towards a Black Vulture Corag yps atratus, which it dwarfed completely. The
birds were photographed in the air and at rest, at ranges down to 200 m.
After soaring around for some time both Condors flew out of sight.

It is not known if the 1912 birds were breeding. The birds at La Chorrera
appeared to be on a ledge suitable for breeding but no signs of nesting were

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 18

visible. The nearest known breeding localities of V. gryphus are the Santa
Marta Mts. and Andes of Colombia, where the species is described as “‘rare
and local’. These Condors are probably recent newcomers to this area of
Venezuela, as it seems unlikely that such large birds would remain unseen
for any length of time, particularly so near to a well-used road.

My thanks are due to Dr. Chris Parrish of Caracas for his help with research
and translation.

References:

Alden, P. 1975. A Checklist of the Birds of V enezuela—with amendments. Printed privately.

Phelps, W. H. & Phelps, W. H. Jnr., 1958. Lista de Las Aves de Venezuela con su distri-
bucion. Bol. Soc. Venezolana Cienc. Naturales 11, Part 1 (Non Passeriformes).

de Schauensee, R. Meyer 1971. The Birds of South America. Oliver & Boyd.

Swann, H. K. 1921. Notes on a collection of Accipitres from the Merida District, west
Venezuela. Auk. 38: 357-364.

Address: 28 Brodie Road, Glasgow, G21 3SB, Scotland.

The Blue Rock Thrush of East Asia,
Monticola solitarius philippensis (Muller), in the Moluccas

by Eberhard Jany

Received 11 October 1976

The subspecies of the Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius breeding in
eastern Asia from Japan and Ussuriland (Soviet Union) to N. China and
Taiwan is M. s. philippensis (Miller). The northern populations migrate and
winter from Thailand in the north eastward to the Palau Islands (i.e. Koror,
c. 134° 35’ BK), and in the south, as far as we know, to the islands between
Banda Sea and Arafura Sea (to ¢. 132° E). The Moluccas, situated directly
south of the main breeding area of northeast Asia between Japan and
Manchuria, are in the middle of the southern island groups and seem to be
favoured winter quarters of the Blue Rock Thrush—which is one of the 24
northern species wintering there (Mayr 1953)—and which provide a pro-
fusion of coastal habitats, shores and banks, the species’ known ecological
preference in Japan (Jahn 1942, Austin & Kuroda 1953).

Dutch zoologists in particular have visited the Moluccas at different times.
References to the Blue Rock Thrush by van Bemmel (1948) concern Hal-
mahera, Ternate, Tidore, and Sulabesi in the North Moluccas, and in the
South Moluccas Buru, Ambelau, Amboina, and Kur in the Watubela group,
to which can now be added Pulau Tapa, between Batjan and Obi.

G. A. L. de Haan visited the North Moluccas in 1952 and 1953, and
A. M. R. Wegner in 1953 (see Jany 1954, 1955), when the avifauna was hardly
known. When I received the collection made by De Haan, skin no. 1927 was
wrongly labelled as a cuckoo-shrike (Campephagidae), and I now find it is
a juvenile male Blue Rock Thrush, shot in the Kampong Tapa on Pulau Tapa
on 9 Nov 1953 (Fig. 1). It weighed 53 g, wing 121 mm, the iris was dark
brown, bill and legs black. The plumage colour corresponded more or less
with that of the juvenile male in plate 16 in Kobayashi (1956), though the
chestnut underparts are much more limited. The Pulau Tapa bird was not
nearly so dark as the adult male illustrated in King e¢ a/. (1975: plate 51).

19 (Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

The body feathers are new, those of wing and tail badly worn. This stage
of moult in November resembles more or less that of birds in October from
Buru (Siebers 1930) and in February from North Clelebes (Stresemann 1941).
We can assume therefore that the body feathers are moulted before or during
the winter, but that wing and tail feathers are moulted later, on the breeding
grounds.

The wing lengths of male birds from Buru and Pulau Tapa vary between
121 and 125 mm. These measurements fall within the range given by Vaurie

a :

Fig. 1, Juvenile § Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius philippensis from Pulau Tapa
(north of Obi, Molluccas), 9 Nov. 1953, leg. G. A. L. De Haan.

(1955) from Manchuria to the Philippines (116-128 mm), with no visible
cline, and from Japan (115-129 mm) published by Kobayashi (1956). Though
Vaurie demonstrates this with detailed measurements he also states (1959:
358) “In philippensis, the populations from the north have a longer wing,
and a cline of decreasing size runs from north to south”.

The Blue Rock Thrush arrives for the Moluccan winter in October and
stays at least to the end of March. For Brunei, in N. Borneo (Kalimantan),
Smythies (1960) gives 18 Oct to 19 Apr. In Japan the Blue Rock Thrush
starts to sing in March (Jahn 1942) or April (Austin & Kuroda 1953), which

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 20

suggests that this species migrates north from the Moluccas to its breeding
grounds in northeast Asia over a very short period, either directly north via
the Philippines or more northeasterly via the west Pacific.

References:

Austin, O. L. & Kuroda, N. 1953. The Birds of Japan. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harv. Coll.
(Cambr., Mass.) 109: 277-637.

Bemmel, A. C. V. van. 1948. A faunal list of the birds of the Moluccan Islands. Treubia

(Bogor) 19: 323-402.
Jahn, H. 1942. Zur Okologie und Biologie der V6gel Japans. Journ. f. Orn. 90: 1-302.
Jany, E. 1954. Nachricht tiber eine Sammelreise von A. M. R. Wegner nach den Inseln
Batjan, Obi und Majau 1953. Journ. f. Orn. 95: 429.
— 1955. Neue Vogel-Formen von den Nord-Molukken. Journ. f. Orn. 96: 102-106.
King, B. F., Dickinson, E. C. & Woodcock, M. W. 1975. A Field Guide to the Birds of
South-East Asia. London: Collins.
Kobayashi, K. 1956. Birds of Japan in Natural Colours. Osaka: Hoikusha. (Japanese).
Mayr, E. 1953. On the origin of bird migration in the Pacific. Proc. 7th Pacific Sc. Congr. 4:
387-394.
Siebers, H. C. 1930. Fauna Buruana, Aves. Treubia (Bogor) 7, Suppl.: 164-303.
Smythies, B. E. 1960. The Birds of Borneo. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.
Stresemann, E. 1941. Die V6gel von Celebes (c). Die Zugvégel. Journ. f. Orn. 89: 69-102.
Vaurie, C. 1955. Systematic notes on Palearctic birds, no. 14. Amer. Mus. Nov. 1731: 21-23.
— 1959. The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna. Vol. 1, Passeriformes. London: Witherby.

Address: Hohemarkweg 2, D-6231 Sulzbach/Taunus, W. Germany.

Extension of Range of the White-headed Robin-chat
Cossypha heinrichi

by I. D. Harrison

Received 16 September 1976

On 5 October ’75, in a small clump of thick woodland in a reserve of the
Départment des Eaux et Forets named Bombo-Lumene, Zaire (4° 30’ S,
16° 8’ E.), five birds were seen which, from their behaviour and plumage were
clearly of the genus Cossypha, but which could not be identified. One was
therefore trapped and a full description taken. Six days later two birds were
caught there and a single bird was seen the same day in similar habitat
bordering a marsh ¢. 1 km from the original site. One of the birds caught was
sent to the British Museum (Natural History) and proved to be Cossypha
heinrichi, discovered in 1954 (Rand, 1955, Fve/diana 34, No. 31) in northern
Angola and not previously recorded within 500 km to the south.

The B.M. specimen was an adult male with testes measuring 5 mm and
4mm, wing 120, tail 147, bill 20, tarsus 37 mm. The eye was reddish-brown,
the legs slate, the bill black and the plumage much brighter than that of
other birds caught at the same time. The plumage of two other adults also
agreed with Rand’s description except that the eye colour was sandy-brown.
The eye colour differed in all three birds from that given by the Yale Peabody
Museum (Bulletin No. 95. 14.2.1966), which describes it as “purplish-red in
adults and blackish-brown in juvenile and sub-adult specimens”. This may
be due to description after postmortem changes had occurred or might
indicate geographical variation. The soft parts were the same colours in all
three birds, but the primaries and secondaries of one of the two birds caught
were badly abraded. Wings 118, 111, tails 132, 134, bills 21, 20, tarsi 36 mm.

21 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

On 22 November ’75 five birds were seen in the original clump of wood-
land, including a single juvenile not long out of the nest: the yellow gape
was conspicuous and it was still being fed by two adults. The juvenile
plumage agrees with the description given by Rand except that the head and
neck were more rufous than ochraceous, as also was the breast. The scaled
appearance was restricted to the head and upper breast. Two of the five birds
were moulting out of juvenile plumage and had underparts similar to the
juvenile, with only a faint scaled appearance, the head patched white and
rufous. This was possibly first year plumage or even first year moulting into
adult plumage.

Subsequently four further sites were discovered in the area (up to 15 km
away) and a bird, almost certainly of this species was glimpsed 550 km north-
northeast near Mbandaka (on the equator, 18° 24’ E.). In all cases the habitat
was the undergrowth of thick tropical forest (wot gallery forest) which
occurred in isolated patches in savanna with scattered bushes and small fire-
resistant trees. The largest of the sites was c. 14 km square and the smallest c.
100 m square.

The species is known to be very elusive, either keeping to the ground or
moving through thickets up to 3 or 4 m above ground. Food appeared to be
small insects and a party of four birds was once seen feeding on ants on the
branch of a tree. The stomach of the specimen sent to the British Museum
contained “fragments of beetles and ants”’.

There is thus a population of Cossypha heinrichi in western Zaire, extending
its previously known range considerably; but further observations are
necessary to establish if the range is restricted to between northern Angola
and western Zaire or whether it extends considerably to the north and east
of that area. Breeding occurs definitely about September to November,
during the beginning of the rainy season.

Address: “Hafan Deg”, Panteg Rd., Aberaeron, Dyfed, West Wales.

Halcyon gambieri gambieri Oustalet, an extinct
Kingfisher from Mangareva, South Pacific Ocean

by D. T. Holyoak & J. C. Thibault

Received 13 October 1976

Oustalet (1895) described a kingfisher collected at Mangareva, in the Tua-
motu archipelago, in 1841 on the second Antarctic expedition of Dumont
d’Urville as Halcyon gambieri. In the original description Oustalet commented
on the similarity of this specimen to Halcyon reichenbachi of the Caroline
Islands, 70° latitude west in Micronesia. Murphy (1924a) described a similar
kingfisher from Niau, 780 miles north of Mangareva as Todirhamphus
gertrude, in apparent ignorance of the bird described by Oustalet. Berlioz
(1939), however, considered that from comparison of the type of Halcyon
gambiert, which he examined at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle
(Paris), with Murphy’s description, 7. gertrudae should be regarded as a
synonym of H. gambieri, and that H. gambieri differs from H. reichenbachi in
the form of the bill. Peters (1945), also, mentions that 7. gertrudae may be a

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)) 22

synonym of 7. gambieri, and it has recently been suggested that it might be a
Micronesian species (du Pont 1976).

Re-examination of Oustalet’s H. gambieri type in the Paris Museum and
comparison of a description, sketch and photographs of it with specimens of
I. gertrudae in the American Museum of Natural History and the British
Museum (Natural History) prompt a re-assessment of the status of these
forms. As pointed out by Berlioz (1939), both forms have a broad bill with
a wide tip, whereas in contrast, all Micronesian kingfishers without exception
have very long bills with a laterally compressed tip. Comparative measute-
ments of gambieri and gertrudae are very similar, but, suggest that the bill of
the type of gambieri is a little shorter and wider than that of gertrudae and its
tarsus and tail may be slightly longer (measurements in mm, averages in
brackets):

Flat Tail Culmen Culmen width Tarsus
wing from nares at nares
Type of
FAL, gambieri 92°5 69°5 27°4 12°4 18
(worn)
H. gertrudae
5 males 87-94 62-68 29-31 10°9Q-I1°7 16-17
(90) (66) (30) (715) (16)
3 females 90°5,°02 "5! 64, 66, 30, 4X} 11°5, 11°8, ~ 15,16,
90°5 65 28-5 10°5 16

The type of H. gambieri is apparently in adult plumage as it lacks the pale
fringes to the wing-coverts that are present in immatures of other Polynesian
kingfishers. It differs from adults of gertrudae in having the underparts white
without any wash of cinnamon-buff, the hind-neck whiter with little rufous
suffusion (this is probably not due to fading as the crown is as rufous as
in gertrudae) and in having a distinct narrow black line across the nape,
separating the rufous of the crown from the white of the hind-neck (cf.
description in Murphy 1924a, plate accompanying Murphy 1924b). In view
of these differences it seers best to name

the Mangareva kingfisher Halcyon gambieri gambieri Oustalet,
and the Niau kingfisher HY. gambieri gertrudae (Murphy).

pre name Tuamotu Kingfisher seems appropriate for the species as
a whole.

There can be little doubt that the Mangareva kingfisher was extinct by
1922 when Ernest Quayle (MS.) searched extensively for landbirds on
Mangareva without finding a kingfisher. He noted that considerable de-
forestation had occurred and that cats, rats, goats and dogs were present on
the island. Quayle wrote also that the sandpiper Aechmorhynchus (=Proso-
bonia) cancellatus could not be found on Mangareva, but was common on
some off-lying islets not cursed with the introduced predators. More recent
visitors have also been unable to find a kingfisher on Mangareva (Thibault
1973, Lacan & Mougin 1974), so it is most likely extinct along with other
little-known landbirds formerly found in the Bambier Islands (Holyoak &
Thiabault, in prep.).

However, the subspecies, 7. g. gertrudae, survives in considerable numbers
at Niau, where the total population was estimated as 400-600 birds by J. C.
Thibault in 1974.

— =“

23 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

We are grateful to the departments of ornithology of the American Museum of Natural
History, British Museum (Natural History) and Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle for
facilities to examine specimens in their care, to James C. Greenway, Jr., for helpful com-
ments, to Christian Erard for help while working in the Paris Collection and to Claud Rives
for the courtesy of obtaining photographs on our behalf.

References:

Berlioz, J. 1939. Considérations sur les alcédinidés de la Polynésie orientale. C.R. 9th Int.
Orn. Congr. Rouen: 87-91. :

du Pont, J. 1976. South Pacific Birds. Greeneville, Delaware: Del. Mus. Nat. Hist.

Lacan, F. & Mougin, J. L. 1974. Les oiseaux des iles Gambiers et de quelques atolls
orientaux de l’archipel des Tuamotu (Océan Pacifique). Oiseau 44: 193-280.

Murphy, R. C. 19244. Birds collected during the Whitney South Sea Expedition. III. Amer.
Mus. Novit. 149: 1.

— 1924b. The Whitney South Sea Expedition. Nat. Hist., New York 24: 539-553.

Oustalet, E. 1895. Les mammiféres et les oiseaux des iles Mariannes. Nouv. Arch. Mus.
Hist. Nat., Paris 3rd. ser., 7: 182.

Peters, J. L. 1945. Birds of the World. V. Cambridge, Mass.: Mus. Comp. Zool.

Quayle, E. H. MS. Typescript copy of journal during the Whitney South Sea Expedition,
1920-1923, Lodged in Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., New York.

Thibault, J. C. 1973. Notes ornithologiques Polynésiennes. I. Les iles Gambier. Alauda 41:
I1I-119.

Addresses: D. T. Holyoak, 58 Southdown Avenue, Brighton BN1 6EH, England.
J. C. Thibault, 15 Rue Vaubentou, Paris, France.

The display of the Scarlet-horned Manakin
Pipra cornuta

by D. W. Snow

Received 13 October 1976

The Scarlet-horned Manakin Pipra cornuta is the only species of manakin
confined to the highland area of southern Venezuela and adjacent Guyana and
Brazil, the region for which Mayr & Phelps (1967) coined the name Pantepui,
and in which they list four endemic bird species without known relatives,
including P. cornuta. It used to be placed in a monotypic genus, Ceratopipra,
on the basis of the pair of backwardly directed “horns” formed by the
elongated feathers of the hind crown, but such modifications in the male’s
display plumage are common in manakins and do not justify generic separa-
tion. Recent authors generally place the species in Pipra. The male is black
with a scarlet head and throat, white iris, and scarlet thigh feathers. The two
“horns”, in life, project backwards and slightly upwards, diverging a little.
The colour pattern is similar to that of four other species of Pipra which have
ted or orange crowns (erythrocephala, rubrocapilla, chloromeros and mentalis),
the main difference being that the red on the head is more extensive in P.
cornuta. Females ate olive green, as is usual in the family. P. cornuta is a good
deal larger than other Pipra species. The wing-length of adult males averages
about 66-5 mm, and the weight (four specimens) 23-5 g. Equivalent figures
for P. erythrocephala, the member of the red- and orange-crowned group with
which P. cornuta is partly sympatric, are 56-7 mm and 12-8 g (Snow 1962).
Pipra cornuta has long been thought to occur sporadically in lowland forest
neat the Amazon as well as in the Guiana highlands, so that Mayr & Phelps
(1967) qualified their statement that it is endemic to Pantepui; but almost
certainly it does not extend into lowlands. Haffer (1970, footnote p. 308)

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 24

showed that the “Rio Marou”’, where Natterer collected the first specimens,
was probably not near Manaus, as had been supposed, but in the upper Rio
Branco area. The other record on which the supposed extension of the range
into the lowlands was based is equally doubtful. Bates (1863) mentioned
collecting it at Obidos; but there is no specimen extant, and his reference to
three males apparently engaged in a kind of dance, close together on a low
branch, makes it almost certain that what he collected was Chiroxiphia
pareola, which occurs neat Obidos and displays in this way. As will be shown,
the display of Pipra cornuta is quite different.

In the course of a visit to the Gran Sabana of Venezuela (the highlands in
the southeast of the State of Bolivar) in March and April 1976, I was able to
observe the courtship display of Pipra cornuia in forest at an altitude of 950-
1050 m near the mission station of Kavanayén. At the time of my Visit it
seemed not to be very numerous in the area; in four days of field-work I
found two display grounds in forest below the mission station, and during
a 5-day visit to the forest on the slopes of Ptari-tepui, 15-20 km from
Kavanayén, at altitudes between 1100 and 1600 m, I heard only a single bird
calling, although I was by then familiar with the sounds associated with the
display. Below about 1100 m, both at Kavanayén and on Ptari-tepui, the
Golden-headed Manakin P. erythrocephala also occurred, and in one place
there were display grounds of both species within a few hundred metres of
each other in the same kind of forest.

The two display grounds of Pipra cornuta | found were both in primary
forest, one on level ground and the other on a steep slope. At both places
there were two adult males, the centres of whose display and calling areas
were about 25 m (level forest) and 30 m (sloping forest) apart. With such a
small sample it cannot, of course, be concluded that males normally display
in groups of two; the small size of these two leks may simply have been a
consequence of a locally low population density.

The males’ general routine was much as in other Pipra species. I was unable
to obtain accurate data on the percentage of time that the birds were present,
but they were certainly present in their display areas for nearly all the time
between ogoo and 1630 hrs, and I did not see them feeding at all while they
were there. For most of the time they kept to an altitude of 10-15 m above
the ground, not confining themselves to any particular perches, though some
groups of perches were clearly preferred, but moving round a good deal in an
atea about 20 m across. Intermittent calls were given, with a distinct tendency
for a call by one bird to be answered by the other, and there were occasional
outbursts of display which also tended to be synchronised. The displays,
described below, were performed on slender horizontal perches at heights
between 5 and 15 m. Occasionally the two males came together in a tree
between their display areas, where they would spend up to 15 minutes
perched in close proximity and quite silent. They would be restless, constantly
moving from perch to perch, as if jockeying for position, always facing away
from one another. Occasionally one would make a short backward “‘slide”
along its perch towards the other.

THE DISPLAYS
The names given to the various elements of the displays are the same as

those used for Pipra erythrocephala (Snow 1962) and P. aureola (Snow 1963).

25 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

All bouts of displays that were seen appeared to begin spontaneously, i.e.
without the presence of a female; but, as already mentioned, display by one
male tended to stimulate the other to display. Bouts of display usually lasted
for 1-5 minutes. It seemed probable that during the period of observations
(7-16 Apr) the local females were not visiting the display grounds, at least
during the middle of the day, though the breeding season should have begun.

Vocal and mechanical sounds. As mentioned, males call intermittently when
they are present in their display areas. Calls are one- to four-syllabled,
abrupt, and either high-pitched or of a nasal quality, or a combination of
both. The commonest is a trisyllabic wrrt-pit-arrk (Fig. 1, B), sometimes
preceded by a p/t to produce a fourth syllable. Less frequently given is a
sharp disyllabic ker-zeek, and a monosyllabic zeek similar to, but less loud
than, the second syllable of the ker-zeek. Two sounds are associated with the

KHz

anrewen
2 SEC

Figure 1. Sonagrams of (A) the mechanical wing-noise (prr¢) made during display, and
(B) the trisyllabic wrrt-pit-arrk, The mechanical wing-noise consists of two very brief sounds,
with energy evenly distributed over a wide frequency range, separated by an interval of
about 0-015 sec (4 measured).

displays and are described in context below: an explosive, mechanical wing-
noise, and a sharp buzzing call.

Backward slide. With its body orientated along or nearly along the perch,
head held low, wings raised a little, tail slightly depressed, and legs stretched
so that the red thigh feathers show, the bird takes rapid and very short steps
backwards for about 15 cm along the perch, so that it seems to slide. At the
end of the slide, two things may happen: (1) most often, the wings are sud-
denly vibrated with extreme rapidity, producing an explosive prr¢ (Fig. 1, A)
and the bird jumps forward about 15 cm as if propelled by the force of the
“explosion”. Immediately on landing the slide may be repeated, and the bird
may continue for several seconds sliding backwards and jumping forwards.
When the backward slides and forward jumps are repeated without pause,
the intervals between successive jumps are about 1-4—2-2 seconds (based
on sound recordings of three display bouts totalling 12 jumps). (2) Less often
the slide ends silently, the wings being momentarily spread horizontally and

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 26

the tail fanned at the end of the slide. When the slide ends thus the bird does
not jump forward but, temporarily at least, the display ends.

Stde-to-side slide. With its body orientated transversely to the perch the
bird “slides” (i.e. takes very short steps) rapidly sideways about 10 cm. At
the end of the slide, the explosive prr+ wing-noise is made and the bird jumps
back to its original position. This display is clearly a variety of the backward
slide, and intermediates between the two occur; but in their extreme forms
the body is orientated so differently with respect to the perch that the displays
appear very different.

Display flight. The bird leaves its perch (referred to in what follows as the
main perch) and flies with a downward and then upward trajectory to another
perch at about the same height and 10-20 m away. After about 10 seconds
(limits of those timed, 5-12 seconds) it returns to the main perch with rapid
flight, again with a downward and then upward trajectory as it approaches
the perch. It may then either land silently on the main perch, after which it
usually immediately executes one or more backward or side-to-side slides;
or it lands with a single or multiple (up to five) buzzing call, at the same time
clinging to the perch and fluttering its wings. In contrast to the backward
and side-to-side slides, which it performed on many different perches in its
display area, the male that was watched for longest always used the same
main perch for its display flights, a nearly horizontal, thin side branch near
the top of a small and very slender under-story tree, about 5 m above the
ground, which was in fact the lowest of all the perches that it was seen to use.
This bird also occasionally remained for a minute or two on the perch to
which it had flown from the main perch, and did a few slides on it before
returning in display flight to its main perch. Too few observations were
made on the other males to establish whether they always made their display
flights to the same perch.

COMPARISON WITH OTHER MANAKINS

In the general organization of its display behaviour and the details of the
displays, Pzpra cornuta is very similar to the small red- and orange-crowned
manakins P. erythrocephala, rubrocapilla and mentalis, which it also most closely
resembles in plumage pattern. (The display of P. chloromeros is unknown.)
Thus the side-to-side slide of cornuta also occurs, but without the mechanical
noise, in wentalis. A backward slide very similar to that of cornuta is performed
by erythrocephala (Snow 1962) and rubrocapilla (Sick 1967). The display flight
is performed, with variations, by all of them. The behaviour of two males,
when they come together on neutral ground between their two display areas,
seems to be identical in its essentials in coruuta and erythrocephala. The same
display elements also occur in the red-and-yellow-headed manakins of the
Pipra aureola superspecies, but these latter are distinct in colour pattern and
have some peculiar features in their display (Snow 1963, Snow & Schwartz
in prep.), and are probably less closely related.

The evidence thus shows that Haffer (1970) was correct in treating P.
cornuta as a Close relative of P. erythrocephala and its allies. It should not,
however, be included in the same superspecies, as he did, since it is not only
broadly sympatric with erythrocephala but actually syntopic where the alti-
tudinal ranges of the two species overlap. Its morphological distinctness, and
the fact that it most closely resembles erythrocephala and rubrocapilla in one

27 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

part of its display (the backward slide) and menfa/is in another element (the
side-to-side slide, absent from the repertoire of erythrocephala and rubrocapilla),
suggest that it is an early derivative of a stock that later became differentiated
and gave rise to the erythrocephala superspecies.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to the Royal Society and to CONICIT, the Venezuelan national scientific
research organization, for grants enabling me to visit Venezuela; and to Dr. William H.
Phelps, Jr., and Sr. Ramon Aveledo H. for permission to study specimens in the Phelps
collection in Caracas. The weights of Pipra cornuta ate from specimens in the Phelps
collection.

References:

Bates, H. W. 1863. The Naturalist on the River Amazons. London: John Murray.

Haffer, J. 1970. Art-Entstehung bei einigen Waldv6geln Amazoniens. /. Orn. 111: 285-331.

Mayr, E. & Phelps, W. H. 1967. The origin of the bird fauna of the south Venezuelan
highlands. Bul/. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist. 136: 269-328.

Sick, H. 1967. Courtship behavior in manakins (Pipridae): a review. Living Bird 6: 5-22.

Snow, D. W. 1962. A field study of the Golden-headed Manakin, Pipra erythrocephala, in
Trinidad, W.1. Zoologica 47: 183-198.

Snow, D. W. 1963. The display of the Orange-headed Manakin. Condor 65: 44-48.

Address: British Museum (Natural History), Tring, Herts.

Relationships between the two races of the
San Blas Jay Cyanocorax sanblasiana

by John William Hardy & Ralph J. Raitt

Received 22 December 1976

The nominate race of the San Blas Jay Cyanocorax s. sanblasiana is apparently
restricted in range to the narrow coastal plain of the state of Guerrero,
Mexico, from ¢. 70 km southeast of Acapulco to ¢. 100 km northwest of that
city (Miller et a/. [Eds.] 1957—Pacific Coast Avifauna 33: 1-436). We began
a long term comparative study of this and other, allopatric, closely related
jays in July 1974, in relation to their ecology and behaviour, making a special
effort in summer 1975 to discover the distributional relationships between
the two races of the San Blas Jay, C. s. sanblasiana and C. s. nelsoni. We drove
along the narrow coastal plain northwest from Acapulco toward Zihuatanejo
(see Fig. 1), stopping frequently to look for jays, to broadcast sounds of their
voices to attract them, to study the habitat, and to question local residents
about the existence of jays in their particular areas.

The nominate race seems to breed entirely in coconut palm plantations
northwest of Acapulco and southeast of the city at least partly in such plan-
tations, but also in native broadleaved evergreen scrub. Breeding distribution
is patchy: where family breeding units are found, the species seems common,
but nearby in seemingly identical habitat, the birds may be absent or rare.
Distribution to the south apparently ends where the coastal plain narrows
and the hills reach the ocean southeast of Acapulco. Northwestward from
Acapulco, seemingly appropriate habitat of palms continues for ¢. 155 km,
to where the coastal plain and the palms terminate in hills, southeast of
Zihuatanejo. Yet the jay has not been recorded farther northwest than Tecpan

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 28

de Galeana, 104 km by road from Acapulco; and at El Llano, 24 km farther
northwest where palms are abundant, Mexican farmers told us that the jay
does not occur. There is thus a hiatus of 200 km northward from Tecpan to the
southeasternmost point of known occurrence of C. s. ne/soni at La Lagunilla.
This geographic separation of the two races, previously only implied in the
literature, makes it easier to understand the racially distinctive plumage and
softparts of the two races first suggested by Davis (1960, Condor 62: 215—
219), differences that seem closely related to their social behaviour, as pre-
dicted by Hardy (1976, W2/son Bull. 88: 96-120). In one captive bird of the

a a A

RMAZATLAN oo,
7 SSINALOA

4
ae =

) “G7: C

eel iy
NAYARIT( S75 an
SANBLAS YO 4 Bh
Do Kneis Str : .

= m4 4 MEXICO

~LA LAGUNILLA

*
GUERRERO *-.,

\e_ZIHUATANEJO ;

ae TECPAN DE GALEANA {|

Sea RU COYUCA gt

Sp PIE DE LA CUESTA:

WR, J

Figure 1. Geographic ranges of the two races of the San Blas Jay Cyanocorax san-
blasiana. A, nelsoni and B, sanblasiana.

Occurrences of jays at La Lagunilla and Tecpan de Galeana are substanti-
ated by museum specimens.

nominate race, Hardy (1974, Bird-Banding 45: 253-268) had detected a
difference in their social-alarm calls comparable in degree to their differences
in external morphology, encouraging further field investigation.

In museum specimens of C. s. sanblasiana Davis (1960 op. cit.) could find
no birds indicating the existence of intermediate phenotypes between early
first year and adult stages, which suggested to him that birds of this race,
unlike those of C. s. nelsoni, attained the adult phenotype (like that of ne/sonz)
by one year of age. Adults in both races have yellow irides and black bills.
First year birds (to yearling age) were distinguishable from adults by plumage
wear associated with lack of moult of remiges and rectrices.

29 [Bull, B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

The apparent acceleration of change to adult phenotype detected by Davis
seems to have been an artifact of the series of specimens examined. Our field
work on C. 5. sanblasiana has revealed that there is not only a distinctive first
year plumage, but also a 2-year-old stage as well, both distinguishable in the
field from the adult stages. There are, however, clear-cut differences in these
stages between the two races of the jay (Table 1).

TABLE 1

Differences in plumage and softpart in
Cyanocorax s. sanblasiana and C. s. nelsoni

Bill Colour Crest Trides
Yearlings
sanblasiana black prominent dark brown
nelsoni particolour more prominent dark brown
2-year olds
sanblasiana black absent brown to dark greenish-yellow
nelsoni black present dark brown
3-year olds
sanblasiana black absent greenish-yellow to like adult
nelsoni black remnant brown
Adults
sanblasiana black absent yellow
nelsoni black variable remnant ¢ brownish to greenish-yellow;
2 yellow

Yearling sanblasiana have black bills, which may show some greyish or
whitish marks on the inside, whereas the bills in yearling ne/soni are parti-
coloured black and horn. We confirmed the existence of the 2-year-old stage
in sanblasiana by marking two yearlings in 1974 and recapturing them a year
later. Age stages in ne/soni had previously been determined by maintaining
captives from juvenile and yearling age for 2 to 3 years. While the crest in
2-year-olds of ne/soni is less prominent than in yearlings, it is still visible in
the field; but in 2-year-old sanblasiana two or three wispy crest feathers may
be evident only in hand held birds. There is no third-year stage in sanblasiana
easily and consistently distinguishable from the adult as may exist in ne/soni.
A 3-year-old captive female xe/soni had dark brown irides, intermediate to
those of 2-year-old and adult birds until she was at least 39 months old. At
her death at about 42 months her irides were olive (Hardy 1973 op. cit.). We
ringed several 2-year-old sanblasiana June—July 1975, and in 1976 recaptured
them as well as some yearlings ringed in July 1974, and no differences from
adults were apparent. One known 3-year-old sanblasiana had yellow irides
like those of birds judged to be 4 or more years old, while two 3-year-olds,
examined in the hand, showed greenish or brownish yellow murkiness around
the pupils or peripherally to the otherwise yellow irides, not detectable in the
field through binoculars. Hardy (1974 op. cit.) detected sexual dichromatism
in iris colour in adult xe/sonz, 8 females having yellow irides and 3 males
having brownish to greenish yellow irides. An examination in the wild of 26
adult sanblasiana detected no such dichromatism, iris colour varying from
yellow to yellow with a very faintly greenish cast.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 30

In nelsoni, 9 females averaged 104 g in weight (92-112 g), whereas 5 males
averaged 121 g (117-123 g). In sanblasiana, 14 females, distinguished on the
basis of breeding roles or brood patches, averaged 107 g (94-118 g, only one
bird exceeding 114 g); 12 males distinguished on the basis of breeding role
or cloacal protuberance, averaged 116 g (112-119 g). Thus in adults of both
races, females are significantly lighter than males.

The social-alarm calls of the two races of San Blas Jay are distinguishable
by ear and by sonographic analysis (Fig. 2). In ne/soni this call is a rather
uniform nasal-sounding chatter; in sanblasiana, to the chatter is added con-
sistently another component, which is a more sustained, downwardly
inflected cawing sound resembling the typical component of the social-
alarm call of C. melanocyanea of Central America and the cawing sound of

Figure 2. A comparison of social-alarm call structure in (left) C. s. me/soni and (right)
C. s. sanblasiana. The specimens selected show the extreme differences
noted, but sometimes C’. s. sanblasiana is as staccato as nelsoni. No sustained
components, as shown for nelsoni, have been heard from sanblasiana.

C. beecheii. When individuals of C. beecheii, C. yucatanica, C. melanocyanea and
C. sanblasiana are confronted with a tape recorder playback of their own
social-alarm calls, they will respond by approaching and sometimes by
uttering the same call, though individuals quickly habituate to this experi-
mental procedure. When the same jays hear the social-alarm calls of the other
species, they do not approach or call. On the other hand, when we played
social-alarm calls of nelsoni to sanblasiana, they responded by approaching and
calling. It would therefore seem that apparent difference in voice is not as yet
an isolating mechanism in the process of divergence of ne/soni and sanblasiana
from each other. The minor, though consistent, differences in external
features probably fall into the same category. The two sanblasiana forms are
therefore classic examples of geographic races with a potential for reaching

31 [Bull,. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)]

specific status, since there is currently no apparent gene-flow between their
populations.

We acknowledge the support of our respective institutions, as well as Occidental College
(Moore Laboratory of Zoology Endowment Fund) and the American Museum’s Frank M.
Chapman Fund. The major portion of the work was partially supported by NSF research
grants BMS 74-11107 and DE B76-09735. We thank the members of our field party who
assisted in this study, Harold Mayfield, Howard S. Gates, Gary L. Grabowski and Jack T.
Vollertson.

Address: John William Hardy, Florida State Museum, University of Florida, Gainesville,

32611.
Ralph J. Raitt, Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, 88003.

Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature : Opinions

In continuation of Bul/. Brit. Orn. Cl. 96, 1976: 142, and by permission of the International
Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, the following Rulings are quoted as extracts from
Opinions published in Bul/. Zoo/. Nomencl. affecting birds:

OPINION 1056
(Bull. Zool. Nomencl. 33(1), 1976: 16)

Exudyptes atratus Finsch, 1875 ex Hutton MS. (Aves): suppressed under the plenary powers

(1) Under the plenary powers, the specific name afratus Finsch, 1875, ex Hutton MS., as
published in the binomen Exdyptes atratus, is hereby suppressed for the purposes of the
Law of Priority but not for those of the Law of Homonymy.

(2) The following specific names are hereby placed on the Official List of Specific Names
in Zoology:

(a) sclateri Buller, 1888, as published in the binomen Exdyptes sclateri (Name Number
2571);

(b) robustus Oliver, 1953, as published in the binomen Exdyptes robustus (Name Number
2572).

(3) The specific name afratus Finsch, 1875, ex Hutton MS., as published in the binomen
Exudyptes atratus, and as suppressed under the plenary powers in (1) above, is hereby placed
on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Specific Names in Zoology with the Name
Number 1009.

OPINION 1060
(Bull. Zool. Nomencl. 33(1), 1976: 27)

Suppression of Diomedea leptorhyncha Coues, 1866 (Aves)

(1) Under the plenary powers, the specific name /eptorhyncha Coues, 1866, as published
in the binomen Diomedea leptorhyncha, is hereby suppressed for the purposes of the Law of
Priority, but not for those of the Law of Homonymy.

(2) The specific name /rrorata Salvin, 1883, as published in the binomen Déomedea
irrorata, is hereby placed on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology with the Name
Number 2578.

(3) The specific name /eptorhyncha Coues, 1866, as published in the binomen Diéomedea
leptorhyncha, and as suppressed under the plenary powers in (1) above, is hereby placed on
a Ha Index of Rejected and Invalid Specific Names in Zoology with the Name

umber 1012.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(1)] 32

IN BRIEF

Application of Halcyon ruficollaris Holyoak and
Alcyone ruticollaris Bankier

Holyoak in 1976 (Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 96: 40) prematurely proposed the new
name Falcyon mangaia for a species that he had previously named H. rafi-
collaris in 1974 (Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 94: 147). His reason for doing so followed
an indication that Halcyon ruficollaris Holyoak was a junior homonym of
Alcyone ruficollaris Bankier 1841 (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 6: 394), itself a
synonym of Halcyon sancta Vigors & Horsfield 1827 (Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond.
£55200).

It appears, however, that Alcyone ruficollaris Bankier has been referred
incorrectly to Halcyon sancta by Mathews (Systema Avium Australasianarum
(1927) 1: 379) and subsequently by Peters (Check-list of Birds of the World
(1955) §: 205). Hartert (Novit. Zool. (1930) 36: 99) pointed out that Bankier’s
name applies instead to Aledo azurea, and designated a northern Australian
subspecies (see Schodde & Mason, Emu (1976) 76: 161-166). The type
specimen from Port Essington in Arnhem Land may unfortunately be lost.
Although Mathews (Jbis 1931: 50) quickly pointed out that Bankier’s name
was senior to Gould’s pulchra in Alcedo aurea, he latex reverted to listing that
name under Halcyon sancta in his “Working List of Australian Birds” (1956:
73). Nevertheless, both Laubmann in his comprehensive studies of king-
fishers (Anz. Orn. Ges. Bayern (1942) 22: 192) and Deignan (Rec. Amer.
Aust. Sci. Exped. Arnhem Land, (1964) 4 (Zool): 391) treated ruficollaris
Bankier as a subspecies of Alcedo azurea, a position with which we concur.
Condon, incidentally, (Checklist of the Birds of Australia, pt. 1, Non-passerines
—1975) cites Bankier’s name in the synonymies of both Aledo azurea
(=Ceyx azureus) and Halcyon sancta.

Because we now interpret AJcyone ruficollaris Bankier and Halcyon ruficollaris
Holyoak as referring to different genera (see ICZN (1964) Art. 59c), Halcyon
ruficollaris Holyoak stands as the valid name for the Mangaia Kingfisher, and
Halcyon mangaia Holyoak becomes a junior objective synonym of it.

We are grateful to M. D. Bruce and Dr. G. F. Mees for bringing various
publications to our attention.

3 December 1976 R. Schodde and D. T. Holyoak

Addresses: R. Schodde, CSIRO, P.O. Box 84, Lyneham, A.C.T. 2602, Australia.
D. T. Holyoak, 58 Southdown Avenue, Brighton, Sussex, BN1 6EH, England.

BOOKS RECEIVED = «

Sanders, J. & Berg, K. 1976. A Guide to Bird-Watebing in Denmark.
Pp. 63, numerous maps and illustrations. Photolitho, soft covers.
Obtainable from J. Tidy, 9 Freewaters Close, Ickleford, Hitchin, Herts.
£1.70 post free. Fack: Stockholm.

Very explicitly and usefully describes and shows on detailed maps
how to reach some 4o of more bird localities in west and northeast
Denmark for a holiday, and what main species to expect in each, with
additional short notes on best dates, expenses, travel, accommodation, etc.

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»S

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Published by the BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB and printed by
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ISSN 0007 - 1595

Bulletin of the

British Ornithologists’ Club

Edited by
Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 97 No. 2 June 1977

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

The attention of Members is drawn to the outstanding programme described
below. Mr. Stanley Cramp is Chief Editor of the “Handbook of the Birds of Europe,
the Middle East and North Africa (Birds of the Western Palaearctic)”. We are par-
ticularly pleased that it has been possible to arrange for Professor V. C. Wynne-
Edwards, a past President of the B.O.U., to address us and he will speak on a subject
of wide interest on which he is the leading authority. Dr. Stephanie Tyler needs no
introduction and she will cover observations made before and during the eight
months she was held captive in Ethiopia.

Tuesday, 19 July 1977 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m., at the Goat Tavern, 3 Stafford Street,
London, W.1. (between Old Bond Street and Albemarle Street, nearest Underground
station, Green Park). Mr. Stanley Cramp, 0.3.£., B.A., on the Handbook of the Birds of
Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (The Birds of the Western Palaearctic), Vol. 1 of
which is due for publication in June 1977. Those wishing to attend should send a cheque for
_ww»f2270 a person to the Hon. Secretary with their acceptance on the relevant enclosed slip to
arrive by first post on Thursday, 14 July.

Thursday, 15 September 1977 at 6.15 p.m. for 6.45 p.m., at the Senior Common Room,
South Side, Imperial College, South Kensington (entrance on the south side of Prince’s
Gardens, S.W.7., on the E. side of Exhibition Road). Professor V. C. Wynne-Edwards,
C.B.E., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., F.R.S.C., oft “Social competition controlling population density in birds’’.
Those wishing to attend should inform Mrs. Diana Bradley, 53 Osterley Road, Isleworth,
Middlesex on the appropriate enclosed slip, with a cheque for £3-75 per person, to arrive
by first post on Monday 12 September.

PLEASE NOTE THIS MEETING IS ON A THURSDAY AND THAT ACCEP-
TANCES MUST BE NOTIFIED TO MRS. DIANA BRADLEY.

Tuesday, 15 November 1977 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. at the Senior Common Room, South
Side, Imperial College, South Kensington, Dr. Stephanie Tyler, pH.p., on the avifauna of
Ethiopia and describing especially observations in Tigre and Eritrea.

COMMITTEE
P. Hogg (Chairman) Dr. G. Beven (Vice-Chairman)
R. E. F. Peal (Hon. Secretary) M. St.J. Sugg (Hon. Treasurer)
Dr. J. F. Monk (Editor) Mrs. J. D. Bradley
C. E. Wheeler B. Gray

V. F. Mann

Sy Ms e
i an *t>,*™ L - (Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

BiretOr?
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB

Vol. 97 No. 2 Published: 20 June 1977

The seven hundred and fifth Meeting of the Club was held at the British Museum (Natural
History), London, S.W.7. at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 15 March 1977, when Mr. J. M. Forshaw
spoke on “‘The ecology of parrots in Australia and their adaptations to changing environ-
ments”, with coloured illustrations. He discussed the effects of changes in the environment
on a number of species, especially on the Galah Eolophus roseicapillus and the Australian
Ground Parrot Pezoporus wallicus. This meeting was held jointly with the International
Council for Bird Preservation (British Section) with Professor J. H. Elgood as Chairman
and a buffet supper followed the talk. The attendance was 127 of which 28 were Members
of the Club and their guests.

The seven hundred and sixth Meeting of the Club was held at the Senior Common Room,
South Side, Imperial College, London, S.W.7. at 6.45 p.m. on Tuesday, 3 May 1977.

Chairman: Professor J. H. Elgood; present 22 members and 10 guests.

Mr. M. W. Woodcock gave the first of three talks on the birds in Asia, making a com-
parison of the avifauna of the Indian sub-continent with that of $.E. Asia and that of Africa
south of the Sahara. Lord Medway then spoke on migrants in Malaysia, dealing especially
with information gained from ringing in 1963-1971. He dealt with a number of aspects of
migration, including direction, timing and moult. Mr. I. C. Orr concluded with a talk on
ornithology in China, dealing especially with the main lines of research there, and showed
copies of several recent Chinese ornithological books.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The eighty-fifth Annual General Meeting of the British Ornithologists’ Club was held at
Imperial College, London, S.W.7. on Tuesday, 3 May 1977 at 5.45 p.m. with Professor
J. H. Elgood, M.a., in the chair. Thirteen members were present.

The Minutes of the eighty-fourth Annual General Meeting (Bu//. Brit. Orn. C7. 96: 41)
were approved and signed.

The Report of the Committee and Accounts for 1976 were presented and a brief discus-
sion followed, in the course of which the Hon. Treasurer stated that the excess of income
over expenditure would very probably be replaced in 1977 by a deficit, because of increased
costs of printing. On the Chairman’s proposal, they were received and adopted unanimously.

The Editor reported that there had been an ample supply of good papers for the Bulletin
but that it had been possible to reduce the period between receipt and publication to three
months for some shorter contributions.

There being no nominations additional to those of the Committee, the following were
declared elected :—

Chairman: Mr. P. Hogg (vice Professor J. H. Elgood, who retired on completion of his
term of office).

Vice-Chairman: Dr. G. Beven, M.D., B.sC., (vice Mr. P. Hogg, who retired on completion
of his term of office).

Hon. Treasurer: Mr. M. St.J. Sugg, M.A., (re-elected).
Hon. Secretary: Mt. R. E. F. Peal (re-elected).

Committee: Mr. B. Gray and Mr. V. F. Mann, B.sc., (vice Dr. G. Beven and Dr. C. J. O.
Harrison).

Mr. P. Hogg proposed and Dr. J. F. Monk seconded a vote of thanks to the Chairman
for the kindly and efficient way in which he had presided over the Club during his term of
office and this was carried by acclamation.

The Meeting closed at 6.10 p.m.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 34

New Laridae records from Hong Kong
by David Melille

Received 19 October 1976

Although reliable quantitative data are lacking, most observers agree that
over the past five yeats or so there has been a considerable increase in the
number of gulls present in Hong Kong during the winter months, particu-
larly in the case of the Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus. Ten years ago, for
instance, Herklots (1967) noted this species as common in Deep Bay (over
100 birds on more than one occasion), but less frequently seen in Hong Kong
Harbour, though over 100 were present in late January 1960. In the wintet of
1975/76 over 3,000 were recorded in Deep Bay and over 10,000 in the Har-
bour area in January 1977.

Macfarlane & Macdonald (1966) list five species of Laridae for Hong Kong:
Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull Larus argentatus, Slaty-backed Gull L.
schistisagus, Glaucous Gull L. hyperboreus and Black-tailed Gull L. crassirostris;
and there is also a record of a Pomarine Skua Stercorarius pomarinus by de la
Moussaye (1958) in February 1957. Since 1966 four species of gull and one of
skua have been recorded for the first time in Hong Kong; Great Black-
headed Gull L. zchthyaetus, Brown-headed Gull L. brunnicephalus, Common
Gull L. canus, Saunder’s Gull L. saundersi and Long-tailed Skua Stercorarius
longicaudus, as well as an additional record of Glaucous Gull.

The number of experienced field observers in Hong Kong has increased —

slowly over the past decade and observers have paid increasing attention to
gulls in the past two o1 three years. While this may account fo1 the sightings
of certain species (e.g. Saunders’ Gull), the sightings of the Brown-headed
Gull may reflect a genuine range expansion. Unfortunately Cheng (1976)
generally gives no details of numerical status and his distributional data are
imprecise. On the other hand, the fact that winter 1974/75 was a “good”
winter for uncommon gulls cannot be solely attributed to increased observer
activity since the level of activity was maintained in the two succeeding
winters, when the numbers of Black-tailed Gulls, for example, were lower
than in 1974/75, for reasons which are not apparent.

Larus 1cHTHYAETUS Great Black-headed Gull

Two records. An adult in partial breeding plumage seen near Lau Fau
Shan, Deep Bay on 26 Dec 1974 by R. E. Hale, M. A. Webster and others,
was with 9 Caspian Terns Hydroprogne caspia, about 260 Black-headed Gulls
and 180 Herring Gulls (L. argentatus vegae and L. a. mongolicus), and was
identified by its size (larger than Herring Gull), crown and nape blackish
with conspicuous white broken eye ring round back of eye (not front), bill
noticeably longer and heavier than Herring Gull with yellow, turning to red,
just before the black subterminal band. Although subsequently searched for,
the bird was seen only once again ¢ 6 km north at Mai Po on 23 Feb 1975
(D. Bradford). A second record was of an adult in full breeding plumage at
Pak Nai, Deep Bay on 12 Mar 1977 (M. L. Chalmers).

The species breeds in Inner Mongolia (Lakes Tsinghai and Chanin), mi-
grating through western Sinkiang and Szechuan to winter south to Tenas-
serim (Cheng 1976, Vaurie 1965). The present records appear to be the most
easterly for the species and are interesting in that the birds were adults.

35 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

LARUS HYPERBOREUS G/aucous Gull

Two earlier records exist for this species: an immature in Hong Kong
Harbour February 1908 (Vaughan & Jones 1913) and a party of 7 (adults?)
also there on 23 Mar 1936 (Herklots 1936). No details are given for the first
record and those for the second are unsatisfactory — particularly in the light of
recent records of albinistic, leucistic and hybrid gulls (Hedgren & Larsson
1973, Hume 1975, Mikkola 1970). Both tecords have been rejected by Web-
ster (1975).

On 15 Mar 1974 I had good close views of a first-year “‘arctic” gull in flight
at the sewer outfall at Kai Tak Airport with about 130 Black-headed Gulls
and 45 Herring Gulls. Its overall pale “milky coffee” plumage, typical of first
year Glaucous Gulls and Iceland Gulls Larus glaucoides stood out from the
other sub-adult gulls. Other features were light coloured primaries, secon-
daries tipped cream/white, legs flesh pink, iris dark brown, bill with basal
two-thirds flesh coloured and a clear cut dark brown/black tip, heavier than
in the Herring Gulls, than which it was slightly, but noticeably, larger.

Both Glaucous and Glaucous-winged Larus glaucescens Gulls are regular
winter visitors to Japan (Orn. Soc. Japan 1974), but neither species has been
recorded from Korea (Gore & Won 1971). Vaurie (1965) records the
Glaucous-winged from “south-eastern China”, while Cheng (1976) records
it in spring on the Fukien coast (¢ 900 km northeast) and the Glaucous Gull
as a migrant and winter visitor in small numbers to Hopei, Kwangsu and
Kwangtung. Both species have been recorded in Hawaii (20°N), where the
Glaucous-winged is more numerous (Sibley & MacFarlane 1968).

There is a record of Ayperboreus and glaucescens hybridising (Devillers e¢ a/.
1971) and both hybridise with Herring Gulls (Ingolfsson 1970, Patten 1976).
Hybrid gulls often show a complete range of parental characteristics and
while there is an increasing amount of information available concerning field
identification of adult hybrids, sub-adults pose a more difficult problem.
While the Kai Tak bird appeared to me to be a typical first-year Glaucous
Gull (with which I am familiar), the possibility of a hybrid can not be
entirely ruled out.

LARUS BRUNNICEPHALUS Brown-headed Gull

For about half a minute on 21 Nov 1974 I watched from a ferry off Green
Island, Hong Kong Harbour, an adult in non-breeding plumage. It was with
¢ 7o Black-headed Gulls, than which it was noticeably larger with a con-
spicuously different wing pattern due to a large black wing tip with a
prominent white mirror in the centre, and adjacent to this a band of white
running across the light grey wing. The underparts and tail were white and
the head also appeared entirely white, though there may have been a dusky
patch on the ear coverts since these were not visible on the Black-headed
Gulls either.

Following this record there were 11 others during the next 18 months :—
five Jan—Feb 1975, one Dec 1975 and five Feb—Mar 1976 (seven adults, four
first-year birds). In addition, T. P. Garland had had sightings (undocu-
mented) on 22 Dec 1971: one in Castle Peak Bay, two off Lantau and two
in Hong Kong Harbour (all adults).

Vaurie (1965) records the species wintering in Indochina, and Wildash
(1968) records it for “southern South Vietnam”, while Cheng (1976) shows
it wintering in Yunan (¢ 1500 km west) with records of “‘migrants”’ in north-

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 36

west Kangsu, Shansi and Hopei. A single adult was recorded in Perak,
Malaya in 1959 (Medway & Nisbet 1967). There were no further records
from Malaya until 1964 when at least 200 were recorded, and the species has
since been recorded as far south as the Jahore Strait (Medway & Nisbet 1965,
Medway & Wells 1970). The adult has such a distinctive wing pattern that it
would be difficult to overlook the species and it is likely that the species is
expanding its range in southeast Asia.

Larus CANUS Common Gull

Aylmer (1932) records, without details, that “Eastern Common Gulls”
were seen in Hong Kong Harbour in January and February 1932; Herklots
(1967) does not include the species.

An adult in non-breeding plumage was seen in Hong Kong Harbour on
23 Jan 1968 with a party of Herring and Black-headed Gulls (D. G. Robert-
son). It was intermediate in size, with a streaked head, grey back and wings
with dark tips and white mirrors, and yellow bill and legs. I saw a first-year
bird at Kai Tak Airport on 14, 20 and 21 Feb 1975, usually at rest with Black-
headed and Herring Gulls, and also sub-adult Black-tailed Gulls, than which
it had paler underparts, conspicuous grey scapulars and a less heavy bill.

Vaurie (1965) and Cheng (1976) record the species wintering along the
whole southern coast of China.

LARUS SAUNDERSI Saunders Gull

Although occurring in March and September (“‘common in spring’’) in
Kwangtung Province (Cheng 1940), this species was not recorded in Hong
Kong until 14 Mar 1969, when two adults in breeding plumage were seen at
Mai Po, Deep Bay (Wilson 1970). Since then it has been recorded annually in
the Mai Po area between November and March, mainly Feb—Mar (groups of
50+), with single first-year birds at Mai Po on 20 April and Kai Tak Airport
on 29 Apr 1975. Most birds were adults in breeding plumage with dark black
heads, at a time when most Black-headed Gulls were still in non-breeding
plumage. First year birds were first recorded in 1971, and only occasionally
since. In the springs of 1975 (40-++ birds) and 1976 (53+ birds) there were
about equal numbers of adults in breeding and non-breeding plumage, with
one or two first-year birds.

Cheng (1976) records the species wintering in the lower parts of the
Yangtze River, Fukien, Taiwan, Kwangtung and Hainan, and it occurs as a
vagrant in Japan and Korea (Orn. Soc. Japan. 1974, Gore & Won 1971).
The breeding range is still unknown (Cheng 1976).

STERCORARIUS LONGICAUDUS Long-tailed Skua

An adult in full breeding plumage was seen at Mai Po, Deep Bay on 9 May
1976 flying inland from the sea, passing almost directly overhead. The diag-
nostic features were well seen:—stout dark-coloured gull-like bill, dark
brown cap, upper parts brown, white collar and underparts. The long tail
streamers were approximately one third of the total length of the bird
(M. A. Webster).

The Pacific race of the Long-tailed Skua breeds in northeastern Siberia
and winters in the southern Pacific (Vaurie 1965). Its migrations are virtually
unknown (King 1967) and there are no previous records from China (Cheng
1976). It is perhaps noteworthy that the continental anticyclone, normally
weakening by mid-April, persisted until mid-May in 1976 before giving way
to the warm easterly airstream charactersitic of summer in Southeast China.

37 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

Acknowledgements: 1 would like to thank all those observers whose records have been
used in the compilation of this note and M. L. Chalmers, T. P. Garland, M. A. Webster and
especially Dr. J. F. Monk for their helpful comments.

References:

Aylmer, E. A. 1932. “Notes and Comments”. Ornithology. Hong Kong Naturalist 3: 64-67.

Cheng, T-h. 1940. A preliminary check-list of the birds heretofore recorded from Kwang-
tung and nearby islands including Hainan. Part 1. Non-passerine birds. Lingnan Science
Journal 19: 133-181.

Cheng, T-h. 1976. [Distributional List of Chinese Birds] (Rev. ed.). Peking.

de la Moussaye, R. 1958. Introduction a l’étude des oiseaux de Hong Kong. L’ Oiseaux e¢
R.F.O. 28: 123-139.

Devillers, P., McCaskie, G. & Jehl, J. R. 1971. The distribution of certain large gulls
(Larus) in southern California and Baja California. Calif. Birds 2: 11-26.

Gore, M. E. J. & Won, Pyong-oh. 1971. The Birds of Korea. Royal Asiatic Society: Seoul.

Hedgren, S. & Larsson, L. 1973. Vittrut Larus hyperboreus, vitvingad trut L. glaucoides eller
missfargad annan trut—svarighter vid faltbestamning av ljusvingarde trutar. Var
Fagelvarld 32: 173-198.

Herklots, G. A. C. 1936. “Notes and Comments”. Ornithology. Hong Kong Naturalist 7: 83.

— 1967. Hong Kong Birds (Rev. ed.). South China Morning Post: Hong Kong.

Hume, R. A. 1975. Identification and ageing of Glaucous and Iceland Gulls. Brit. Birds 68:
24-37.

Ingolfsson, A. 1970. Hybridisation of Glaucous Gulls Larus hyperboreus and Herring Gulls
L. argentatus in Iceland. [bis 112: 340-362.

King, W. B. 1967. Preliminary Smithsonian Identification Manual: Seabirds of the Tropical
Pacific Ocean. Smithsonian Institution: Washington.

Macfarlane, A. M. & Macdonald, A. D. 1966. An Annotated Check-list of the Birds of Hong
Kong (revised by Caunter, J. R. L. & Macfarlane, A. M.). Hong Kong Birdwatching
Society.

Medway, Lord & Nisbet, I. C T. 1965. Bird Report 1964. Malayan Nature Journal 19:
160-194.

— 1967. Bird Report 1965. Malayan Nature Journal 20: 68-70.

Medway, Lord & Wells, D. R. 1970. Bird Report 1968. Malayan Nature Journal 23: 61-64.

Mikkola, K. 1970. Identification of albino Herring Gulls. Ornis Fen. 47: 172-176.

Ornithological Society of Japan. 1974. Check-list of Japanese Birds. Fifth and revised edition.
Gakken: Japan.

Patten, S. M. 1976. Sympatry and interbreeding of Herring and Glaucous-winged Gulls in
southeastern Alaska. Pacific Seabird Group Bulletin 3: 25-26.

Sibley, F. C. & MacFarlane, R. W. 1968. Gulls in the Central Pacific. Pacific Science 22:
314-321.

Vaughan, R. E. & Jones, K. H. 1913. The birds of Hong Kong, Macao and the West River
ot Si Kiang in South-Eastern China, with special reference to their identification and
movements. /bis 10 (1913): 17-76, 163-201, 351-384.

Vautie, 53 1965. The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna. Volume 2. Non-passeriformes. Witherby:
London.

Webster, M. A. 1975. An Annotated Check-list of the Birds of Hong Kong. Hong Kong Bird
Watching Society.

Wildash, P. 1968. The Birds of South Vietnam. Tuttle: Vermont.

Wilson, R. A. I. 1970. Another first. Hong Kong Bird Report 1969: 56-57.

Address: 44 The Ridgeway, Tonbridge, Kent, England.

Erythrism in the Fiery-necked Nightjar
Caprimulgus pectoralis

by C. W. Benson & J. F. BR. Colebrook- Robjent

Received 1 December 1976

According to Huxley (1964), polymorphism is absent in the order Capri-
mulgiformes. Certainly we are unaware of any such instance having been
recorded from southern Africa, even though Mackworth-Praed & Grant
(1962: 520) state that the young of Caprimulgus pectoralis fervidus is ““more

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 38

russet brown, especially on the upperside, than the adult”. The observations
which follow have been prompted by the collection of two adults of this
subspecies near Choma, Zambia, by one of us (J. C-R.), not in the usual
phase, which we refer to as “grey”, but in a phase which may be termed
“rufous”, i.e. erythristic.

In the British Museum (Natural History), Tring, there are 21 specimens of
C. p. pectoralis, all in a grey phase. However, of over 40 apparent adults of
C. p. fervidus, while the majority are in this phase, there are certain exceptions,
which together with J. C-R.’s two specimens are :—

(1) 29, New Venture Farm, Sibinyati Ridge, near Choma, 7 Oct 1969, coll. J. C-R., from
two eggs, oviduct still large and swollen.

(2) 9, 10 miles north of Choma, 24 Aug 1969, coll. J. C-R., gonads enlarged (one oocyte
of diameter 7 mm).
we) BMNH no. 1953.54.161. ¢, Mwinilunga, Zambia, 29 May (no year), coll. C. M. N.

1te.

(4) BMNH no. 1931.6.6.32. 9, Kikore, Kondoa Dist., Tanzania, 25 Sep 1930, coll.
C,H. B. Grant.

(5) BMNH no. 1935.10.11.47. ¢, Marang, Mbulu Dist., Tanzania, 20 Sep 1934, coll.
R. E. Moreau.

The following references to colour approximate to those in Smithe (1975).
In the normal grey phase of C. p. fervidus, the crown, tail, throat and chest
are “pale neutral gray” (color 86), the mantle “light neutral gray” ” (color 85).
In all the above five specimens, however, the throat and chest are “‘cinnamon-
rufous” (color 40). The crown is also this colour, except for no. 4, with a
tendency to grey. The tail is variable, only no. 5 having it almost pure

“cinnamon-rufous”, the others mixed with ‘ ‘pale neutral gray’. On the
mantle none are the normal “light neutral gray’’. All show some “‘cinnamon-
rufous’, best marked in no. 1, in which the mantle is almost uniform with
the crown, which is only slightly brighter. The contrasting rufous collar on
the hindneck, conspicuous in the grey phase, is little apparent in any of these
five. Admittedly in the remainder of the material of adult fervidus, a few
specimens show a slight admixture of rufous, more especially on the tail,
but they all belong essentially with the grey phase.

In Tring there are three young fervidus, not fully grown (McLachlan &
Liversidge (1970) give the adult wing-length as 160-172, tail-length 118-
134 mm) :—

BMNH no. 1900.2.20.6. Salisbury, Rhodesia, 16 Oct 1898, coll. G. A. K. Marshall.
Wing 129, tail 56 mm.

BMNH no. 1910.7.1.240. Chirinda, Rhodesia, 2 Oct 1906, coll. C. F. M. Swynnerton.
Wing 95, tail 39 mm.

BMNH no. 1910.7.1.241. Locality and collector as last, 30 Oct 1906. Wing 109, tail

57 mm.

These three specimens, particularly the smallest, are very like the previous
five detailed in colour, although there is no certainty that they would have
retained any such rufous when adult. In fact the largest already has the
crown “pearl gray” (color 81), the tail “‘pale neutral gray” (color 86). No
doubt it was largely on this material that Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1962:
520) based their description of the young. The first five specimens, however,
appear to be fully adult, affording examples of genuine erythrism. Nos. 1 and
2 were obviously close to breeding. No. 3, although marked as having testes
small, is surely sexed correctly, since it has white extending back from the
tips of the outer rectrices for some 50 instead of only 30 mm as in females,
and furthermore has hardly any buffy wash on the white wing-spots. So there

39 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

cannot be any question of erythrism being confined to the female. No. 4
beats a pencilled note in Grant’s handwriting “Young bird by colour’,
although it would appear to be adult, certainly fully grown—wing 165, tail
124 mm.

Certain further young birds, but fully grown, need mention. Two fervidus
collected by C. J. Andersson in northern South-West Africa (4, 2 Feb 1859;
2, 30 Nov 1859) are markedly rufous on the throat and chest, the male also
on the mantle (and marked by Grant “Young bird by colour’’, surely
correctly in this case). Presumably these two would have developed into a
full grey phase, like four others from the same area. It would seem that not
all young exhibit rufous. A male from Sokoke, coastal Kenya, 17 April 1970,
collector P. R. Colston, although fully grown, is seemingly very young, the
plumage unusually “soft” in appearance. Yet it is in a full grey phase. There
is another such specimen of nominate pecfora/is, merely labelled “‘S. Africa’’,
collector E. L. Layard.

Of 10 apparent adults of C. p. nigriscapularis in Tring, all have some rufous
on the tail, and the following have the crown rufous, not grey:—g, Gomba,
Uganda, 24 Sep 1904, F. J. Jackson; 9, Bugoma Forest, Uganda, 2 Dec 1911,
S. A. Neave; g, Mambolo, Port Loko, Sierra Leone, 16 Feb 1935, R. R.
Glanville. These three also have the throat and chest rufous, as have the
following (but crown grey):—g, Entebbe, Uganda, 11 May 1898, F. J.
Jackson; 9, River Ubangi, Central African Republic, 22 Nov 1905, B.
Alexander.

To summarise, there is evidence of erythrism in the adult of C. p. fervidus
and C. p. nigriscapularis, but not in C. p. pectoralis. Erythrism may be most
frequent (but irregular) in nigriscapularis. The young at least of fervidus is also
most usually rufous.

We are grateful to I. C. J. Galbraith and D. K. Read for the loan of certain critical

specimens in the British Museum (Natural History), and C. W. B. to R. Wagstaffe for
examining them with him.

References:

Huxley, J. S. 1964. Article “Polymorphism” iz Thomson, A. L. (ed.). New Dict. Birds.
London & New York: Nelson.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1962. African Handbook of Birds. Series 2, vol.
1. London: Longmans.

McLachlan, G. R. & Liversidge, R. 1970. Roberts Birds of South Africa. Cape Town: John
Voelcker Bird Book Fund.

Smithe, F. B. 1975. Naturalists color guide. New York. American Museum of Natural
History.

Address: Department of Zoology, Downing St., Cambridge.

The aberrant eggs of Turdoides plebejus in
Nigeria and their relation to cooperative breeding and
to victimisation by C/amator cuckoos
by William Serle

Received 6 November 1976
Except for Turdoides altirostris and T. zymmnogenys the eggs of the 25 species of
babbler placed by Peters (1964) in the genus Turdoides have been described.
They are all immaculate blue, the shade varying within the genus from
bluish-white to deep turquoise.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 40

The Brown Babbler Turdoides plebejus is unique in that in one part of its
range it lays not only blue eggs but also strikingly aberrant eggs coloured
bright pink, pale pink, mauve, grey, or blue-grey. 7. plebejus is distributed in
the savanna actoss the breadth of Africa from Senegal to the Red Sea Coast
but so far abnormally coloured eggs have been recorded from localities within
a small part only of its northern Nigerian range at Kafanchan (9° 40’ N,
8° 20’ E); Serakin Pawa (10° N, 7° E); Kaduna (10° 30’ N, 7° 28’ E); and
Kano (12° N, 8° 30’ E) (Serle 1938, 1940, Shuel 1938). Normal blue eggs also
occu’ in this area.

TABLE 1
Colour, measurements, and shell-weight of the eggs of Turdoides plebejus

Set mark
Date
Clutch Locality Length and breadth (mm), shell-weight and colour
37/9 Kafanchan 24°5 X 17°3, 251 mg. pink 24°6 X 17°0, 251 mg. pin
22/v/37 23°9 X 16:8, 253 mg. pink 25°O X 20°1, 452 mg. sae (Clamator)

4
37/38 Kafanchan 24°0 X 16°6, 254 mg. pink 25°5 X 16:7, 271 mg. pink
ae 24°4 X 16°4, 261 m.g. pink 24°7 X 20:0, 473 mg. pink (C/amator)
Cc
37/18 Kafanchan 25°7 X 17°7, 306 mgblue 26:4 X 18:3, 308 mg. blue-grey
nee 25°O X 18-7, 332 mgblue-grey
c/3
37/37 Kafanchan 25°O X 17°8, 256 mg. pale mauve 24°5 X 17°9, 260 mg. pale mauve
ie 25°5 X 18°1, 271 mg. pale mauve
c/3

37/10 Kafanchan 237 X 17°5, 276 mg. pale mauve 27°3 X 18:0 300 mg. pink
26) 24°5 X 17:8, 280 mg. pale mauve
Palioe Kafanchan 24°2 X 17°0, 259 mg. pink
30/vili/37 25°O X 17°2, 272 mg. pink
c/2
38/208 Serakin Pawa 24°8 X 17°8, 310 mg. pink 25°3 X 17:0, 260 mg. pink
es 26°4 X 18:7, 312 mg. palest mauve 24°2 X 17°8, 306 mg. pink
c/4
42/5 Abeokuta 24°O X 17°7, 248 mg. blue
ats 23°5 X 17°8, 258 mg. blue
c/2
42/9 Abeokuta 26°4 X 18°7, 286 mg. blue
ad 26:0 X 18:8, 289 mg. blue
c/2

Of the 9 Nigerian clutches (Table 1) taken by me the 2 from Abeokuta
(7° 10’ N, 3° 15’ E), which lies outside the recorded range of birds laying
abnormally-coloured eggs, are blue. The remaining 7 clutches are all ab-
normally-coloured and of these there is in 2 clutches a very slight, and in 3
clutches a very marked, variation in colour »zthin the clutch. ‘The two clutches
showing the very slight variation are pink, and in both of them the odd egg
is, from its shape, grain, and shell-weight clearly a cuckoo’s egg, strong
presumptive evidence suggesting that of C/amator levaillanti (Harrison 1971).
It would seem likely that in this part of Nigeria 7. plebejus must have laid
eggs of pink and allied shades for a very long time because adaptation of some
of the eggs of the local parasitising cuckoos has, in colour at least, become
neatly perfect.

The 3 clutches showing marked variation in colour are all clearly babbler
eggs. The odd egg in each clutch differs from the others quite distinctly in
colour and also slightly in shape, measurements, and weight. That one female
could lay such remarkably diverse eggs in the same clutch is biologically
most improbable and it can be assumed that these clutches are the product of
two females.

T. plebejus, which is closely gregarious even at the breeding season, is one
of the 4 Ethiopian Turdoides cited by Grimes (1976) as cooperative breeders.
This series of Nigerian eggs shows that in 7. plebejus cooperation in breeding

——

41 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

is sometimes expressed by two females in a group laying eggs in a common
nest. Zahavi (1974) noted similar behaviour occasionally in the Palaearctic
T. squamiceps. Such behaviour in the gregarious Turdoides may be more usual
than has been hitherto suspected and sets of eggs merit critical examination.
Even in the absence of colour variation, differences in shape, size, and weight
within the clutch could be presumptive, or strongly presumptive, evidence
of cooperative breeding and of clutch sharing by females.

One egg in set 37/37 and one in set 37/103 was found dented and cracked
in the nest. Zahavi found that in large clutches of 7. squamiceps which were
the product of more than one female some eggs were cracked and he believed
that this was “‘the result of conflict between two or more females which laid
in that nest”’.

Lastly, in 7. p/ebejus the sexes are alike and the roles played by males and
females respectively in incubation and tending the young are not known;
so it is worth mentioning that the 7 incubating birds collected by me at the
nest were all females.

References:

Grimes, L. G. 1976. The occurrence of cooperative breeding behaviour in African birds.
Ostrich 47: 1-15.

Harrison, C. J. O. 1971. Notes on the identification of eggs, egg mimicry and distributional
history and the status of the form serratus, in the parasitic Clamator cuckoos. Bull.
Brit. Orn. Cl. 91: 126-131.

Peters, J. L. 1964. Check-list of Birds of the World, vol. 10, Cambridge, Mass.; Harvard Univ.
Press.

Serle, W. 1938. Nesting notes on Nigerian birds. Oo/ogists Record 18: 10-18.

— 1940. Field observations on some northern Nigerian birds. /bis (14)4: 1-47.

Shuel, R. S. 1938. Further notes on the eggs and nesting habits of birds in northern Nigeria
(Kano Province). /bis (14)2: 463-480.

Zahavi, A. 1974. Communal nesting by the Arabian Babbler. /bis 116: 84-87.

Address: The Manse, Drumoak, Aberdeenshire, AB3 3HA, Scotland.

Hole Nesting by Bat Falcon Fa/co rufigularis in Belize
by S. G. Madge

Received 15 December 1976

During a visit to Belize, Central America, in April 1976, I watched Bat
Falcons Falco rufigularis (=albigularis) on a number of occasions. By day they
are often easy to observe as they are then rather sedentary and tend to perch
high up in dead tress. I also saw them hunting actively at dusk. On 23 Aprill
spent the day in pine-ridge country, a habitat where P7nus carribaeus grows in
varying densities, interspersed with open grassy areas, somewhat resembling
heathland in appearance. While watching a Vermilion Flycatcher Pyrocephalus
rubinus feeding young in a nest in one of the pines (this was a small bowl-
shaped nest, ¢. 8 m up, resting on the fork of a small branch which it matched
precisely in colour), my attention was drawn by the “‘pyoo-pyoo-pyoo”’ call
of a falcon (quite similar to the alarm call of a Hobby Falco subbuteo) to a
neatby tree in which two Bat Falcons were perched on a branch ¢. 10m up.
These were obviously a pair and the female, which was somewhat larger (the
disparity in size is quite marked in photographs which I took), was feeding
on a small item of vertebrate prey, probably a small mammal as there were
no feathers drifting down, while her mate perched on the same branch less
than half a metre along.

[Bull, B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 42

The female paused in her feeding occasionally and peered down at me,
calling angrily. When she had finished feeding she flew to a dead tree ¢. 50m
away and, as I was watching her through my binoculars, she flew with rapid
wing beats straight towards me. When near she closed her wings to stoop at
me with great speed, passing just above my head, and then swung away to
return to the dead tree. She repeated this manoeuvre several times until I
moved away from the tree where she had fed, but resumed her attacks when
I returned to it. I was unable to find any fledlings but noticed a hole ¢. 6 m up
in the tree by which I had been standing when the bird attacked so persis-
tently. When I pretended to climb the tree both birds flew at me in an attempt
to drive me off. I have no doubt that the hollow in the tree trunk contained
one of more young Bat Falcons. The following day Mr. M. I. Meadows,
with whom I was staying, watched a Bat Falcon in another part of the forest
entera holec.16 mup ina large tree where it seems very probable it was nesting.

Brown & Amadon (1968) do not specify any typical nest sites for this
species. Their statement that “‘nests in trees may be as high as 100 ft. or more”’
gives no indication as to whether such nests are habitually in holes or in the
open, or even if they are built by the birds themselves. Pennard & Pennard
(1908) state that “the nest of thin branches and twigs is built in high or low
trees, but equally well in hollow trees”, but their information may have been
only that from Indian hunters, and confusion with F. deiroleus is possible.
Beebe (1949) describes a nest in an inset hollow shelf, overgrown at the edges
with bark, where a limb had broken off a giant tree in Venezuela, and
Brown & Amadon mention another nest on a crossbar of a crane 20 ft. high
in a sugar factory in Guyana. No details of this site are given but it suggests
nesting in an exposed rather than an enclosed situation. Haverschmidt (1968)
states categorically that the species “nests in large holes (mostly old holes of
the large woodpeckers of the genus Campephilus) in trees”. Ridgely (1976)
is equally emphatic that in Panama they “nest in tree holes”.

Acknowledgements: 1 would like to thank Professor K. H. Voous (through Dr J. F. Monk)
for his helpful comments and for kindly translating the relevant passage in Pennard &
Pennard, and also to thank Dr. J. F. Monk for his helpful suggestions and advice.

References:

Beebe, W. 1949. High Jungle. pp. 242-260. Bodley Head: London.

Brown, L. H. & Amadon, D. 1968. Eagles, Hawks ¢» Falcons of the World. Country Life:
London.

Haverschmidt, F, 1968. Birds of Surinam. pp. 75-76. Oliver & Boyd: London.

Pennard, F. P. & Pennard, A. L. 1908. De Vogels von Guyana. Paramaribo.

Ridgely, R. S. 1976. A Guide to the Birds of Panama. p. 81. Princeton.

Address: Firway End, George Hill, Crediton, Devon EX17 2DS.

Natterer’s specimens of Sterna cantiaca from Brazil

by K. Hl. Voous

Received 28 December 1976

At the request of Dr. H. Sick (Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil),
Dr. H. Schifter kindly sent me for examination eight specimens of terns
collected in Brazil by the well-known Austrian collector Johann Natterer
in the years 1817-1835. These birds, preserved in the Natural History
Museum of Vienna, Austria, were recorded by Von Pelzeln (1871: 324) as
Sterna cantiaca (=S. sandvicensis acuflavida). The point at issue was whether

43 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

these birds were North American Sandwich (“Cabot’s”) Terns S. 5. acuflavida
collected while present along the Brazilian coast during their non-breeding
season, or rather have to be assigned to the indigenous, but still poorly
known Cayenne Tern S. eurygnatha.

S. 5. acuflavida has a long black bill with small ivory-yellow tip, while in
S. eurygnatha the colour of the bill is yellow. Junge & Voous (1955), and later
Ansingh e¢ a/. (1960) and Voous (1968), have shown, however, that in a not
inconsiderable proportion of northern South American representatives of
S. eurygnatha (at present known to breed on various South Caribbean islands
from Aruba in the west to Trinidad in the east) the bill has black patches of
variable extent and form, and that some even have a bill coloration which is
indistinguishable from that of S. 5. acuflavida. Since no other characters
distinguish eurygnatha from acuflavida, they concluded that acuflavida and
eurygnatha should be considered as conspecific and that the “Cayenne Tern”
be known as S. sandvicensis eurygnatha.

Von Pelzeln (1871: 324-325) lists specimens of “‘Sterna cantiaca” from the
following localities of the Brazilian coast (translated): ‘‘“Marambaya on a
sandbank March, Sapitiba off the Ilha do Pescador March, beach of Praia do
Sai from a flock April, Rio do Boraxudo December, Rio de Janeiro solitary
shot in the bay August, Cajutuba 1835, 12 specimens’’. Of these apparently
no more than the following eight specimens are still available in the Vienna
Museum :—

Marambaya near Rio de Janeiro (reg. No 11, 3, 17 March 1818); Rio de
Janeiro (reg. No 12, gf, 6 Aug. 1818); Rio de Boraxudo, Prov. Parana
(reg. No 13, g, Dec. 1820); Cajutuba near Para, North Brazil (reg. Nos
8, 9, 2 gd; reg. Nos 7, 10, 14, 3 99, Feb.—April 1835).

The coloration of the bill in these specimens varies, apparently irrespective
of age and sex, between black with small yellow tip and some yellow at the
gape of the lower mandible (No 7), through various stages of black with
irregular yellow patches (Nos 10, 9, 14) and yellow with black patches (Nos
15, 11, 8), to predominantly yellow (No 12). Whereas No 7 could easily pass
for a specimen of S. s. acuflavida, No 12 is a fine specimen of S. 5. eurygnatha.
The remaining skins fall well within the limits of colour types found in
breeding colonies in the Netherlands Antilles, viz. ¢. 62% yellow, 25%
intermediate, 13% black (Voous 1963) and in birds collected along the
Uruguayan coast (Escalante 1970).

State of wear of feathers, moult of crest and primaries, and remains of
juvenile plumage (at least in Nos 7, 8 and 14) conform with a breeding
season in the northern spring, as was found in Brazilian populations (Rio de
Janeiro—Sick & Leao 1965) and in the South Caribbean (Voous 1963). They
differ in this respect from the enigmatic Argentina birds, of which so far
three nesting sites have been recorded in the southern summer on the
Atlantic coast between 43° and 46° 55’ S. (see Escalante 1973). Von Pelzeln’s
specimens from Cajutuba, North Brazil, three of which show traces of
immature plumages, could be either Brazilian breeding birds (not necessarily
from this locality) or migrants from the Caribbean; they have the larger
amount of black on the bills that is characteristic of the Caribbean populations
at least in some years.

Measurements (mm) of Natterer’s specimens agree with those from
tropical South America, rather than with those from Argentina (Table 1).

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 44

TABLEWr
Measurements of Sterna sandvicensis
Natterer’s specimens Northern South America* Argentina*
Wing 259, 266, 273 17 bY 289°8 (283-303) 10 SP 314°1 (304-321)
278, 295
O'272, 282, 203
Billt Se 50, ¢ 53, 53 23 SE 54:0 (49-58) 10 $P 58-7 (53° 5-62)
54°5
P 650, $1°5, 52
* Voous (1968: 185) + Exposed culmen

To summarize: examination of the specimens has revealed, as expected
by Sick (# “it.):

1. Natterer’s specimens do not refer to the northern migrant race S.
sandvicensis acuflavida, but to the indigenous tropical South American race
eurygnatha; they ate not a mixed assemblage of tropical and temperate South
American origin (cf. Escalante 1973).

2. Argentina specimens of S. sandvicensis stand apart in measurements
and seasonality.

3. The occurrence of S. sandvicensis acuflavida, ““Cabot’s Tern’, as a
wintering bird from North America on the Brazilian coast rests on the sole
evidence of a bird ringed on the Mississippi coast and recovered at Rio
Grande do Notte in northeastern Brazil (Sick zu “tt.). Sight records of Cabot’s
Terns (e.g. Mitchell 1957: 81) have every chance of being erroneous.

References:

Ansingh, F. H., Koelers, H. J., van der Werf, P. A. & Voous, K. H. 1960. The breeding
of the Cayenne ot Yellow-billed Sandwich Tern in Curacao i in 1958. Ardea 48: 51-65.

Escalante, R. 1970. Notes on the Cayenne Tern in Uruguay. Condor 72: 89-94.

— 1973. The Cayenne Tern in Brazil. Condor 75: 470-472.

Junge, G. C. A. & Voous, K. H. 1955. The distribution and the relationship of Sterna
eurygnatha Saunders. Ardea 43: 226-247.

Mitchell, M. H. 1957. Observation on Birds of Southeastern Brazil. Univ. Toronto Press.

Pelzeln, A. von. 1871. Zur Ornithologie Brasiliens. Wien.

Sick, H. & Leao, A. P. A. 1965. Breeding sites of Sterna eurygnatha and other sea birds off
the Brazilian coast. Auk 82: 507-508.

Voous, K. H. 1963. Tern colonies in Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire, South Caribbean Sea.
Proc. XIII Intern. Ornith. Congr. (Ithaca, 1962): 1214-1216.

— 1968. Geographical variation in the Cayenne Tern. Ardea 56: 184-187.

Address: Maasdamlaan 28, Huizen, N.H., The Netherlands.

The eggs of the Teita Falcon Falco fasciinucha
by J. F. R. Colebrook- Robjent

Received 22 January 1977

This note describes for the first time the eggs of Falco fasciinucha, an apganatily
rare and local falcon of East and Central Africa, with a range at least as
discontinuous as that of the extensive precipices which constitute its habitat.
A nest site in the Songwe Gorge overlooking the Zambezi River some 5 km
below the Victoria Falls in Zambia was described by Holliday (1965). The
basalt cliffs here are ¢c. 135 m high and the nest site was 42 km below the top.

On 27 September 1970, in the same general area, mating was observed at
0630 hrs. The male Teita Falcon flew from the rock face and alighted straight

45 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

on the back of the female, which was perched on top of a small tree on the
cliff side. Copulation lasted about 20 seconds, after which the male flew off
and out of sight (see Holliday for a similar description). The female remained
perched for a minute or two before flying 60 m directly to a round, wind-
eroded hole in the sheer cliff and entering. At 1400 hrs on 4 October, Mrs.
S. Scola saw one of the falcons fly into this same nest hole and relieve the
sitting bird, which immediately flew out.

On 19 September 1971, a smaller wind-hole 2-5 m above the previous
yeat’s site was reached by means of an electron ladder and alpine rope.
Although prior to this date R. J. Dowsett had repeatedly seen a pair at this
upper hole, the nest scrape was empty and still no eggs had been laid when I
next inspected it on 21 October. However, T. O. Osborne was able to
recover bleached and broken shells of at least two eggs from the 1970 nest,
one whole enough to give an approximate measurement of 44-45 X 34:8 mm.

On 7 October 1972, one of the falcons appeared briefly on the lip of the
1971 hole as a Brown Snake Eagle C7rcaetus cinereus flew past, but soon re-
entered and disappeared from view. I inspected this hole on 10 October when
a tight-sitting Teita Falcon flushed out almost in my face revealing four eggs.
The eggs, all separated, lay in a depression on small particles of basalt in the
furthest darkened corner of the 30 cm deep wind-hole. The hole was 22 cm
high and 45 cm wide. Two small feathers of the falcon were with the eggs.

Eggs. The 4 eggs differ somewhat in shape, one being blunt oval, two oval
and one rather long oval. The ground colour is pale yellowish-buff. The
markings are in the form of small spots or blotches, in two eggs rather evenly
distributed over the whole surface. The spots are yellowish-brown and most
are 2-4 mm in size. One is rather different in that there is a wash on the top
third of the same colour as the spots. Another egg has a few small streaks of
darker brown, and even fewer pale ashy shell-marks are just discernible. The
foul eggs measute 45-2 X 34°5, 42°7 X 34°1, 42°5 X 34°5 and 41-9 X
34:7 mm. At another nest found by R. J. Dowsett in the Fifth Zambezi
Gorge in 1975, with the aid of a powerful telescope, we were able to see eggs
we knew to be freshly laid. These eggs were blotched with rather pale
yellowish-brick. Like those of all other falcons, the eggs of this species show
yellowish internally when held against the light.

Nest. None: a mete scrape in loose rock particles. The statement in
McLachlan & Liversidge (1970) that the nest is “‘. . . constructed of twigs”
is erroneous. The Songwe and Fourth Gorge nest sites described by Holliday,
and Dowsett’s in the Fifth Gorge, suggest that the Teita Falcon selects well
sheltered sites in the form of wind-holes or deep horizontal cracks, the eggs
being laid in shadow.

Behaviour. The adults were aggressive while I was at the nest. After the
incubating bird had left the eggs, it was joined by its mate. Then both birds
flew round and repeatedly swooped to within 3 m of me before shearing off
with tails spread, “kekking” loudly. Later, the pair flew up level with the top
of the precipice and glided in circles above the rope party engaged in lower-
ing me down the cliff, before folding wings close to the body and plunging
vertically downwards to the nest area. This performance is essentially similar
to the aggressive behaviour of the Peregrine F. peregrinus, which also breeds
in the Zambezi River Gorges. The Teita Falcon is included by Brown &
Amadon (1968) in the Peregrine Group and Prof. T. J. Cade (## Hickey 1969)
suggests that its closest relative is the Barbary Falcon FP. pelegrinoides. The

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 46

Teita Falcon and Barbary Falcon are known to share some characteristics,
e.g. rufous nuchal patch; it should now be noted that both falcons lay paler
eggs on average than do the northern races of the Peregrine.

Acknowledgements: I am most gtateful to D. R. Aspinwall and R. J. Dowsett for advice
and critcism of an early draft of this note and to Dr. J. F. Monk who made various improve-
ments. R. W. Cadman, H. J. S. Calha, J. Counsell, R. J. Dowsett, T. O. & L. Osborne,
C. & S. Scola and D. M. White all rendered assistance at various times. I thank the Minister
of Lands, Natural Resources and Tourism for the issue of special licences.

References:

Brown, L. & Amadon, D. 1968. Eagles, Hawks and Falcons of the World. London: Country
Life Books.

Hickey, J. J. (Ed.) 1969. Peregrine Falcon Populations. University Wisconsin Press.

Holliday, C. S. 1965. A note on the Teita Falcon. Puku 3: 71-73.

McLachlan, G. R. & Liversidge, R. 1970. Robert's Birds of South Africa. Third edn. Trustees
John Voelcker Bird Book Fund.

Address: Musumanene, P.O. Box 303, Choma, Zambia.

The distribution and habitat of
Telacanthura ussheri benguellensis

by C. W. Benson & J. M. Winterbottom

Received x February 1977

In view of the forthcoming Atlas of speciation in African non-passerine birds
under the editorship of Dr. D. W. Snow, attention should be drawn to certain
records of the Mottled Spinetail Te/acanthura ussheri, from two particular
areas. Those from the first are rejected, but those from the second are valid,
and extend the known range of T. w. benguellensis (cf. Brooke 1971b).

Area 1. R. J. Dowsett (pers. comm. to C. W. B.) points out that records of
T. u. benguellensis in Benson et al. (1971) from the Kabompo and Balovale
Districts, supported by a specimen from Kabulamena, are anomalous, the
only others being from the Middle Zambezi Valley between Chirundu and
Feira. The ecological contrast between these two areas is considerable, moist
Brachystegia woodland (Miombo) predominating in the former, dry Mopane
woodland interspersed with scattered baobab trees Adansonia digitata in the
latter. Brooke (1966: 5) records a specimen of the Bat-like Spinetail Nea-
frapus boehmi (as Chaetura boehmi), in the British Museum (Natural History),
from Kabulamena, on the authority of C. W. B., who has re-examined it and
confirms that it belongs to that species. It bears registered number 1945.18.10,
and is dated 27 June 1940, collector J. M. W., who is sure that he never
collected any other specimen of a spinetail at this locality. C. W. B. could find
no Zambian specimen of T. assheri in the British Museum, exclusive of the
one collected by Alexander (1900: 93), at Zumbo, Mozambique, on the south
side of the Zambezi River, opposite Feira.

The original published source of records of 7. ussheri from the Kabompo
and Balovale Districts is Winterbottom (1942: 360), in which the date of the
Kabulamena specimen is given incidentally as 28 June (not 27 June as above).
It is clear that there was a misidentification of a specimen of NV. boehmi.
Evidently this arose from a letter dated 4 February 1941 from Dr. A. Roberts
to J. M. W. (Roberts 1943). He could not have had a specimen of T°. ussheri
for comparison. The species is not illustrated in Roberts (1940), and in the

— -_ oe

47 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

text there is a comment on 7. assheri (as T. stictilaema) “Similar in colour to
Notafrapus sheppardi, though the lores are said to be white, but the tail
considerably longer’’ (LV. sheppard: is treated by Brooke, 1966: 6, as a race of
Neafrapus boehmi). By contrast with T. ussheri, N. boehmi is well known in
northern Zambia. In particular, White (1945: 343) saw it in large numbers in
the Balovale District, but only quotes Winterbottom’s records of 7. ussheri
from the same general area, although he (1944: 145) had seen assheri earlier,
at the Kafue/Zambezi confluence and Feira.

Area 2. Benson & Benson (1975: 10) give sight-records by L. Holloway,
Mrs. D. B. Hanmer and E. F. J. Garcia of T. ussheri from around baobabs in
the Mwabvi and Lengwe areas, lower Shire Valley, the first records of any
kind of the species from Malawi. While investigating the problem of the
Kabulamena specimen, C. W. B. found a recently incorporated specimen of
ussheri, from the large collections made by Col. R. Meinertzhagen, bequeathed
on his death to the British Museum (Natural History). It bears registered
number 1965.M.5 448, and is labelled “‘g, Port Herald, Nyasaland, 13.9.08”.
The locality can now read “Nsanje, Malawi”. The specimen was collected by
Meinertzhagen during a two-month collecting trip to southern Malawi in
Sept./Nov. 1908, of which no published account appears to exist. C. W. B.
and D. Goodwin found that it agreed in colour with T. w. benguellensis rather
than 7. 4. stictilaema. Moreover the wing-length was as much as 149 mm
(cf. Brooke 1971b).

C. W. B. showed the foregoing to R. K. Brooke, who has prompted the
following comments, for which C. W. B. is nevertheless solely responsible. It
is evident from Brooke (19714, b) that 7. ussheri as a whole is catholic in
habitat, occurring both in areas of evergreen forest and dry deciduous
woodland, and nesting and roosting in hollows in trees, even adapting to
buildings. However, in the extreme south of its range T. 4. benguellensis may
be confined to dry deciduous woodland, finding nesting and roosting sites
only in baobabs. The gap in its range between southwestern Angola (at
Blaasbalkfontein, Benguela, at ¢. 13° S, 14° E, and Montipa=Mantipa,
Mocamedes, 14° 39’ S, 13° 14’ E) and, from area 1 above, the Zambezi Valley
at c. 29° E, may be more apparent than real. The species can escape notice
very easily. There could be a rather tenuous connection south of the moist
woodland belt, through southern Angola and northern Botswana, in the
drier vegetation types 20 and 22, in which baobabs are present (Keay 1959).
As suggested by M. P. Stuart Irwin (pers. comm.), such a connection could
be analogous to the case of the more easily observed Long-tailed Starling
Lamprotornis mevesii (cf. Hall & Moreau 1970: 358). The connection could
have been better developed in a drier epoch. Thus although Livingstone
(1975: 273) suggests that there was a major change in climate in tropical
Africa some 10,000 years ago, to more humid conditions, inter alia he also
points out that there was a gradual drying out between 5,000 and 3,000 years
ago, to conditions somewhat more arid than to-day. Alternatively, a speciali-
sation of benguellensis to baobabs may be relatively recent, and its occurrence
at Cassoalla and Vila Salazar in the Cuanza Norte area of northern Angola
(Brooke 1971b, Traylor 1963) at c. 9° S, 14° 30’ E might suggest that in this
area it can still survive in a moister climate in which baobabs would be
absent. From Keay (1959), Cuanza Norte lies in an isolated area of moist
forest (vegetation type 7), although admittedly adjacent to type 20, already
cited as holding baobabs. It is interesting that although Brooke (19714) gives

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 48

vatious records of the species breeding in buildings, there is no evidence of
this for benguellensis. Although, buildings apart, he only mentions specifically
use of hollows in baobabs for the species as a whole, other kinds of trees
must be used in areas where baobabs are absent. Thus Moreau & Moreau
(1937: 169) record stictilaema entering holes in a dead Ocotea tree at Amani in
the humid East Usambara Mts.

Brooke (pers. comm.) remarks that few species of swifts have their
distribution governed by that of vegetation, but rather by the availability of
nesting sites and lack of a competitor with the same wing loading exploiting
the food supply of the same airspace in the same way. The African Palm
Swift Cypsiurus parvus is well known to be largely dependent on palms for
breeding, and T. w. benguellensis may provide an analogy in its dependence on

baobabs.

References:

Alexander, B. 1900. An ornithological expedition to the Zambesi River (second part).
Ibis 7(6): 7o-109.

Benson, C. W. & Benson, F. M. 1975. Studies in some Malawi birds. Arnoldia (Rhod.) 7(32).

Benson, C. W., Brooke, R. K., Dowsett, R. J. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1971. The Birds of Zambia.
London: Collins.

Brooke, R. K. 1966. The Bat-like Spinetail Chaetura boehmi Schalow (Aves). Arnoldia
(Rhod.) 2(29).

— 19714. Breeding of swifts in Ethiopian Africa and adjacent islands. Ostrich 42: 5-36.

— iba The eastern and southern populations of the Mottled Spinetail. Bul/. Brit. Orn.
Ci. 91: 134-135.

Hall, B. P. & Moreau, R. E. 1970. An Aftlas of Speciation in African Passerine Birds. Brit.
Mus. (Nat. Hist.).

Keay, R. W. J. (Ed.). 1959. Vegetation Map of Africa south of the Tropic of Cancer. London:
Oxford Univ. Press.

Livingstone, D. A. 1975. Late quaternary climatic changes in Africa. Annual Review of
Ecology and Systematics 6: 249-280.

Moreau, R. E. & Moreau, W. M. aye Biological and other notes on some East African
birds. Ibis 14(1): 152-174, 321-34

Roberts, A. 1940. The Birds of South Paihia: London: H. F. & G. Witherby.

— 1943. A contribution to the ornithology of Barotseland. [bis 85: 107.

Traylor, M. A. 1963. Check-list of Angolan Birds. Publ. Cult. Comp. Diamant. Angola 61.

White, C. M. N. 1944. Miscellaneous notes on Northern Rhodesian birds. [bis 86: 139-150.

— 1945. The ornithology of the Kaonde-Lunda Province, Northern Rhodesia (part II).
Ibis 87: 309-345.

Winterbottom, J. M. 1942. A contribution to the ornithology of Barotseland. Jbis 14(6):
337-389.

Addresses: C. W. Benson, Dept. of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ.

Prof. J. M. Winterbottom, 9 Alexandra Avenue, Oranjezicht, Cape Town 8001, R.S.A.

Juvenile plumages of Cuculus canorus
and Cuculus gularis in Aftica

by Robert B. Payne

Received 9 March 1977

Juveniles of the migrant Palaearctic Cuckoo Cuculus canorus and the African
Cuckoo C. gu/aris occur together much of the year in the African region,
canorus as a wintering migrant and gu/aris as a resident (perhaps with intra-
African migrations).

In discussing their distinguishing characters, I follow Chapin (1939) in
regarding Cuculus gularis as specifically distinct from Cwuculus canorus, a

49 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

decision compatible with the consistent and conspicuous difference in song
of the two forms throughout the range of each. The abrupt discontinuity in
behaviour (Chappuis 1974) coincides with the abrupt discontinuity in bill
colour and plumage of the adults as well as with a discontinuity in juvenile
plumage, indicating that the two allopatric forms are probably distinct at the
species level. Adults are readily distinguished by the yellow bill in gw/aris,
black in canorus, and by the white barred outer rectrices of gu/aris, compared
with those of canorus, which are unbarred or barred with rufous-brown. The
juvenile (post-fledging, pre-winter moult) plumage is less well known.
Juvenile gu/aris have black bills, and the barring of the rectrices is distinctive
only in the adult plumage. Chapin (1939) and Friedmann (1948) state that
juvenile gu/aris is more grey, and Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1970) add
that gu/aris is distinctive in its white barring above and in lacking bars on the
outer webs of the primaries. However, I do not know of a description that
discusses how the juveniles they describe were originally identified as to age
or species. As the western Palaearctic cuckoos winter in Africa, both kinds
of birds may occur in juvenile plumage in the same range for part of the year.

Juvenile C. gw/aris in museum collections of cuckoos taken in Africa were
examined and identified by three criteria (see Table 1). First, four birds (1-4)
are known to be local gu/aris as they were taken in a nest or with the juvenile
plumage not yet fully developed. In one (No. 4) the plumage was nearly
fully grown and the bill colour was already yellowish, with the lower

TABLE 1
Specimens of juvenile Cuculus gularis
Bill
Cat. No. Locality Date Sex Wing Tail Width* Notes
1. JC-R 2374 Ringwood, Choma, 31/10/75 Qs 14 tgpt 821 — nestling
Zambia
2z- AMNH 624941 Eil Huma, Somalia 16/4/20 o x67 98! 7°4 local bird
3. BM(NH) 1907 Salisbury, Rhodesia 13/11/98 =) ry" 146% 7°8 local bird
12.22.60
4. AMNH 704577. Okahandja, SW Africa 30/12/52 So 185? 168 1°S local bird
5- NMR 33531 Mumbwa district, 17/12/57 Oat 178 8°1 moulting
Zambia
6. NMR 29817 Kalulushi, Zambia 1/12/56 - 216 178 8-2 moulting
7. FMNH 268847 Kalabo, Barotseland, 22/11/61 ae O22 167 8-0 mostly adult plumage
Zambia
8. NMR 49286 Kaluwa Hill, Zambia 1/1/59 3d 200 176 8-3
9. NMR 14082 Nyamandhlovu, 1/9/54 3d 214 172 6-88 worn, moulting
Rhodesia
to. FMNH 269650 Sangmelima, Cameroon 10/5/33 ar 204 158 8-4 moulting
11. FMNH 281586 M’Bengue Bougou, 27/3/67 Q 208 168 83 moulting, mostly adult
Ivory Coast plumage, “OE”
12. AMNH 625039 Cambo Coquenje, 28/10/04 Se lO7 164 7°8
Bihe, Angola
13. AMNH 625041 ‘Pedrira, Bihe, 13/11/04 a ¥2i2 170 8:5
Angola
14. AMNH 625044 Chissamba, Bihe, 19/11/04 O 4.210 168 8-1
Angola
15. AMNH 625031 Humpata, Angola 28/12/o1 GP 224 168 8:1
16. NMR 11427 Chilanga, Zambia 19/12/50 GP 210 179 8-2
17. ANSP 166404 Lundazi, Zambia “4/6/46” OL +283 - -
18. BM(NH) 1906 Entebbe, Uganda — - 198 167 8-3
12.11.14
19. BM(NH) 1904. Mulema, Uganda — 2oyezoa 172 77
10.23.87
20. CM 118405 Nyamezon, Bafia, 16/4/34 Q 206 168 -
Cameroon
21. BM(NH) 1889 “Gambia” — GO wer 177 8+4

6.29.125

1Feathers still growing
2Distance (mm) across tomia below mid-point of nostrils
SBill damaged by shot

For abbreviations used in the Catalogue numbers column see Acknowledgements

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 50

mandible blackish only at the tip. Second, several cuckoos (5—7, 10, 11) had
begun the postjuvenile moult and had grown the definitive adult rectrices
and the basal half of the lower mandible had turned yellow. In this case the
adult characters were sufficient to make identification of the remaining
juvenile plumage characters possible. Third, some specimens (8, 9, 12-21)
had the bill half yellow but had not yet begun to moult from juvenile into
adult plumage or had only just begun to moult. These birds were sometimes
a problem to identify as the bill colour of the bird when collected was not
indicated on the label and the bill colour had probably changed in museum
storage. In these cases, for identification the date of collection was checked
against known dates of local breeding gu/aris and dates of visiting canorus. In
southern Africa the breeding season of gu/aris is October-December: so full
grown, 2-3 month old ga/aris that had not yet started moult might occur in
November and December, a time when similar aged Palaearctic birds also
would be present in juvenile plumage. Some specimens also might have been
migrants from other ateas of Africa since both cuckoos are seasonal in
occurrence in some parts of Africa (Friedmann 1948).

Juvenile C. canorus were examined from Europe, Russia, China, Japan, and
India as well as from Africa. Birds in the breeding range of canorus in Europe
were the main known-identity birds of the study. Moulting African birds
with some definitive adult plumage (particularly birds with rufous bars, the
“hepatic” phase, which occurs in Palaearctic and Indian birds but not in
African birds) and other identifiable dark-billed African juveniles were also
used as known-identity canorus. Measurements of Indian birds are excluded
from the data cited below, but colours are included.

Plumage characters which varied between known juvenile gwlaris and
known juvenile canorus were the general plumage colour, particularly brown
or rufous vs. whitish or grey in the primaries and wing coverts; the barring
on the tip of the crown feathers; and the size and shape of white spots in the
tail.

The general plumage colour of all gularis was grey and all canorus was rufous or
brown. No gw/aris was browner than the least brown canorus. C’.. gularis were
all “brownish grey” or “grey” with Methuen (Kornerup & Wanscher 1967)
colours 5C1, 5Cz (nearly all birds), or 5C3 (No. 12); whereas C. canorus
ranged from “reddish-blond” or “‘brownish orange” (colours 5C4-6) to
“reddish golden” or ““brownish orange” (colours 6C7-8). The pale spots and
bars on the remiges and wing coverts in all the juvenile gu/aris were brownish
grey or grey and not brownish, though two gw/aris were stained with brown-
ish orange on the upperparts. Brown or rufous colour is apparent in juvenile
European canorus, and also in populations identified as C. c. subtelephonus and
C. ¢. telephonus in the trans-Caspian region, India, China and Japan, and one
should be able to distinguish C’. canorus from C. gularis in Africa from all these
population areas, should they migrate to Africa.

The drak crown feathers are differingly tipped with white in the two species.
Both often have zmm-wide basal areas of white on the feathers (visible if the
overlying feathers are lifted) and both have some entirely white feathers,
especially on the nape. In the dark crown feathers, width of the whitish tip in
gularis ranged from 1-0 to 1:8 mm (mean of 15 = 1:20-++0-23 mm SD). Two
young gularis (9, 10, identified by lack of brown in the plumage and by the
yellow of the bill) not included in these figures, lacked any whitish tips; the
plumage was quite worn, and they were both moulting. In canorus, on the

51 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

other hand, the tip is only narrowly edged with white or buff, with a range of
o to o-8 mm (mean of 43 = 0-44-++0:61 mm). In some young canorus there is
no pale tip as a result of wear. Four canorus had a tip wider than 0-6 mm, one
each from Britain, China, Zambia (NMR 46371—see Acknowledgements),
and Sudan (ANSP 104223). The last two were identified as canorus by their
fresh or slightly-worn brownish plumage; the dates are compatible with
migrant canorus (December and September).

The primaries. White or buffy bars occur on the outer edges of the primaries
in all juvenile canorus, but white notches or bars also occur in 9 of the 21
juvenile gu/aris. The inner webs are barted in both cuckoos. The tips of the
primaries are broadly edged with white in gu/aris but also in some canorus.
The scapulars and back feathers of gu/aris are often broadly edged with white,
as Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1970) note, but some canorus ate as broadly
edged with white.

The spots on the tail are broader in gularis. The third spot (from the tip) of
the central rectrix measures 0:8 mm in one gu/aris (No. 19) but in all the
others (including the Uganda bird) measures 2-0-3-0 mm (mean of 19 =
2°34-+0:54 mm) measured at right angles to the edge of the rachis. In
canorus the spot measures 0-5 to 2:2 mm (mean of 47 = 1°35--0-56 mm).
Of the 47 measured, 8 canorus had a spot of 2-0 mm or wider. The widest,
FMNH 262843, taken in Barotseland, Zambia, on 28 October 1961, was
listed by Traylor (1965) as gu/aris, but he noted that it ““may be nominate
canorus, for the yellow on the bill is less extensive than in the adult’. The
yellow in fact is restricted to the gonys, the lateral rami of the lower mandible
ate blackish, the plumage quite dark above with many brownish bars. I
regard the bird as a canorus with a slightly unusual bill. Most other canorus
with wide tail spots were taken in Europe. The most rufous specimens tend
to have the narrowest white tail spots.

The barring pattern below is not consistently different in the two species,
though most gw/aris have a paler throat than most canorus, in which the throat
is often darker than the belly. Measurements of representative black bars on
the throat of 17 gu/aris average 1-17--0-36 mm and black bars on the belly
average 1:23-0:61 mm. Comparable figures for 47 canorus are 1-69--0-:76
mm and 1:47-+0-47 mm. The measurements indicate considerable overlap
with no significant difference between the two cuckoos. Comparable measure-
ments of the white bars separating the black bars likewise overlap and are
not included as they vary with the preparation of the museum skins. No
consistent difference is apparent in barring of the under tail coverts.

Other measurements taken showed no consistent ot significant differences
between gu/aris and canorus, including wing length, tail length, and bill length
from nostril and from base of the culmen.

Bill width. Adult gularis tend to have broader bills than canorus (Benson e¢
al. 1971, M. P. S. Irwin). Bill widths were determined for juveniles by measur-
ing with calipers across the width of the tomia at a level directly below the
midpoint of the nostrils. Including only those birds in which the remiges and
rectrices were fully grown, bill width in 19 gw/aris averaged 8-04--0- 388 mm,
range 7-4-8-4 mm; and in 33 canorus averaged 7-25--0-363 mm, range
6-5—7-8 mm. In one gw/aris (No. 9, excluded from above) from Rhodesia, the
bill width was only 6-8 mm, but was damaged by shot. Bill widths of juvenile
gularis are nearly all larger than bill widths of juvenile canorus.

A few specimens in addition to those mentioned above presented problems

[Bull,. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 52

in identification or deserve further comment. (1). NMR 14082 (No. 9) has
the smallest tail spots, has traces of primary bars, and has the narrowest bill
of any bird identified as gu/aris, but the bill is damaged by shot and the
measurement may be unreliable. Crown bars are lacking due to wear. The
grey plumage is worn and moult is in progress, and the date (“1-9” = 1
September) seems too early for a migrant Palaearctic bird. The date also
seems wrong for a local southern African bird as gu/aris is found only from
September to March—May (Benson ¢é¢ a/. 1971); perhaps the specimen is a
migrant from a breeding population in Africa well north of Rhodesia, as
suggested to me by M. P. S. Irwin. The collector described the bill as “slate
above, orange below, fading toslate at tip,” indicating that the bird is gu/aris. (2).
BM(NH) 1904.10.23.87 (No. 20) is washed with rufous on the throat and
upper breast and has white barring on the outer webs of the primaries,
though less than in any canorus in the sample. The white spots of the central
rectrices are small (0-8 mm). Characters suggesting gu/aris ate the lack of
brown elsewhere in the plumage, bioad white tips to dark crown feathers
(terminal crown bars), and the yellow basal half of the bill. Date (early May)
does not rule out canorus. I regard it as gularis. (3). UMMZ 216722 from
Transvaal has all the characteristics described above of canorus; the identi-
fication was queried by Moreau (1972: 184) and the query led to the present
note. (4). NMNH 335008, Lake Albert, Butiaba, Uganda, 13 November 1900,
listed (as 1901) by Jackson (1938: 485) as gu/aris, is heavily barred with rufous
and dark brown, has the head plumage like that of Palaearctic birds, and has
a black bill. I regard it as canorus. (5). BM(NH) 1935. 7.9.143 and 144, both
Gd collected at Torit, Sudan, on 13 November 1935, are in worn plumage
with some tan (Methuen 5 C4) in the barring of the primaries. F. O. Cave noted
the bill colour of the first bird as “‘black, but greenish below, and yellow at
the gape”, and the second “black, lower mandible yellowish”, though it
looks mostly dark now. The first has a bill width of 7-5 mm and the whitish
tips of the crown feathers are nearly 0-6 mm, but these may have been
abraded. The second has a bill width of 7-3 mm and only a trace of crown
bars. The worn state of plumage seems compatible with that expected of a
Palaearctic migrant by mid-Novembet1, and I tentatively regard the birds as
canorus. (6). FMNH 193430 is a canorus taken in Kenya on 6 June 1922, a
month when canorus normally would have been in the Palaearctic. The bird
is a 2 with several retained, brown-barred juvenile remiges, very worn, but
otherwise is in adult plumage typical of canorus. No feathers are actively
growing. The arrested state of moult suggests that the bird was in poor
condition and unable to complete the moult or to migrate. No other juvenile
canorus was noted from Africa after early May. (7). BM(NH) 1915.12.24.465
is a juvenile C’.. canorus taken on 26 July 1911 at Khattoum. The plumage is
fresh. The date suggests an unusually early migration from the Palaearctic
breeding grounds. Cuckoos in Britain breed as early as 11 May (Chance 1940)
and with 12 days for incubation, 20 days to fledging and as much as another
month to independence the cuckoo would still have had time to migrate to
Sudan; but no other juvenile canorus was noted from Africa before September.

In summary, juvenile C. gw/aris differ consistently or nearly so from
juvenile C. canorus in plumage colour (browns lacking in gu/aris), in bill
width and in having the dark crown feathers broadly tipped with at least 1
mm of white in fresh plumage. There is some overlap in pale marks on the
edge of the primaries, size of the tail spots, barring on the mantle and the

ee

53 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

barring of the underparts. Comparison of juvenile C. canorus from Europe,
central Asia, India, China and Japan indicates no consistent difference in
plumage among specimens from these areas except that the (few) central
Asian birds were paler. I have therefore not attempted to identify subspecies
of C. canorus wintering in Africa.

Acknowledgements: For access to specimens I thank F. B. Gill (Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia—ANSP), W. E. Lanyon (American Museum of Natural History—
AMNH), D. W. Snow (British Museum [Natural History]}—BM[NH]), M. H. Clench
(Carnegie Museum—CM), M. A. Traylor (Field Museum of Natural History—FMNH),
K. E. Stager (Los Angeles County Museum), G. R. Cunningham-van Someren (National
Museum of Kenya), R. L. Zusi (U.S. National Museum of Natural History—
NMNBH), M. P. S. Irwin (National Museum of Rhodesia—NMR), and J. F. R. Colebrook-
Robjent (personal collection—J.C-R).

References:

Benson, C. W., Brooke, R. K., Dowsett, R. J. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1971. The Birds of Zambia.
London: Collins.

Chance, E. P. 1940. The Truth about the Cuckoo. London: Country Life.

Chapin, J. P. 1939. The Birds of the Belgian Congo, part II. Bu//. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.75.

Chappuis, C. 1974. Les oiseaux de Ouest Africain. Alauda Suppl. Sonore, Disque no. 1.

Friedmann, H. 1948. The Parasitic Cuckoos of Africa. Washington, D.C.: Washington
Acad. Sci.

Jackson, F. J. 1938. The Birds of Kenya Colony and the Uganda Protectorate. Vol. 1. London:
Gurney and Jackson.

Kornerup, A. & Wanscher, J. H. 1967 Methuen Handbook of Colour. London: Methuen.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1970. Birds of West Central and Western Africa,
Vol. 1. London: Longmans.

Moreau, R. E. 1972. The Palaearctic-African Bird Migration Systems. London: Academic
Press.

Traylor, M. A. 1965. A collection of birds from Barotseland and Bechuanaland. /bis 107:

137-172.
Address: Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, U.S.A.

Confirmation of the occurrence of the Egyptian Nightjar
Caprimulgus aeg yptius aeg yptius in Ethiopia
by R. W. Ashford & R. S. Bray

Received 1 February 1977

Urban & Brown (1971) mention the Egyptian Nightjar Caprimulgus aegyptius
as having been included by Smith (1957) in his checklist of the birds of
Eritrea, on the basis of records by Moltoni & Ruscone (1940). These records
have been ignored by Mackworth-Praed and Grant (1957) and White (1965).
In the collection of the British Museum is one specimen labelled Abyssinia,
but this is very old, and even the area of the collection from which it comes is
doubtful. Clearly this species has rarely been recorded in Ethiopia, and is not
known from south of Eritrea.

On 30 January 1971 whilst catching birds for serum samples in light acacia
woodland at Lake Koka (8° 26’ N, 39° o1’ E) in Shoa Province, Ethiopia, a
nightjar which subsequently proved to be of this species was collected. The
identification was confirmed by Mr. D. Goodwin, at the British Museum, as
the nominate race C. a. aegyptins.

Dr. J. S. Ash (pers. comm.), who has worked in this area at different times
of the year, states that he has only recorded two species of nightjar there, the
Plain Nightjar C. znornatus (one example) and the Slender-tailed Nightjar

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 54

C. clarus which is very common and breeds. The area is inhabited by a large
number and variety of Palaearctic migrants.

This record confirms the occurrences of the Egyptian Nightjar in central
Ethiopia, and considerably extends its known wintering range.

Thanks are due to Dr. J. S. Ash of N.A.M.R.U. 5, Addis Ababa for his
comments, and for having the skin, which remains with him, prepared, and
to the staff of the British Museum for their assistance in identification.

References:

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1957. Birds of Eastern and North Eastern Africa,
Vol. 1. London.

Moltoni, E, & Ruscone, G. 1940. Gh Uccelli dell’ Africa Orientale Italiana. Vol. 1. Milano.

Smith, K. D. 1957. An annotated checklist of the birds of Eritrea. Zbis 99: 1-26.

Urban, E. K. & Brown, L. H. 1971. A Checklist of the Birds of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.

White, C. M. N. 1965. A Revised Checklist of African Non-Passerine Birds. Lusaka.

Addresses: Wellcome Parasitology Unit 2, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Present address: (R. W. Ashford), Dept. of Pathology, U.P.N.G., P.O. Box 5623, Boroko,
Papua New Guinea.

First African records of two Malagasy sea-birds

by Peter L. Britton

Received 4 February 1977

Despite the proximity of some Indian Ocean (Malagasy) islands to the East
African coast, there is little evidence that their breeding sea-birds reach
mainland Africa, where frigatebirds (Fregatidae), tropicbirds (Phaethontidae)
and other characteristic Malagasy breeding sea-birds are rare or unknown.
This note reports the occurrence of two such species near Mombasa, Kenya,
during the 1976 southeast monsoon (April-November).

Lesser Noddy -Azous tenuirostris

A flock of varying size (110-220) was seen almost daily at Ras Iwetine
(4° o1’ S, 39° 44’ E), 25 August—28 September 1976, settling on or near a fish
trap of vertical mangrove poles at high tide, and settling on the outer reef
when it was exposed. A single bird was present on 2 December. With the
assistance of R. Haller, a sub-adult male with moulting primaries, stomach
empty, was collected for the National Museum, Nairobi, on 31 August,
weighing 97:4 g, wing-length 220 mm.

An emanciated, recently dead sub-adult, stomach empty, weight 60 g,
wing-length 209 mm, was found (wings retained) on the top of Kisite Island
(4° 44’ S, 39° 24’ E) on 10 December 1976, when at least 20 were present on
the island’s sand beach; none had been present there on 4 September or 10
October. P. Hemphill, of the nearby Pemba Channel Fishing Club, reliably
noted them at sea regularly between September and December 1976 in
similar numbers (dozens) to the Brown Noddy A. stol/idus, though he has
fished these waters as much as six days a week for many years and has not
pieviously noted noddies of two sizes.

A further reliable report of senuirostris is of at least 50 seen by R. Haller at
Ziwayu Island (2° 36’ S, 40° 35’ E) on 27 October 1976, from a dhow which
Haller with others sailed from Mtwapa (3° 57’ S.) to Kiwaiyu (1° 59’ S.) over
a three week period, during which they sighted s/o/idus regularly, including

ee —s _

55 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

as many as 1000 at Tenewe Island (2° 27’ S, 40° 47’ E), but no other #enwiros-
tris. Small numbers of s/o/idus breed on the north Kenya coast (Britton &
Brown 1974), and it is regularly reported by anglers at sea, but there are few
inshore records (Britton & Britton 1976). It was, however, widespread in
scores or hundreds on the north Kenya coast in August and September 1976
(L. H. Brown, W. J. Plumb). The rather brown sub-adult senwirostris was
not easy to recognise when alone, but readily recognisable when seen
alongside the larger s/o/idus.

With the assistance of the curator, the Ras Iwetine specimen has been
compared with seven National Museum specimens of A. ¢. senuirostris,
collected by Parker (1970) in the Amirantes, 1500 km east of Kenya and the
nearest breeding station (Bailey 1968). This specimen and other Kenya birds
have the characteristic head pattern of nominate /enuirostris, which is confined
to the western Indian Ocean where it is mainly sedentary around breeding
sites (Bailey 1968). Though Ashmole (1962), White (1965) and others con-
sider the White-capped Noddy A. minutus of the Pacific and Atlantic
Oceans conspecific with A. /enuirostris, under the latter name, I prefer
to follow Murphy (1936), Alexander (1963) and Serventy ef a/. (1971) in
retaining them as two distinct species, for the reasons given by the last
authors. White (1965) lists ‘enuirostris for Africa, referring to A. minutus
atlanticus in West Africa, but there is no previous record of Indian Ocean
tenuirostris in African waters. In 208 days of observations in the western
Indian Ocean, Bailey (1968) recorded this species only four times, all around
58° E, at most 320 km from a known nesting site, so that its occurrence in
African waters should be considered exceptional. If wind-blown by the
southeast monsoon, Kenyan birds may well have originated from Mauritius
or Cargados Carajos, 3000 km to the southeast, rather than the geographically
closer Amirantes.

Red-footed Booby Sw/a sula

An immature bird, accidentally hooked on a lure by R. S. Richards while
fishing 8 km off Kilifi at 3° 37’ S, 39° 56’ E on 24 October 1976, is still alive
at Birdland, Malindi, in the care of Mr. & Mrs. B. M. B. Glover who have
kindly let me examine it on several occasions. It was successfully released by
Richards three times, flying strongly from the roof of his boat to take the
lure again, but it would not fly a fourth time. Its extreme tameness led
Richards to believe that it might have been a pet aboard a ship, though it is
seldom at ease in the presence of unfamiliar people at Birdland. When first
seen on 21 November it was brown all over but by 15 January 1977 it had
white feathers on the lesser coverts of both wings and on the forecrown.
With measurements (mm) of 363 (wing), 84 (bill) and 36 (tarsus) it is too
small for other Su/a species (Alexander 1963, Serventy ef a/. 1971). The tail is
broken but tail feathers are narrow, as described by Murphy (1936), maxi-
mum width 26 mm. Legs and feet are pink, irides beige with some dark brown
spots, bill blackish and facial skin blue. The bare skin on the throat was black
in November but blue in January.

According to White (1965) there is no satisfactory record from African
coastal waters. A record from Port Sudan on 7 November 1920 (Ticehurst
1924) is included by Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1952) and Meinertzhagen
(1954), but it is based on only a wing retained for Ticehurst by the keeper of
the Sanganeb Light, with no details of plumage or measurements, and it is

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 56

not included in the avifauna of Sudan by Cave & Macdonald (1955). Bailey
(1968) saw fair numbers of both adults and immatures between the Seychelles
and Hast Africa in September and October, though most of his records
were neai breeding stations to the north and east of Madagascar. Away from
Latham Island, Tanzania, where both S. /eucogaster and S. dactylatra breed
(Parker 1970), boobies are uncommon in East Africa. I know of no inshore
records in Kenya, where most reports are the casual observations of anglers
who cannot be expected to identify the immature birds which form the
majority of sightings. All western Indian Ocean nesting sites lie to the
southeast of Kenya, so that wandering immatures may reach East African
waters regularly during the southeast monsoon.

References:

Alexander, W. B. 1963. Birds of the Ocean (2nd ed.). New York: Putnam.

Ashmole, N. P. 1962. The Black Noddy Axous tenuirostris on Ascension Island. Part 1.
General Biology. [bis 103b: 235-273.

Bailey, R. S. 1968. The pelagic distribution of sea-birds of the western Indian Ocean. Ibis

TIO: 493-519.

Britton, P. & Britton, H. 1976. Records Section (Birds). E. Afr. nat. Hist, Soc. Bull. 1976:
52-61.

Britton, P. L. & Brown, L. H. 1974. The status and breeding behaviour of East African Lari.
Ostrich 45: 63-82.

Cave, F. O. & Macdonald, J. D. 1955. Birds of the Sudan. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1952. Birds of Eastern and North Eastern Africa.
Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

Meinertzhagen, R. 1954. Birds of Arabia. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

Murphy, R. C. 1936. Oceanic Birds of South America. New York: Am. Mus. nat. Hist.

Parker, I. $. C. 1970. Some ornithological observations from the western Indian Ocean
Atoll Res. Bull. 136: 211-220.

Serventy, D. L., Serventy, V. & Warham, J. 1971. The Handbook of Australian Sea-birds.
Sydney: Reed.

Ticehurst, C. B. 1924. Birds from the Red Sea lights. /bis (11)6: 282-283.

White, C. M. N. 1965. A Revised Check List of African Non-Passerine Birds. Lusaka: Govt.
Printer.

Address: Box 90163, Mombasa, Kenya.

First known breeding of the Ruddy Shelduck
Tadorna ferruginea south of the Sahara

by ys. AASo

Received 12 February 1977

In April 1975, accompanied by my wife and daughter, I travelled over the
Saneti Plateau in the Bale Mountains of southern Ethiopia. This is a remote
and beautiful area lying between 3800 and 4377 m, averaging about 4140 m
(Waltermire 1975). Typically the vegetation is afro-alpine between these
altitudes, and in this area is above the Erica arborea zone. ‘There are many
small tarns, most of which do not seem to have been mapped, scattered about
the plateau, but many are grouped around 6°51’N, 39°49’E (the latest map
names this mountain Sante Ye’Terara Ch’ae).

Many of the tarns held a pair of Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea, which
were apparently fairly common in the area, most of them paired or single.
On the larger lake of some 75 hectares, which I shall call Lake Deemtu
(3890 m), there were at least 52 ducks present on 6 April. Such large numbers

57 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

of this species are quite unprecedented in Ethiopia (see below), and the date
is late for Palaearctic migrants: breeding seemed pcssible, and although the
birds’ behaviour — the attachment of pairs to particular restricted areas and
their vociferous reaction to our arrival — gave support to this, we were
unable to obtain any direct evidence.

Dr. S. J. Tyler visited the area 3 weeks later in May 1975, and especially
looked for signs of breeding. She did not reach Lake Deemtu, but found
many pairs on some of the smaller tarns, and recorded behaviour similar to
that we had seen a month earlier (Anon 1975). Mr. T. Fison, a non-
ornithologist, trekked over the area on mule-back a year later in May 1976.
Following my description of the birds, he made a point of looking out for
them, and recorded about 7 pairs on the tarns he passed; he did not visit
Lake Deemtu.

I revisited the area, 21-23 June 1976, with my wife and Dr. and Mrs.
V. H. Lee. We found 4 pairs and 3 single birds on about ten of the smaller
tarns we examined, but we put our main effort into reaching Lake Deemtu,
which can be reached from a high point to the east in about an hour’s walk
on a compass bearing. On 22 June there were at least 46 adult Ruddy Shel-
duck present, mostly in ones, twos and threes, and with them three broods of
young. The oldest brood consisted of two ducklings judged to be 3-4 weeks
old, the next had five young about 2 weeks old, and the third had ten young
7-10 days old. On our approaching a brood, the adult — we never saw more
than one adult with a brood — promptly abandoned its young and flew off for
a considerable distance without showing undue distress. When we left the
lake after about an hour both the larger broods could be seen, each with an
attendant parent.

Lake Deemtu is roughly circular, about a kilometre in diameter, but with
a small southerly extension. There are several small rocky islets, two of
which have some vegetation including several Giant Lobelias Lobelia
rhyncopetalum, and at the northwest edge a stretch of stone cliffs reaching to
about 45 m. All the smaller tarns seem to lack the islets and cliffs, although
one other, apparently named Garba Guracha, at about 6°53’N, 39°52’E,
visited by Fison, and with duck on it, was surrounded by stone cliffs on three
sides.

On my first visit, 6 April 1975, there were large numbers of waterfowl and
wetland birds of 17 species on Lake Deemtu, as well as 12 characteristic
landbird species in the immediate area, and at a slightly lower altitude 7
additional species (see Appendix). The list includes, astonishingly, over half
of Ethiopia’s endemic species of birds in this small area, and in addition there
are several particularly interesting endemic mammals such as the Simien
Fox Canis simensis and Mountain Nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni. It is therefore
gratifying that the Saneti Plateau is included in the proposed Bale Mountains
National Park.

Urban & Brown (1971) describe Ruddy Shelducks as Palaearctic migrants
Sep—Mar, throughout the country at above 2000 m, uncommon to rare on
larger freshwater lakes and rivers, alkaline lakes and highland streams and
marshes up to 3700 m. They further classify this montane habitat as: a) Giant
Lobelia — Alchemilla — tussock grass moorland, at 3800-4100 m, and b) Giant
heath (Erica) moorland at 3500-3800 m. The birds we saw on the Saneti
Plateau were all above 3800 m, but we described the habitat as open He//-
chrysum scrub with Giant Lobelia patches, i.e., the “paramo belt” of Lind &

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 58

Morrison (1974). Moreau (1972) states that this shelduck is resident in
southern Spain and the Maghreb, but that in its main range from the Aegean
eastwards to Amurland, it is largely migratory, most going to southern Asia,
though in the Sudan it is listed as common north of Khartum; he also states
that a very few have recently been found in Abyssinia.

With the discovery of a breeding population in Ethiopia, there must now
be doubt as to whether other records within the country refer, as assumed up
to now, to Palaearctic migrants. Table 1 lists all the records I have been able
to trace.

TABLE 1

Occurrences of Tadorna ferruginea in Ethiopia
Date Locality Co-ordinates Altitude (m) Nos. Authority
17 Dec 1904 Asmata 15.20N, 38.55E 2300 I Dal-Fiume 1907
? Angua Meshf ? ? ? Moltoni & Ruscone 1944
to Aug 1965 Lake Abiata 7.40N, 38.35E 1573 2 Urban 1971
12 Feb 1966 Upper Ueb* 6.6.51N, 39.32E 3455 Sev. prs. L. H. Brown
8 & 22 Oct 1967 Gefersa 9.03N, 38.40E 2605 I Urban 1971
Feb 1967 nt. Dinshu* 7.05N, 39.45E 3000 I Urban 1971
early Aprl 1968 nr. Dinshu* 7.05N, 39.45E 3000 I Urban 1971
1966-1969 Dubte 11.43N, 41.00E 380 Rate Hill e¢ al. 1970
13 Jan 1969 Akaki 8.50N, 38.44E 3070 2 E. K. Urban
9 Nov 1969 Akaki 8.50N, 38.44E 3070 I Ash
post-1969 Upper Ueb* 6.51N, 39.32E 3660 ? Waltermire 1975
24 Jan 1970 Akaki 8.50N, 38.44E 3070 2 Moote 1970
7 & 9 Feb 1975 Bahadu 10.15N, 40.28E 530 2 Ash
6 Apr 1975 Saneti Plateau* See text See text 67+ Ash
10 May 1975 nr. Mt. Gaysay* 7.12N, 39.45E 3040 2 Ash
10 May 1975 Saneti Plateau* See text See text Many Anon 1975
May 1976 Saneti Plateau* See text See text 142 T. Fison
21-22 Jun 1976 Saneti Plateau* See text See text 57+ Ash

* All these observations are in the same general area of the Bale Mountains and are within the proposed National Park.
ft Moltoni & Ruscone (1944) refer to this locality as ‘“Angua Mesh presso il Monte Erer”, which I am unable to trace.
Italian maps of this period show only one Mt. Erer at 03° 52’ N, 39° 46’ E, close to the Kenya border, but this seems
eaieely, habitat for any duck. Urban (1971) does not refer to this record, but does include Dal-Fiume’s (1907) from
The records based on the Bale Mountains, in February and April to June,
include the breeding population, which is presumably a resident population
restricted to this small area of open plain and scattered tarns lying to the
northeast of Lake Deemtu. Other records in the same neighbourhood, such
as those at Dinshu and Gaysay in February, April and May are presumably
local wanderers from this population, which may indeed be larger and more
widespread, since Waltermire (1975) reports shelducks from the upper Ueb,
as also does Urban (1971), though without indicating numbers. The map in
Waltermire’s paper shows several tarns around 6°51'N, 39°32’E, apparently
a habitat similar to the Saneti Plateau and thus suitable for shelduck.

The remaining records comprise at least 11 individuals in scattered locali-
ties between 10 August and 9 February. These may well be Palaearctic
migrants, but equally well may be wanderers from the Bale Mountains.

The fact that this species was not recorded from the Bale Mountains before
1967 does not imply that a new population had established itself there. This
part of Ethiopia is very difficult to travel in and there must have been very
few visitors prior to that time. The spate of new records in other parts of the
country could be credited to a new population in Bale, but they are just as
likely to have been due to the influx of keen observers about that time and to
the formation of a local wildlife society. Another area which needs to be
watched for possible breeding is the Gefersa/Akaki region which resembles
the habitat of this species in Morocco, though it is very different from the
Bale Mountain habitat.

59 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

The population of Tadorna ferruginea in the Saneti Plateau atea is probably
about 30-35 pairs, but with other suitable habitat known to exist in this
poorly explored country, there may be twice this number. A thorough search
of the area, preferably in May or June would be very rewarding.

Acknowledgements: Some of the above observations were made during the course of
research supported in part by the Naval Medical Research & Development Command
Work Unit No. MRo41.09.01-0014DGHJ and the Office of Naval Research under Con-
tract No. Nooo14—67—A—0399-0009. The opinions and assertions in this scientific report
ate‘ those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Navy Depart-
ment or of the naval service at large. I am most grateful to Dr. E. K. Urban, who provided
me with information about his observations and to Dr. C. K. Wallace who commented on
a draft of this paper.

References:

Anon (Tyler, S. J.) 1975. Ruddy Shelduck in the Bale Mountains. Eth. Wildlife e N.H.S.
Newsletter 98: 3.

Dal-Fiume, C. 1907. Catalogo di una collezione di uccelli della Colonia Eritrea. Ali. Soc.
Ital. Sci. Nat. Milano 46: 73-103.

Hill, G. G., Hill, M., Santi, G. & Robertson, L. 1970. Dubte Plantation checklist of birds.
Walia 2: 41-65.

Lind, E. M. & Morrison, M. E. S. 1974. East African Vegetation. Longman: London.

Moltoni, E. & Ruscone, G. G. 1944. Gli uccelli dell’ Africa orientale Italiana. Pt. Il. Milano.

Moote, E, 1970. Society News — January outing. Eth. Wildlife ¢» N.H.S. Newsletter 37: 1.

Moreau, Fs: E. 1972. The Palaearctic-African Bird Migration Systems. Academic Press:
London.

Smith, K. D. 1957. An annotated list of the birds of Eritrea. /bis 99: 1-26, 307-337.

Urban, E. K. 1971. Status of the Palaearctic Wildfowl occurring in Ethiopia. Proc. 3rd Int.
Reg. Meeting, Cons. Wildfowl Resources, Leningrad.

Urban, E. K. & Brown, L. H. 1971. A Checklist of the Birds of Ethiopia. Haile Sellassie I
University Press: Addis Ababa.

Waltermire, R. G. 1975. A National Park in the Bale Mountains. Walia 6: 20-24.

APPENDIX
Birds seen in April 1975 and June 1976 at Lale Deemtu, Ethiopia, 3890 m a.s.l.

On 6 April 1975 large numbers of wildfowl were present, including Teal Anas crecca 2,
Yellow-billed Duck A. undulata 7, Pintail A. acuta 200, Garganey A. querquedula 1, Shoveler
A, clypeata 250. Other wetland species there or in the immediate area ("endemic to
Ethiopia) included Little Grebe Podiceps ruficollis, Wattled Ibis Bostrychia carunculata™ , Blue-
winged Goose Cyanochen cyonoptera® , Wattled Crane Gras carunculatus, Rouget’s Rail Rallus
rougetii*®, Spot-breasted Plover Vanellus melanocephalus*, W/ood Sandpiper Tringa glareola,
Common Sandpiper T. Aypoleucos and Little Stint Calidris minuta.

In June 1976, there were 2 Shovelers still present, as well as Black Duck A. sparsa 2,
Wigeon A. penelope 6 and Crested Coot Fulica cristata 4. Characteristic land birds seen in the
immediate vicinity included Lanner Falcon Falco biarmicus, Grey-wing Francolinus psilo-
laemus, Chestnut-naped Francolin F’. castaneicollis, White-collared Pigeon Columba albitorques*,
Short-crested Lark Galerida malabarica, Pale Crag Martin Hirundo fuligula arabica, Red-
throated Pipit Anthus cervinus, Abyssinian Longclaw Macron)x flavicollis*, Hill Chat Cer-
comela sordida, Black-headed Siskin Serinus nigriceps*, Slender-billed Chestnut-winged
Starling Onychognathus tenuirostris and Chough Pyyrhocorax pyrrhocorax.

In addition to the 7 endemics listed above 7 others occur in the same area at a slightly
lower altitude: Yellow-fronted Parrot Poicephalus flavifrons*, Black-winged Lovebird
Agapornis taranta*, Golden-backed Woodpecker Dendropicos abyssinicus*, Abyssinian
Catbird Parophasma galinieri*, White-backed Black Tit Parus Jleuconotus*, Black-headed
Forest Oriole Oriolus monacha* and Thick-billed Raven Corvus crassirostris” .

Thus over half of Ethiopia’s endemic species of birds can be found in this relatively small
area.

Address: Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Naval Medical
Research Unit No. 5, APO New York 09319.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 60

Blyth’s Pipit Axthus godlewskii in the Western Palaearctic
by Kenneth Williamson

Received 17 February 1977

When preparing a paper in 1963 (“The identification of the larger pipits’—
Brit. Birds (1963) 56: 285-292), I found a specimen in the British Museum
(Natural History), Tring, determined as ““Anthus campestris” which I pointed
out had been wrongly identified—since when it has been placed with the
Blyth’s Pipits A. godlewskii. The specimen was collected at Brighton, Sussex
in October 1882 and is ex co//. Swaysland, reg. no. 83—10-10-1. It has been
examined recently by Dr. D. W. Snow and P. Coulston, both of whom agree
with my identification. In my paper I commented that A. godlewskii could
occur as a vagrant in Britain, and despite a rejection of this view by Grant
(‘‘Field identification of Richard’s and Tawny Pipits” —Brit. Birds (1972) 65:
287-290) one was obtained in Finland in September 1975. It therefore seems
appropriate to record the B.M. specimen, the first and only one known from
the British Isles, and the following are the details of identification of this skin,
which in plumage is similar to Richard’s Pipit A. novaeseelandiae richardi.

Measurements:
Wing 85 mm. Tail 62 mm. Bill (to skull) 16 mm.
Tarsus 28 mm. Hind claw 11 mm.
Wing formula: znd=3rd=4th; 5th, 1 mm. shorter; emarginated znd—th.

Penultimate tail-feather; point of white wedge on inner web 20 mm. from
tip; ultimate 10 mm. of shaft white. [See Hall “Notes on specific identification
of the Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris), Blyth’s Pipit (A. godhveskiz) and
Richard’s Pipit (A. novaeseelandiae) in Asia” —J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. (1957)
54: 726-731; Hall “The Taxonomy and identification of pipits—genus
Anthus’—Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Zool. (1961) 7: 243-289, pls. 56-61;
and Williamson (1963) ].

Discussion:

The wing and tail measurements are at the low limit of the range for A. n.
richardi given by Hall and by Williamson, who examined 30 and 24 specimens
respectively. They fall within the ranges for campestris and godlewskii. ‘Tail
length expressed as a percentage of wing-length is 72, which is well outside
the range found for richardi (75-88) and within that found for godlewskii (68—
81). It is also below the limit found for campestris (75-83).

Bill length is within the range for both campestris and godlewskii. Tarsus
length is at the upper limit for both species and at the lower limit for richardi
(Hall’s and my own measured series). The bill is xo¢ broad and deep as it is
in richardi, being similar in structure to campestris. The wing/tarsus ratio is
2-9 which falls outside the range 3-3 — 3-8 given by Hall for campestris, and is
at the low limit of 2-9 — 3-3 for richardi.

The hind claw is cutved, not straight as it is in most richard:, and the
curvatute is typical of godlewskii. It falls well short of the 14-19 mm given for
30 specimens of richardi by Hall, and the 134-19 mm of my own series of 24.
II mm is rare in campestris and is in the middle of the range for god/lewskii.

The tail pattern matches that of godlewskiz.

Summary:

Characters affirming the error of the original identification of the Brighton

bird as Anthus campestris ate:

61 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

(a) plumage, similar to ». richardi, not to campestris;
(b) wing/tail ratio outside measured range;

(c) wing/tarsus ratio outside measured range;

(d) hind-claw too long;

(e) tail pattern “wrong”’.

Distinction then remains to be made between A. god/ewskii and small
aberrant richardi. The wing/tail ratio and hind claw measurements exclude
richardi. The only characters suggestive of richardi (and neither of these
excludes god/lewskii) are the plumage and the wing/tarsus ratio. On the other
hand the tail pattern is typical of god/ewskiz, and the other characters detailed
above support the identification.

Address: British Trust for Ornithology, Beech Grove, Tring, Herts.

Further bird weights from Panama
by Joseph G. Strauch, Jr.

Received 18 February 1977

Recently Burton (1973, 1975) published the weights of birds collected in
Panama and Columbia during the British Trans-American Expedition,
1971-2. During 1971-3 I recorded a series of weights in Panama which
greatly augments his data. In contrast to Burton’s specimens, almost all of
mine were sexed by direct examination of gonads. Most of them are now
preserved as skeletons in the collection of The University of Michigan
Museum of Zoology. Weights recorded to the nearest gramme were taken
with a Pesola balance soon after death. Weights recorded to the nearest tenth
of a gramme were taken with an Ohaus triple-beam balance on birds which
had been sealed in plastic bags and stored on ice soon after death and weighed
later in the same day. In all, there are 540 weights of 207 species, 80 of which
were also reported by Burton.

Unless otherwise indicated, specimens were obtained in lowland areas of
Panama Province and the Pacific half of the Panama Canal Zone. (My eastern-
most collecting localities overlap Burton’s two westernmost collecting
localities.) Specimens collected on the Pipeline Road in the Canal Zone are
included under this heading even though some of them were taken on the
Atlantic side of the Continental Divide. Specimens were also obtained at
Cerro Jefe (CJ: about 1100 m a.s.l., eastern Panama Province), 9° 15’ N,
a0 20. W; Cerro Campana (CC: about 1000 m a.s.l., western Panama Pro-
vince), 8° 40’ N, 79° 55 W; Cerro Punta (CP: about 1800 m a.s.l., Chiriqui
Province), 8° 55 N, 82° 35 iW: near Changuinola, Bocas del Toro. Province
(BT), 9° 30’ N, 82° 30’ W; and on the Atlantic side of the Canal Zone and
adjacent Colon Province (AS). Details on most of these areas may be found
in Ridgely (1976). The information for each specimen includes location (if
not from the Pacific lowlands), sex, month, weight (in grammes), and
breeding condition if indicated by gonad development, in that order.
Nomenclature follows Ridgely (1976).

Crypturellus soui: 2 Apt. 260°5

Hydranassa tricolor: 2 Oct. 283°7

Agamia agami: § Mar. 602°5

Tigrisoma mexicanum: 9 Mar. 1085-1

Cochlearius cochlearius: (AS) 2 Sep. 503-1 (breeding)
Micrastur semitorquatus: 3 Aug. 513:°0

Porzana carolina: 9 Nov. 50°8

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 62

Gallinula chloropus: 3 Sep. 332°1

Jacana jacana: § Aug. 84°5

Pluvialis squatarola: 3 Feb. 196:2

Charadrius semipalmatus: $3 Feb. 39°3; Nov. 36-9; 22 Mar. 42-4; Oct. 41-4; Nov.
37°0, 38°6, 38:6, 39°1, 39°2, 39°53 Dec. 37-1, 40°0, 45:0

Charadrius collaris: 83 Feb. 30°9; Oct. 26°5, 26-7; Nov. 26-1, 31-0; Dec. 27-5; 99
Feb..28*1,,29°0, 29°2, 30-03 Aug, 28-5; Oct,.29°0, 30:4; Noy, 29-8, 26-1,.29°7,
20°53 * Dec. 2)? 5

Charadrius wilsonia: 33 Feb. 48+6; Mar. 52-2, 52°9, 53°1, 54°3, 55 °1, 66:2, 67-0; Oct.
45°2, 50°4, 63-2; Nov. 48-2, 48-9, 50°2, 53°1, 54°1, 54°6; Dec. 50-9; 29 Feb.
65°53; Mar. 49-4, 54°8, 59°7, 70°4, 80°0; Oct. 48-4, 49°4, 49°8, 52°0, 54°4, 55°6,
55°9, 56°1, §7°1, 57°43 Nov. 48-9, 53°4, 60°0; Dec. 47:2, 54°4

Bartramia longicauda: §$ Oct. 125-5, 130°6

Numenius phaeopus: 3 Jan. 385°6

Tringa flavipes: (AS) 3 Nov. 71-3

Catoptrophorus semipalmatus: 8 Apt. 406-2; 22 Jan. 314°6; Feb. 348-8; Apr. 266-3,

429°7 st

Aphriza virgata: § Feb. 155°3; 2 Feb. 148-0 3

Calidris alba: 9 Feb. 51-1 '

Calidris mauri: 83 Jan. 21-9; Mar. 30:0; Dec. 24°83; 9 Feb. 26-9

Sterna hirundo: 83 Feb. 97°6, 108+4; May 105-6, 121-6; 9 May 105°6

Thalasseus sandvicensis: 9 May 201°8

Columba cayennensis: (BT) 2 Nov. 250

Columbina minuta: Jan. 37°03; Jun. 35-6 (both breeding)

Columbina talpacoti: 8 Oct. 44°4; 29 Sep. 47; Oct. 41°2 7

Claravis pretiosa: 33 Apt. 69-0; Aug. 68-5 (breeding): 9 Aug. 74-8 (egg in oviduct) |

Leptotila cassinii: (AS) ? Feb. 166° 9 7

Brotogeris jugularis: 9 Feb. 68-3 7

Amazona autumnalis: (AS) 3 Mar. 411-2 -

Piaya minuta: 9 Jan. 43°8

Crotophaga major: 33 Jan. 166-7; Feb. 162:1; 99 Feb. 139°5; Apr. 145-1

Crotophaga ani: 8g Feb. 123-7; May 118-7, 133°1; Jun. 116°8; Sep. 107-7, 111°6,
115°6; Oct. 114°5; Nov. 121-7; Dec. 124-3; 99 Apr. 88-7, 89:7; May 84:5, 89:0
93°8, 94°8; Jun. 94°4, 97°5, 106°1; Sep. 81-8, 85:4; Nov. 86-5

Crotophaga sulcirostris: 83 May 68-1, 70:2, 84-1; Sep. 77°9; Oct. 62-0, 71-6, 71°6,
73°8; Nov. 70°3; Dec. 61°13 99 Jan. 67°2;. Apr57- 1s $971, Ga AMA 55/3,
60-8, 64-1; Nov. 63-0; Oct. 61-9, 63:8, 66-7; Dec. 63-0
(BT) 3g Apr. 84-6; Nov. 83-5, 85-6, 87-2; 99 Apr. 64-6, 66-2, 79:8; Nov. 66-1,
66°*7,'7o"2

Tapera naevia: 99 Apr. 52°4; Jun. 56:8 (breeding)

Chordeiles acutipennis: 9 Jan. 46°3

Chaetura brachyura: 2 Jun. 16-8

Glaucis hirsuta: 83 Jan. 6°6; Sep. 8:2

Phaethornis guy: (CP) 3 Apr. 6°1

Phaethornis superciliosus: 3 Aug. 6-7

Anthracothorax nigricollis: 8 Jan. 7: bg 2? Aug. 6

Chlorostilbon assimilis: 83 Feb. 3-7; Sep. 3°43 (BT) 6 Apr. 4°1

Thalurania colombica: (CC) $3 Apr. 4:6, 4°6

Damophila julie: 33 Jan. 3-3; Aug. 3°6, 4°4

Goldmania violiceps: (CJ) $$ Apr. 3°8, 4:0; 99 Feb. 3-9; Apr. 3°4 (breeding), 3-6
(breeding), 3-8

Amazilia edward: 83 Oct. 5-1, 5°43; 92 Jan. 4-3; Sep. 4°3 (breeding), 5-2 (breeding) ;
OCt) 427

Amazilia tzacatl: $3 Jan. 5-1; Oct. 4-4; (BT) ? Apr. 5-6

Chalybura buffonii: 833 Sep. 6-8 (breeding); Oct. 6-9, 7:0; 2 Apr. 7°9

Lampornis castaneoventris: (CP) 3 Apr. 6°3;99 Apr. 4°7, 5:0, §°3

Heliodoxa jacula: (CP) $ Apr. 9°5

Heliomaster longirostris: 8 May 6-9

Selasphorus scintilla: (CP) 2 Apr. 2-0

Trogon aurantiiventris: (CC) 3 Apr. 68-5; 9 Apr. 67-4

Trogon rufus: 9 Jan. 52°1

Electron platyrhynchum: 9 Jan. 61-2

Momotus momota: ? Apt. 94:0

63 [Bull, B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

Notharchus macrorhynchus: 8 Dec. 106+2

Notharchus pectoralis: § Mar. 69-1

Malacoptila panamensis: 8 Jan. 36-9; 2? Mar. 41-9

Nonnula frontalis: (AS) 9 Es Teg 5

Monasa morphoeus: 3 Mat.

Aulacorhynchus prasinus: (CB) 9 St. 167 (egg in oviduct)

Picumnus olivaceus: 8 Aug. 10-0

Celeus loricatus: 3 Oct. 78°53; 2 Mar. 79°8

Dryocopus lineatus: 2 Apt. 177°7
- Melaner pes rubricapillus: 9 Mar. 47-0

Melanerpes pucherani: 3 Apt. 75°8; 2? Mar. 60°4

Campephilus melanoleucos: 3 Oct. 225+3 (breeding)

Dendrocincla fuliginosa: (AS) $$ Mat. 36-0, 42°5

Dendrocolaptes certhia: $$ Mar. 70-0; Sep. 71°7; 2 Mar. 73-9; (AS) 2 Mar. 72-7
Xiphorhynchus guttatus: 9 May 48-9; ? May 58-2

Xiphorhynchus lachrymosus: 83 Feb. 53 +8; Oct. 55°1

Synallaxis albescens: 2 Apr. 14°2

Aenops minutus: 99 Jan. 11-2; Sep. 12-0

Sclerurus guatemalensis: 2 Mar. "36 fe)

Cymbilaimus lineatus: (AS) 3 Mar. 32-9

Taraba major: 3 Jul. 66-4

Thamnophilus doliatus: 8 May 23-9

Thamnophilus punctatus: 3 Mar. 22°8;2 Mar. 22°1

Myrmotherula fulviventris: 9. Mar. 10°3; ? May 9°9

Myrmotherula axillaris: $3 Mar. 7°9, 8°1

Cercomacra tyrannina: (CC) 9 Apr. 15°3

Cercomacra nigricans: 8 Mar. 17-2

Gymnocichla nudiceps: (AS) 3 Mar. 27-9

Myrmeciza exsul: 29 Nov. 26°1

Gymnopithys leucastis: $$ Mat 29-4 (breeding), 29-8 (breeding), 31-0; 9 Mar. 32°3
Hylophylax naevioides: 33 Mar. 16-2; Sep. 15°5

Phaenostictus mcleannani: $$ Mar. 50°5, 51°6; 92 Mar. 51-5; May 44:9
Pipra coronata: 3 Nov. 10°7; 2 Nov. 10°7

Pipra mentalis: 9 Mar. 14°1

Chiroxiphia lanceolata: 33 Apr. 17°5; May 15:6; 9 May 22-3 (breeding)
Corapipo altera: (CC) 33 Mar. 11-5, 12°33 Apr. 12°6

Manacus vitellinus: 833 May 18-0; Aug. 18-7; 9 Aug. 14°9
Schiffornis turdinus: 9 Mar. 33-1

Attila spadiceus: 8 Nov. 38°8

Laniocera rufescens: 3 Mar. 48-1

Pachyramphus cinnamomeus: ? May 20°1

Pachyramphus polychopterus: 9 Jul. 20-4; (BT) 2 Apr. 23-6

Tityra inquisitor: 3 Apr. 46-1

Querula purpurata: ? Mar. 101-6

Colonia colonus: 2 Jan. 16-2 (breeding)

Fluvicola pica: 2 Apr. 10-4 (imm.)

Muscivora forficata: 3 Sep. 27°4

Legatus leucophaius: 3 Aug. 24:8

Sirystes sibilator: 3 Feb. 35-2 (breeding)

Myiodynastes maculatus: 3 Feb. 44-3 (breeding)

Megarhynchus pitangua: 9 Apr. 82-2 (egg in oviduct); (BT) J Nov. 67-6
Myiozetetes cayanensis: 833 Feb. 25-4 (imm.); Aug. 24°8; 2 Feb. 23-2 (breeding)
Pitangus sulphuratus: 8 Aug. 63-7

Pitangus lictor: $$ May 23-1, 23°6

Myiarchus crinitus: 3 Feb. 36: “5

Mbyiarchus panamensis: 8 Mar. 28-1 (breeding)

Myiarchus tuberculifer: 9 Apt. 17°73 ? Mar. 20-4; (CJ) g Feb. 21°3
Nuttallornis borealis: 3 Sep. 30°5

Contopus virens: 3 Oct. 13°5

Contotus sordidulus: 8 Oct. 13-0

Myiobius sulphureipygius: $3 Oct. 11-8, 12°7

Myiophobus fasciatus: § Oct. 9°53; 9 Sep. 8-4

Cnipodectes subbrunneus: 3 Nov. 27°23; 92 Nov. 21°1, 23°4

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 64

Tolmomyias sulphurescens: 88 Feb. 14°2; Sep. 15:9

Rhynchocyclus olivaceus: 9 Jan. 21°1

Todirostrum cinereum: 2? Oct. 6°4

Phylloscarites flavovirens: 9 Sep. 8°8

Capsiempsis flaveola: 3 Aug. 8-0

Elaenia flavogaster: $$ Oct. 25-4 (breeding); Nov. 23-6; 99 Jan. 23-0; Sep. 24:8

Elaenia chiriquensis: (CP) 2 Apr. 19°1 (breeding)

Elaenia frantzii: (CP) $$ Apr. 191, 19°1, 21°1 (breeding), 22-0

Camptostoma obsoletum: 3 Feb. 8-2 (breeding)

Tyrannulus elatus: 83 Jan. 8-0; May 8-6

Ornithion brunneicapillum: 3 Feb. 7-1 (breeding); 2 Feb. 7:2 (breeding); ? Feb. 6-9

Mionectes olivaceus: 29 Nov. 14°7 (breeding)

Pipromorpha oleaginea: 8 Oct. 10-0

Tachycineta albilinea: 9 Aug. 13°6

Neochelidon tibialis: § Jan. 9:2;2 Apr. 9°1

Campylorhynchus albobrunneus: 33 Jan. 32°7; Apr. 34°0, 34°3

Thryothorus leucotis: 8 Apt. 20°6

Thryothorus rufalbus: $$ Feb. 27°7; Aug. 27°1

Thryothorus nigricapillus: (AS) 22 Feb. 26-3; Mar. 22°8

Thryothorus fasciatoventris: 9 Apr. 20-7 (breeding)

Thryothorus rutilus: 33 Feb. 15-7; Apr. 15-3 (breeding)

Troglodytes musculus: 83 Apr. 14°8; Oct. 14°7; 2 Oct. 15-7

Henicorhina leucosticta: (CC) § Mar. 16-1

Henicorhina leucophrys: (CC) 3 Mar. 18-7; (CJ) d Jul. 18-7

Microcerculus marginatus: 2 Nov. 22+2 (breeding)

Cyporhinus phaeocephalus: (AS) 2 Feb. 24:6

Turdus assimilis: (CC) § Mar. 66:2; 9 Mar. 7

Myadestes melanops: (CP) $g Apt. 30-0, 32° a (both breeding)

Polioptila plumbea: 2 Feb. 6-2; (CJ) 3 Feb. 6- “4

Ramphocaenus rufriventris: 2 Sep. FO72

Vireo flavoviridis: ? May 16:6; (CC) 3 Mar. 17-7

Hylophilus aurantiifrons: 3 Apt. 9°6; 2 Feb. 10-1

Hylophilus flavipes: $$ Jun. 12°5; Aug. 11°3, 12°53 Sep. 12°7, 13; 92 Aug .11°4, 12°1,
12°H, 43-23 Sep. a3 s20et: 1327.

Diglossa plumbea: (CP) 3 Apt. 9°3;9 Apr. 9°8

Chlorophanes spiza: 9 Feb. 18-5 (breeding); ? Dec. 17-7; (CC) o Mar. 19-6

Cyanerpes cyaneus: $$ Jan. 13-0 (breeding), 13-1 (breeding); 99 Jan. 14:7; Feb. 13°7
(breeding); ? Aug. 13-1

Dacnis cayana: § Jan. 13-1 (breeding), 13-4; 99 Jan. 13-6, 13°7; ? Sep. 14°5

Danis venusta: (CC) § Apr. 17-1; 2 Mar. 16:2 (both breeding)

Mniotilta varia: ? Dec. 10°3

Protonotaria citrea: 9? Oct. 12°4

Dendroica pensylvanica: § Mar. 10:2

Dendroica castanea: § Jan. 11°4

Oporornis tolmiei: 833 Sep. 11-5; Oct. 10°6

Basileuterus delatrii: 99 Jun. 11-8; Aug. 10°1

Zarhynchus wagleri: (AS) 33 Feb. 213-4, 239°4; 99 Feb. 134-2, 141-3 (all breeding)

Gymnostinops montezuma: (AS) g Apt. 528°5; 2 Apr. 241°8 (both breeding)

Psarocolius decumanus: 99 Jan. 178°3, 191°8 (both breeding)

Cacicus cela: § Oct. 94°9

Cacicus uropygialis: $$ Jan. 62°5, 71°73; Sep. 71°6; Dec. 71-4; 29 Jan. 53°6, 54:2;
May 50:0; Dec. 54°5, 57°6

Molothrus aeneus: 9 May 54:0

Cassidix mexicanus: 2 Aug. 112°0

Icterus auricapillus: 8 Mar. 33°5

Icterus chrysater: 83 Apr. 50°1; Sep. §57°7

A anthocephalus eae ae (AS) p Nov. 65°5

Sturnella magna: 3 Jan. 97°5

Euphonia anneae: (CC) 3 Apr. 15:0; 2? Mar. 15°4

Exuphonia fulvicrissa: 8 Apt. 10°1

Exuphonia minuta: $3 Feb. 9-4 (breeding), 10°6; Oct. 9-9, 11°53; 2 Feb. 11-2

Exuphonia luteicapilla: 2 Sep. 13+2

Exuphonia laniirostris: 83 Feb. 15+2 (imm.); Apr. 14°2, 14°2, 15°33 22 Feb. 16:5,
Apr. 16:0; Oct. 14°5

:

65 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]
Euphonia gouldi: (BT) 3 Apr. 10°9
Tangara icterocephala: (CC) $$ Mar. 22-0, 22°9, 24:7; 92 Mar. 22-4, 22:6; (CC) 2 Apr.
24°1
Tangara larvata: § Feb. 17°7; 99 Feb. 17:1, 18-5; Apr. 17:1; (BT) § Apr. 23:9
Tangara inornata: 83 Jan. 17°4; Feb. 18-8, 19:1; 92 Apr. 18-1; Sep. 18°5
Tangara gyrola: (CC) 3g Mar. 23-8, 23-8, 24°4 (breeding); 2 ‘Mar. 24°1, 25°2
Thraupis episcopus: $3 Mat. ri 0; Oct. 31°5
Thraupis palmarum: 3 Oct. 3
Ramphocelus dimidiatus: 33 ie 27°3, 34°03; Oct. 29°23; 99 Sep. 29-1; Oct. 25°4, 31°8
Ramphocelus icteronotus: § Apr. 30°0;99 Apr. 31-1, 31°8 (all breeding)
_ Piranga rubra: 3 Jan. 28:
Piranga flava: (CC) 3 Mar. 36-7
Habia fuscicauda: 33 Feb. 39-9 (imm.); May 39-7; yan 40°1; Aug. 38-0; 99 Feb. 34:2;
Sep. 36-4; (AS) ¢ Feb. 42-0
Tachythonus rufus: § Aug. 30:9; 9 Sep. 27°5
Tachyphonus luctuosus: 83 Feb. 15:0; May 13°3;2 Mar. 13-8
Exucometis penicillata: 2 Mar. 29°5
Rhodinocichla rosea: 3 Feb. 51°8
Chrysothlypis oe (CC) g Apr. 12°5
Saltator maximus: 9 Aug. 46-9
Saltator albicollis: 38 Apt. 37. -6; Sep. 39; Oct. 42-0, 43-9; 99 Apr. 28-6 (imm.), 40°6
(breeding); Oct. 40-7; ? 35°3
Pitylus grossus: 3 Sep. 43°53 Q May 50°4 (breeding)
Pheucticus ludovicianus: 3 Jan. 47°3
Cyanocompsa cyanoides: 3 Feb. 31°1; 9 Oct. 31°4
Tiaris olivacea: 8 Oct. 9°3; (CJ) d Jul. 10°3
Sporophila aurita: $$ Jun. 10-0; Oct. 10-0 (imm.), 11-6; 9 Oct. 10-8; (BT) dg Apr. 11-9
Sporophila nigricollis: 3 Jun. 9-9
Sptorophila minuta: 2 Jun. 8+3
Oryzoborus funereus: 9 Jun. 13°4; (BT) go Apr. 12-8; (CJ) d Sep. 13-9
Arremon aurantiirostris: 83 Jan. 33°7; May 33°4
Arremonops conirostris: $3 Jun. 39°5 (imm.); Sep. 37-6; 2 Apr. 38-8
Acknowledgements: This work was done while the author was a Visiting Research Associ-
ate and Presidential Intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

References:

Burton, P. J. K. 1973. Non-passerine bird weights from Panama and Colombia. Bu//. Brit.
Orn. Cl. 93: 116-118.

— 1975. Passerine bird weights from Panama and Colombia, with some notes on “soft-
part” colours. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 95: 82-86.

Ridgely, R. S. 1976. A Guide to the Birds of Panama. Princetown, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press.

Address: Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, U.S.A.

An undescribed subspecies of the Red-legged
Honeycreeper Cyanerpes cyaneus
by Kenneth C’. Parkes

Received 10 March 1977
The Red-legged Honeycreeper Cyanerpes cyaneus is a widely distributed
member of the ““honeycreeper”’ group of tanagers (Embetizidae: Thraupinae)
formerly placed in the composite “family Coerebidae” (Storer 1969). The
species ranges from southern Mexico south to Bolivia and southeastern
Brazil, and is highly polytypic. For the South American populations, the
standard revisionary treatment was for many years that of Zimmer (1942),
which, although correct in general outline, had the disadvantage of having
been based only upon material available to the author at the American
Museum of Natural History. The most recent treatment of the species is
that of Storer (1970), who made available to me before publication his

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 66

manuscript of the subfamily Thraupinae for the “‘Peters’’ Check-list, to which
I added distributional information taken from the collections of Carnegie
Museum of Natural History. In the case of Cyanerpes cyaneus (and some other
tanagers), I also did some revisionary studies, and these, as indicated by
Storer’s footnotes and parenthetical remarks, were incorporated into his
Check-list treatment. The present paper will serve to document some of the
changes made by Storer from Zimmer’s arrangement, at my suggestion.

Other than some adjustment in the ranges of subspecies, the principal
differences between Zimmer’s and Storer’s treatment of Cyanerpes cyaneus ate
the recognition by Storer of C. c. brevipes (Cabanis) for the populations of
the lower and middle Amazon, and acknowledgement of the existence in the
southeastern portion of the species’ range of an undescribed race (Storer
1970: 396), of which at that time I had not seen sufficient material to be able
to define accurately its characters and range, since it was represented by only
a few specimens in the collections of Carnegie Museum of Natural History
(CM) and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Subsequent
examination of key specimens from the U.S. National Museum of Natural
History (USNM) has verified the existence of this race, which is now be-
latedly described as new. A few preliminary remarks will explain some of the
changes made from Zimmer’s concept of the taces of Cyanerpes cyaneus.

Zimmer’s race violaceus, described from Matto Grosso, Brazil, is a good
subspecies. Without having seen Bolivian specimens, Zimmer stated,
however, that “it is probable that the specimens recorded from Guarayos,
eastern Bolivia [see Hellmayr 1935: 253-254], belong to vio/aceus’’. This is
confirmed by a series (CM) from the Rio Surutt, Dept. of Santa Cruz
(southwest of Guarayos), Bolivia (for coordinates, see Paynter e¢ a/. 1975).
The range of vzolaceus extends even farther north and west, as indicated by a
single male (CM) of this race from Hyutanahan, upper Rio Purus, Brazil (an
area whose avifauna shows a number of Bolivian affinities). A moulting male
(AMNH) from Borba, on the Rio Madeira, Brazil, approaches this race
closely. Zimmer’s colour comparisons of violaceus with nominate cyaneus are
somewhat inaccurate as well as incomplete. He stated that females of violaceus
“differ in color from those of cyaneus principally by duller yellowish inner
margins of the remiges”. In point of fact, the few female skins available do
not show any clearcut difference in the yellow of the underwing. Geographic
variation in colour of females will be discussed in more detail later. A charac-
ter of males, mentioned in Zimmer’s description of the type of wzolaceus but
not in his diagnosis, is that the pale turquoise blue of the cap is separated
from the black of the back by a distinct dark purplish band (the colour of the
underparts), whereas in cyaneus males the cap colour blends posteriorly, and
is still pale when the back is reached.

Specimens from the lower and middle Amazon, from the middle Tocantins
west at least to Manacapurt, are like cyaneus in colour but have tiny bills
(from nostril, 11-12:5 mm., mean 11°8 versus 13-16 mm., mean 14-4 in
cyaneus). These should be C. ¢. brevipes (Cabanis), which was thought er-
roneously by the describer to have come from Porto Cabello, Venezuela, the
source also of the type of his long-billed race eximia. Gyldenstolpe (1945)
substituted “‘Para’”’ as the type locality of brevipes, but this was an unhappy
choice as specimens from the vicinity of the city of Para (now Belém) are not
the small-billed bird, but are intergrades between Guianian cyaneus and the
eastern Brazilian race to be described below. At my suggestion, Storer (1970)

ee

67 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

interpreted Gyldenstolpes “Para” as meaning the safe of Para, and further
restricted the type locality of brevipes to Santarém, a locality inhabited by the
small-billed bird. That this fulfills Gyldenstolpe’s intent is indicated by the
latter author having called his specimens from the Rio Tapajéz (at the mouth
of which lies Santerém) “brevipes.” Zimmer rejected brevipes on the basis of
“too much overlap” of bill measurements, but it is apparent that he did not
understand the geographic pattern shown by the variation in bill size.

Gyldenstolpe (1945) called his specimens from the Rio Jurué, in western-
most Amazonas, Brazil, “brevipes”, but the bill measurements cited and the
colour description indicate that these birds are better referred to the north-
western race dispar Zimmer, and this treatment was adopted by Storer.

We turn now to the southeastern race, which may be called

Cyanerpes cyaneus holti subsp. nov.

Type: Carnegie Museum of Natural History no. 137834, adult 3, collected
at Pau Gigante (now Ibiracu), Espirito Santo, Brazil (19°50’S, 40°22’W),
21 October 1940, by E. G. and M. L. Holt.

Characters: Adult males similar to vio/aceus Zimmet in having the turquoise
crown patch restricted, especially posteriorly (thus differing from the
adjacent races cyaneus and brevipes), but bill long as in cyaneus. Underparts and
lower dorsum darker and more intensely coloured than cyaneus and brevipes,
but not as purplish as violaceus. Yellow of inner webs of remiges of both sexes
deeper and more sharply defined than in any of the three other races under
discussion.

Range: Eastern Brazil from Pernambuco to Espirito Santo; Rio de Janeiro
records (Hellmayr 1935) undoubtedly belong here. Occurs inland at least as
far as Formosa, southeastern Goids. Intergrades with cyaneus in easternmost
Para (Benevides, 32 km east of Belém) and Maranh4o (Miritiba). Intergrades
with brevipes in northernmost Goids (Araguatins) and at Villa Braga, ¢c. 256
km upstream (southwest) from Santarém on the Rio Tapajos.

Measurements: Among the four eastern South American races under
consideration here, I found no significant differences in flattened wing length
except that v7o/aceus averages somewhat longer (means of adult 34 as follows:
cyaneus 63-6, brevipes 62-7, holti 63-4, violaceus 65-9 mm). This accords well
with wing measurements given by Zimmer. Measurements of bill from
anterior edge of nostril are as follows: cyaneus 13-16 (14-4); brevipes 11-12°5
(11-8); violaceus 11+ 5-13 (12:2); holti 12-5-14°5 mm (13-0). The bills of holt
in addition to averaging longer than those of violaceus, are visibly more
slender, especially at the base. As Zimmer has pointed out, bill length and
wing length do not vary concordantly in this species: a better separation
between violaceus and holti is shown by the bill/wing ratio. This ranges from
-187 to -195 (-189) in violaceus, and -192 to -228 (-205) in holt.

Etymology: This subspecies is named to honour the collector, Ernest G.
Holt, a gifted and versatile ornithologist all too little known to younger
colleagues.

Specimens examined: All of the AMNH material listed by Zimmer (1942)
was seen. All pertinent material in USNM was examined, but only those
specimens that were taken to Pittsburgh for direct comparisons are listed
here, namely those of 4o/# and its intergrades. cyaneus — FRENCH GUIANA:
Pied Saut 18; Cayenne 9; Mana 1. suRINAM: Powakka 1. brevipes — BRAZIL:
Manacapuri, Amazonas 7; Caviana, Amazonas 2; Santarém, Para 9; Obidos,

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 68

Para 3. ho/ti — BRAzIL: Pau Gigante (=Ibiracu), Espirito Santo 5 (USNM 4,
CM 1); Formosa, Goias 1 (USNM); Recife, Pernambuco 1 (USNM).
Cyaneus x holti — BRAzIL: Benevides, Para 7 (CM); Para (=Belém), Para 2
(USNM). brevipes < holti — BRAziu: Villa Braga, Para 2 (CM); Araguatins,
Goias 1 (USNM). violaceus — Bouivia: Rio Surutt, Santa Cruz 7; BRAZIL:
Hyutanahan, Amazonas 1.

Remarks on females: Colour differences among females of this species are
difficult to assess, as wear tends to alter their colours far more than those of
males. In general, cyaneus appears to be the darkest green dorsally of the races
under consideration here, and brevipes the yellowest green, with violaceus and
holti intermediate. A single female from Benevides, from the population
identified in males as cyaneus x holti, would not be surely separable from
cyaneus, although not as dark dorsally as most examples of that race. Some
colour tendencies can be noted in the underparts. The broadest and most
conspicuous white shaft streaks are found in brevipes, which also tends to be
washed with yellow, most conspicuously on the under tail coverts. In
violaceus and holti the throat is nearly solid white rather than streaked white
and green as in cyaneus and brevipes. The white shaft streaks of the underparts
in violaceus and holti scarcely extend posterior to the upper breast, whereas
in cyaneus and brevipes they continue to the upper abdomen. The one female
from Villa Braga is too dark for brevipes dorsally, and too long-billed for that
race, but resembles brevipes ventrally, thus, like the male, appearing inter-
mediate between brevipes and holti.

Acknowledgements: 1 am grateful to the authorities of the American Museum of Natural
History and the U.S. National Museum of Natural History for permission to utilize their
specimens in this study. Dr. Paul Slud of the latter institution was kind enough to verify
for me the location of Pau Gigante, Brazil.

References:

Gyldenstolpe, N. 1945. The bird te 3 Rio Jurua in western Brazil. Kungl. Svenska Vet.-
Akad. Handl., set. 3, 22 (3): 1

Hellmayr, C. E. 19 35. Gatblogee of bieds of the Americas . . [etc.], part 8. Field Mus. Nat.
Hist. Zool. Ser. 13, (8): 1-541.

Paynter, R. A., Jr., Traylor, M. A., Jr. & Winter, B. 1975. Ornithological Gazetteer of Bolivia.
Cambridge: Museum of Compatative Zoology.

Storer, R. W. 1969. What is a tanager? Living Bird 8: 127-136.

— 1970. Thraupinae, in Check-list of Birds of the World, vol. 13, ed. by R. A. Paynter, Jr.
Cambridge, Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Zimmer, J. T. 1942. Studies of Peruvian birds. No. XLIV. Notes on the genera Diglossa
and Cyanerpes, with addenda to Ochthoeca. Amer. Mus. Novit. 1203: 1-15.

Address: Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA.

Faunistic notes and further additions to the
Sumatran avifauna
by D. A. Holmes

Received 14 March 1977

These notes add some further species to the Sumatran avifauna and confirm
other species whose presence in Sumatra has been in doubt. Most of the
following records are from Lampung, the southernmost province of Sumatra
(5° S, 105° E), with a few from Jambi province (2° S, 103° B).
ARDEOLA SPECIOSA

Pond Herons were seen at several localities in Lampung in 1976 at each
season, and the breeding plumage in early May (buff neck, black back and

69 [Bull, B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

cinnamon breast) confirmed the specific identification. The Javan Pond
Heron has a discontinuous distribution, for example occurring in Thailand,
Java and Borneo (Salomonsen 1929) but not in West Malaysia and hitherto
not reliably in Sumatra (Chasen 1935).

CICONIA EPISCOPUS

Ciconia spp. ate seen quite commonly in the Sumatran plains, either singly
or up to 7 birds together. My own records range from the Barumon river
in the north (2° N, 100° E), the Batang Hari river near Muara Tembesi in
Jambi, and from several localities in Lampung. Birds examined at fairly close
range in January 1976 in Jambi, and in November 1976 at Menggala in
Lampung, all had grey or dark grey facial skin and bill, the bill tipped with a
dark reddish tinge, black cap, and wholly white throat and neck sharply
demarcated from the black breast, identifying them as White-necked Storks
Ciconia episcopus. The habitat of open swamp, flooded grazing land, riceland,
grassland and dryland crops is also typical of epzscopus.

Chasen (1935) included Sumatra within the range of C. episcopus but this
has been questioned by White (1974) in view of the lack of positive records.
It would be expected that these storks belonged to the race neglecta, of Java
and Wallacea, but field observations of the bill colour suggest that they are
nominate episcopus, presently known south only to penisular Thailand. This
point requires checking.

CICONIA STORMI

White (1974) notes that museum specimens exist of Storm’s Storks
Ciconia stormi from Sumatra. In November 1975 in Jambi I watched two
storks, soaring over forest, which appeared from below, and against the
light, to be all black except for the white under tail coverts and tail, and some
white about the face. I could see no white neck as such, and there appeared
to be some yellow or red about the face and bill. In October 1976 in Lampung
I flushed a solitary stork from a puddle on a narrow enclosed track in dense
logged primary forest, near the lower reaches of the Seputih river. The
plumage of the Jambi birds identifies storm7, and the habitat of the Lampung
bird is typical for stormi but would be most unusual for episcopus.

Thus stormi and episcopus occur together in Sumatra and stormi is not
exclusively interposing between two distinct populations of episcopus, as
White has suggested.

CAIRINA SCUTULATA

The White-winged Wood Duck, whose presence in Sumatra has recently
been reconfirmed (Holmes 1976), appears to be quite widely distributed in
suitable habitat in Lampung province (see Holmes, in press).
MACHEIRAMPHUS ALCINUS—LONCHURA PUNCTULATA nesting association

On 24 June 1976 near Ketibung in southern Lampung, a Bat Hawk was
seen to alight on its nest, where it was soon joined by its partner and mating
took place. The nest was a bulky affair of sticks and twigs constructed on a
main branch high in an isolated forest tree left standing in recently cleared
lowland terrain. A pair of Spotted Munias Lonchura punctulata were present
and had constructed their nest of dead grasses, etc. in the base of the hawk’s
nest.

METOPIDIUS INDICUS

Sumatra is included within the range of the Bronze-winged Jacana by

Chasen (1935), apparently on the basis of one specimen labelled Sumatra

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 70

from the Wallace Collection in the British Museum (cat. Birds BM XXIV:
76). The label gives the date as 1862 but no details of locality can be traced.
Medway & Wells (1976) omitted the island from its known range.

On 21 November 1976 this jacana was common at a swamp at Bujung
Tenuk near Menggala in North Lampung. The following January none was
present there, but they were common at another swamp neatby, where birds
were in pairs and courtship was observed.

HIMANTOPUS HIMANTOPUS LEUCOCEPHALUS

Three Black-winged Stilts were feeding on the muddy foreshore at Labu-
han Maringgai on Lampung’s east coast on 18 January 1977. One adult bird
had a pronounced black stripe on the back of the neck extending into a half
collar, identifying it as the Austtalian subspecies /eucocephalus, which is
known to extend west into Java and southern Borneo. Chasen (1935: 35)
states that ““we do not admit the locality ‘Sumatra’ for this form”, but no
reason is given.

CHLIDONIAS LEUCOPTERUS

Chasen (1935) confines the distribution of the White-winged Black Tern
in Sumatra to the Straits of Malacca. On 19 April 1976 this tern was common
at the top of Lampung Bay (mostly in full breeding plumage). Marsh terns,
assumed to be this species, were also present at a small lake inland near
Rumbia on 6 October, and others in Lampung Bay in late December. These
records confirm that the species migrates through and overwinters in Sumatra
proper.

PTILINOPUS MELANOSPILA

A pair of Black-naped Fruit Doves was seen on 19 April 1976 on Pulau
Tegel, a small island in Lampung Bay 13 km due south of Tanjung Karang.
The island is mostly forested but the doves were seen in a line of bushes
separating a plot of grassland from the beach.

The species ranges from Java eastwards and has not previously been
recorded in Sumatra. Hoogerwerf (1969) comments that the dove was more
commonly recorded in the Ujong Kulon reserve of West Java after the
Second World War than before, suggesting that a small extension of popu-
lation has occurred. I did not find the dove elsewhere in Lampung and pos-
sibly it is confirmed in Sumatra to some forested islands and the coastal strip
close to Java.

TYTO ALBA

Barn Owls were heard at night in Tanjung Karang on 21 May 1976, and at
Lake Jepara in the east of Lampung on 1 July. Confirmation came when a
live bird was brought to me on 18 October, having been freshly caught ona
hill close to Tanjung Karang.

This specimen is now in the Zoological Museum at Bogor, where it was
kindly prepared and examined by Dr. S. Somadikarta. The 26 specimens of
T.. a. javanica in that collection, all from Java, show considerable variation in
colour, but the present bird, an adult male, is very slightly darker on the
upperparts. The measurements agree with those of javanicus, and are larger
than two specimens of sumbaensis from Sumba in the same collection, and one
specimen of deroepstorff from the Southern Andaman Islands (Hume 1875).

Chasen (1935) records that this owl is “‘of very doubtful occurrence in
Sumatra and Borneo”; however in view of its striking increase in West
Malaysia (D. R. Wells) and probably also in peninsular Thailand (Holmes

71 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)]

& Wells 1975), it seems likely that the Barn Owl is already widespread in the
open plains of Sumatra.

APUS PACIFICUS

The Pacific Swift is a passage migrant through southern Sumatra, at least
on the southward migration. On 5 October, several were seen near Jambi in
1975 and in Lampung in 1976, with further records during both these
months. Stragglers may overwinter as a few were seen in Lampung in mid-
January. Mees (1973) was unable to find any records of this swift in Sumatra,
although it appeared on all the Sumatran lists; but he commented that “A.
pacificus is bound to be found in Sumatra sooner or later”.

ALCEDO CAERULESCENS

The Small Blue Kingfisher was first recorded for Sumatra on 25 April 1976
when it was found to be common at a coralline beach backed by a narrow
mangrove swamp on the west side of Lampung Bay. Subsequently birds were
seen elsewhere in the bay on both sandy and muddy beaches. It is not
confined to this bay, for on 19 January one was seen 3 km inland in the open
swamps of the Penet river near Jepara, on the east coast. It is likely that this
kingfisher is now quite widespread around the coast of Sumatra.

Most of the species discussed here have affinities with the fauna of the
neighbouring island of Java. It is reasonable to assume that A. speciosa,
M. indicus and H. himantopus are either indigenous in southern Sumatra or at
least of regular occurrence there. Ty/o alba, together with Czsticola exilis
(Harvey & Holmes 1976), may have spread into Sumatra more recently,
perhaps coinciding with widespread de-afforestation. Unfortunately I was
unable to confirm records of four other species of Javanese affinity in Lam-
pung, namely the Grey Teal Axas gibberifrons (near Jepara in June and
January), a small cormorant, either Phalacrocorax niger ot P. sulcirostris (three
near Jepara in January), the Indian Hanging Lorikeet Loriculus vernalis
(coastal coconut groves in the southeastern corner of Lampung Bay in April)
and perhaps also the Scatlet-breasted Flowerpecker Dicaem trochileum.

Iam most grateful to Dr. G. F. Mees, Dr. S. Somadikarta and Dr. D. R. Wells for their
assistance in assembling the evidence for this paper, to C. M. N. White for his comments

on a first draft concerning Ciconia sp. and to R. F. Ollington for sending me his own records
of water birds in Sumatra.

References:

Chasen, F. N. 1935. A handlist of Malaysian birds. Bull. Raffles Mus. 11.

Harvey, W. G. & Holmes, D. A. 1976. Additions to the avifaunas of Sumatra and Kali-
mantan, Indonesia. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 96: 90-92.

Holmes, D. A. 1976. A record of White-winged Wood Duck Ca/rina scutulata in Sumatta.
Bull. Brit, Orn. Cl. 96: 88-89.

— In press. A report on Cairina scutulata in Lampung province, Sumatra. Wildfowl.

Holmes, D, A. & Wells, D. R. 1975. Further observations on the birds of South Thailand.
Nat. Hist. Bull, Siam Soc. 26: 61-78.

Hoogerwerf, A. 1969. On the ornithology of the Rhino Sanctuary Udjung Kulon in West
Java (Indonesia). Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. 23: 26.

Hume, A, O. (Ed.) 1875. Stray Feathers 3: 390-391.

Medway, Lord & Wells, D. R. 1976. The Birds of the Malay Peninsula. Vol. 5. London,
Witherby; Kuala Lumpur, University of Malaya Press.

Mees, G. F. 1973. The status of two species of migrant swift in Java and Sumatra (Aves,
Apodidae). Zool. Meded. 46: 197-207.

Salomonsen, M. F. 1929. Quelques observations sur le genre Ardeola (Ardeides). Bull. Mus.
Natn. Hist. Nat. Paris. Second Series. 1: 347-357.

White, C. M. N. 1974. Three water birds of Wallacea. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 94: 9-11.

Address: The Old Rectory, Sudborough, Kettering, Northants, UK.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(2)] 72
IN BRIEF

Co-operation invited on the protection of the Bald Ibis

Geronticus eremita

Current distribution of the Bald Ibis Geronticus eremita is now limited to only
two widely remote areas.

The only known breeding site of the Eastern population is located in
Birecik on the Euphrates river in southeast Turkey. Disturbances to the
breeding sites and the extensive use of insecticides have led to a reduction of
this population from 1000 to only 39 birds in the last 25 years. Bald Ibis have
been observed in Syria (where there were breeding sites until about 1920),
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and the Somali
Republic. It is possible that breeding sites exist on the Saudi Arabian Red
Sea coast, in Yemen, and in the border area between Ethiopia and Sudan.

The Western population has a number of breeding sites in Morocco: I
estimated there were 200-250 breeding pairs in 1975. Poaching and the
cultivation of previously semi-arid feeding sites, as well as disturbance by
tourists, have further decimated the remaining number of birds. In some
colonies this has adversely affected the age composition of breeding pairs
which, in many cases, ate now so old that it must be feared that these colonies
will not survive.

In order to plan and implement a World Wildlife Fund project for the
protection of the last-surviving Bald Ibis, I am collecting all available infor- _
mation, including that of earlier years. Naturally, the assistance of ornitholo-
gists and bird observers will be invaluable to me, and they are therefore
kindly requested to send me any observations of the Bald Ibis they may have.
The locations of breeding sites will not be passed on by me or published in
any way. If requested, any other information will also be treated confidentially
and will not be released for publication.

Please write to: Mr. Udo Hirsch, Theodor-Brauer-Str. 35, 5000 Cologne
80, W. Germany, or at World Wildlife Fund, Conservation Department,
CH-1110 Morges, Switzerland. 10 March 1977.

BOOKS RECEIVED

Goodets, J. 1977. Where to Watch Birds. Pp. 1-343. Maps. Pan Books Ltd., London £1- 50.
Paperback of this well-known and useful book, first published in 1967, on bird watching
areas in the counties of Britain. ;

Gooders, J. 1977. How to Watch Birds. Pp. 1-155. Illustrated. Pan Books Ltd., London. 95p.
Paperback of the companion volume to Where to Watch Birds, first published in 1975 as
an elementary introduction to a serious approach to bird-watching.

Owen, M. 1977. Wildfowl of Europe. Pp. 1-256. 54 colour plates by Hilary Burn. 49 maps,
many line drawings, diagrams. Macmillan: London. {15 (£12 until 31.xii.77).

A very successful compromise between the decorative and the plain scientific volume—
tastefully and accurately illustrated in colour and black and white, with an authoritative text
covering evolution, population make-up, migration, behaviour, ecology, etc., with a
comprehensive, yet pleasantly discursive and commendably succinct, account of each of the
55 species of swans, geese and duck of Europe, and clear informative maps of distribution.
Serle, W., Morel, G. J. & Hartwig, W. 1977. A Field Guide to the Birds of West Africa.

Pp. 1-351. 515 species illustrated, 335 in colour, end paper maps, hard water-resistant

binding. Collins: London. £5-95. "

This long-awaited and invaluable illustrated field guide by two recognised authorities
covets the vast area of southern Mauritania—Chad, Senegal—Nigeria, Cameroons, Central
African Republic, Gaboon and the Congo. Of the 1097 species recorded therein, 726 ate
included_in the main text, the remainder treated more briefly as “‘allied species” or men-
tioned in the comprehensive checklist. The main systematic list includes identification,
voice, distribution and habitat, and nesting (no breeding dates) of each species.

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NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS

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ISSN 0007 - 1595

Bulletin of the

British Ornithologists’ Club

Edited by
Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 97 No.3 September 1977

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

Tuesday, 15 November 1977 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m., at the Senior Common
Room, South Side, Imperial College, South Kensington (entrance on the
south side of Prince’s Gardens, S.W.7, on the east side of Exhibition Road).
Mrs. Stephanie Tyler, pH.p., on the avifauna of Ethiopia and describing
especially observations in Tigre and Eritrea. Those wishing to attend should
send a cheque for £3.90 a person to the Hon. Secretary with their accept-
ance on the enclosed slip to arrive not Jater than the first post on Thurs-
day 10 November.

Tuesday, 17 January 1976 di 6.30 p.m. tory p.m. Dr A G. Harrison on
“Indian Interlude’.

COMMITTEE
P. Hogg (Chairman) Dr. G. Beven (Vice-Chairman)
R. E. F. Peal (Hon. Secretary) M. St.J. Sugg (Hon. Treasurer)
Dr. J. F. Monk ( Editor) Mrs. J. D. Bradley
C. E. Wheeler B. Gray

V. F. Mann

(i We hy, “oN
73 Shy. s o Bill aps 1977: 97(3)]
Bulletin of the

BRITISH ORNITHOL oles CLUB

Vol. 97 No.3 Published : 20 September 1977

The seven hundred and seventh Meeting of the Club was held at The Goat
Tavern, 3 Stafford Street, London, W.1, on Tuesday, 19 July 1977 at 7 p.m.

Chairman: Mr. P. Hogg; present 22 members and 6 guests.

Mr. Stanley Cramp, 0.B.E., spoke on the Handboo® of the Birds of Europe,
the Middle East and North Africa (The Birds of the Western Palaearctic). He
described the editorial organization and explained the nature of the material
being included, together with the layout. He displayed specimen pages and
some original drawings of birds of prey for Volume II. There was an
interesting discussion and Mr. Cramp invited further comments by
members after the publication shortly of Volume I.

The voice of the courser Rhinoptilus cinctus
by R. J. Dowsett, Francoise Lemaire & BR. Shernstedt

Received 15 February 1977

Descriptions of the voice of the Three-banded (or Heuglin’s) Courser
Rhinoptilus cinctus have been published by Dowsett (1969) and Vernon
(1972). Dowsett described what was apparently the alarm call of disturbed
birds, and Vernon a nocturnal social call, presumably the song. Both vocali-
sations are basically a “wicky-wicky-wicky-wick”’, the song continuing for
much longer than the alarm and accelerating before dying away. Both types
of vocalisation have been heard frequently at night in Zambia by Dowsett,
and by Stjernstedt, who has tape recorded them.

Dowsett’s (1969) note was prompted by Benson & Irwin (1967), who cast
doubt upon earlier published descriptions of the voice of the Three-banded
Courser. Benson’s misgivings arose from an unpublished tape recording by
the late Myles North, made at Maungu in southeastern Kenya, and suspected
by North to be of a call of the Nubian Nightjar Caprimulgus nubicus. It is not
clear what evidence North had to support his supposition, and to Benson’s
eats the tape presented vocalisations very similar to those he had previously
attributed to the courser while in Ethiopia; but Benson assumed he must have
been in error. Vetnon (1972) has now established the basic repertoire of R.
cinctus, and it is clear that the vocalisations Benson heard in Ethiopia were
indeed those of this courser. However, the identity of the bird on North’s
tape has remained in question.

Through the kind assistance of Stuart Keith, we have been able to examine
a copy of North’s tape, which North edited in 1963, but never published. It
contains the songs of nine African breeding nightjars and the European
C. europaeus. On this tape North divides the Caprimulgus songs into two
types, the “whistling” and the “chuiring”, though the “Nubian Nightjat”’
recordings do not fit into either of these categories: if they were indeed
produced by a nightjar, then they are clearly anomalous, since all Caprimulgus
songs described to date consist of an unvarying repetition of a note or phrase,

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 74

6
h

Rm mm Am <2 af RELY 2 Coane ia a
a — Da

7 See
Po

6
4 1

j lal laid ar. 1 i L Bert W ig) VP ary ne g8e
2 a al i Wn “i \" nr fy ee ai | w a eh

F sec

Figure 1. The voice of the courser Rhinoptilus cinctus. Sonograms of the jsocial call of
Rhinoptilus cinetus: (a) & (c) Lochinvar National Park, southern Zambia (Stjernstedt) ;
(b) & (d) Maungu, southeastern Kenya (North). (a) & (b) ate calls, (c) & (d) songs.

Kuz 2

AVAAAAV TATA ire AM

1 Sec

7 Sec

Figure 2. Sonograms of the two basic types of nightjar song: (a) churring, Mocambique
Nightjar Caprimulgus fossii, Kalomo, southern Zambia (Stjernstedt); (b) whistling, Fiery-
necked Nightjar C’. pectoralis, Kruger Park, South Africa (Haagner 1961).

15 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

To our ears the vocalisations of North’s bird are identical to those we
know to be made by the Three-banded Courser. Lemaire has produced
sonograms from the North tape and from a tape of undoubted Three-
banded Courser made by Stjernstedt in southern Zambia. Representative
extracts are presented in Figure 1. Both samples present similar repeated
“kui” calls at the same pitch, with only a difference in delivery, which might
be caused by different intensities of motivation. The songs are of the same
length, and show the same pattern of rhythm, i.e. an accelerated repetition of
one note, rising then decreasing in volume and decreasing in pitch. The two
vocalisations are so clearly identical that it is difficult to believe they are not
made by closely related, if not identical, species.

Lemaire has produced sonograms from tapes by Stjernstedt and by
Haagner of two other nightjar songs (Fig. 2), which can be compared with
the vocalisations attributed to the Nubian Nightjar by North; clearly thete
is no resemblance. Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1952: 671) describe the song
of the Nubian Nightjar as “a liquid ‘chukku-chukku-chukkw’ ”’, as described
by Butler (1909: 400), who in fact placed an exclamation mark after each
“chukku”’. He found the nightjar near the Red Sea coast, and saw or heard it
evety evening. It was the only nightjar he found there, and he collected a
single male to confirm his identification. Although we know of no authentic
tape of the Nubian Nightjar’s song, there seems to be no reason to doubt
Butler’s version. It appears to be a churring song and quite unlike the North
tape.

In short, we have no doubt that North’s recording is of a Three-banded
Courser, since the sonograms agree closely and the species is known to
occur in southeastern Kenya where North made his recording.

Benson & Irwin (1967) emphasised the need for extra care in the identi-
fication of calling nocturnal birds. Many species of nightjar are very difficult
to identify with certainty by sight at night. Moreover, several different
species may congregate in an area, and so it is essential that the singing
individual be identified and no other. Nightjars can often be induced to
come close by playing back a tape, and it might then be possible to see clearly,
capture or shoot the unidentified bird. These precautions are frequently even
required to authenticate tape recordings of diurnal species, and it is un-
fortunate that there are a number of serious errors of identification on several
commercially available records and tapes of African birds.

Weare grateful to Professor J. C. Ruwet and the Laboratoire d’Ethologie et de Psycholo-
gie animale, University of Liége for facilities to produce sonograms. Mr. G. Stuart Keith
kindly made available a copy of North’s tape, and Mr. C. W. Benson has read this paper.

References:

Benson, C. W. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1967. A contribution to the ornithology of Zambia.
Zambia Museum Papers: 30-31.

Butler, A. L. 1909. Contributions to the Ornithology of the Sudan—No. IV. On birds
observed on the Red Sea coast in May 1908. Lbis 9 ser. (3): 389-400.

Dowsett, R. J. 1969. The call of the Three-banded Courser Rhinoptilus cinctus. Puku 5: 222.

Haagner, C. H. 1961. Birds of the Kruger Park. XTR 1 7044. International Library of African
Music, Roodepoort, Transvaal, South Africa. Commercial recording.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1952. Birds of Eastern and North-eastern Africa.
African Handbook of birds. Series I, Vol. I. London: Longmans.

Vernon, C. J. 1972. The call of the Three-banded Courser. Ostrich 43: 68.

Address: Livingstone Museum, P.O. Box 498, Livingstone, Zambia

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 76

The occurrence of the Crimson Fruitcrow

Haematoderus militaris in Surinam
by F’. Hlaverschmidt

Received 24 March 1977

According to the most recent classification, the family Cotingidae consists of
79 species. Because of the paucity or even the lack of recent records from
their limited range, six may be in danger of extinction (Snow 1976). One of
the latter is the Crimson Fiuitcrow Alaematoderus militaris. It is about the size
of a Jackdaw Corvus monedula, and the male is almost entirely deep crimson.
According to Snow (1976), it is known from a small number of places in the
State of Para in northern Brazil, and was recorded in the nineteenth
century and early this century in the Guianas. There ate no recent records
from Guyana (Snyder 1966). However, it still occurs in neighbouring
Surinam (Haverschmidt 1968) where I saw it five times between 1946 and
1968 :—10 August 1967, a g in savanna forest a few miles west of Albina on
the west bank of the Maroni River; 24 August 1961, a J in high forest near
Phedra on the west bank of the Surinam River, where I also saw 2 birds in
high forest on 26 April 1964; 20 January 1962 a d in high forest near Rama
(about 10 miles south of Phedra); 4 November 1961 a $ in savanna forest
a few miles north of Kraka in the region of the Surinam River. In this same
atea Miss Dr. F. Feekes, who studied for some years the behaviour of
Oropendolas and Caciques in Surinam, saw a male in savanna forest near
Powakka on 19 December 1973. Mr. T. H. Davis observed a bitd on 4 April
1970 in the region of the Surinam River along the Brokopondo road about
100 m east of the Afobakka Highway, and again on 5 April 1973 another
along the Afobakka Highway c. 8 km north of the Brokopondo turning
(pers. comm.).

All the birds I saw were sitting on the tops of trees and I never heard them
calling. I also received a § (in spirit) shot about mid August 1962 at an un-
known locality in high forest near the upper Coppename River. It is pre-
served as a skeleton in the Museum of Zoology of the University of Michigan
at Ann Arbor.

It is obvious from these records that the Crimson Fruitcrow still occurs
in widely separated localities in Surinam and in high forest as well as in
savanna forest. The opening up of the interior of the country is being
accelerated by the building of roads, and this is inevitably followed by the
cutting and burning of the surrounding forest for short time agriculture.
There is no cause for complacency over the future survival of this magnifi-
cent bird. Up till now it has not been tecorded in any of the nature reserves
which have been established during the last years.

I wish to thank Miss Feekes and Mr. Davis for permitting me to publish their observations.

References:

Haverschmidt, F. 1968. Birds of Surinam. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

nis r W. 1976. The Web of Adaptation. Bird Studies in the American Tropics. London:
ollins.

Snyder, D. E. 1966. The Birds of Guyana. Salem. Peabody Museum.

Address: Wolfskuilstraat 16, 7731 AT OMMEN, Holland

17 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

Notes on tool-using by Egyptian Vultures
Neophron percnopterus

by Jeffery Boswall

Received 25 March 1977

It is worth placing on record that the use of stones to break open an egg of
the Ostrich Struthio camelus was experimentally induced in a wild Egyptian
Vulture Neophron percnopterus on the football pitch at the Mitchell-Cotts
estate neat Tendaho, Wollo Province, Ethiopia, on about 9 May 1970. The
shell of an Ostrich egg was purchased in a local curio shop, filled with water,
sealed, put out and almost immediately bombarded by a local Egyptian
Vulture. No notes were made but a film showing the behaviour was taken
(Fisher 1970). The sequence with the vulture bombarding the egg runs
about 14 minutes. The film implies that the behaviour was seen in the Awash
National Park, Shoa Province, but in fact it was observed near Tendaho, well
to the north. The behaviour of the bird appears to be similar to that des-
cribed by the Lawick-Goodalls (1966, 1968).

Alcock (1970), writing on the possible origin of tool-using by the Egyptian
Vulture, attributes to the Lawick-Goodalls the view that the bird’s use of
stones was “restricted to a limited population of vultures” and that “stone-
throwing by vultures is widespread in only one area”. For fear that this
misquotation be perpetuated it is worth drawing attention to the fact that
the Lawick-Goodalls (1968) specifically say “. . . we have not yet learned
whether stone-throwing is a local custom or common to the species as a
whole”’.

Baxter ef a/. (1969) drew attention to a nineteenth century reference to the
use of tools by the Egyptian Vulture by Wood (1877), who, it seemed likely,
had heard or read a first or second hand account of the behaviour. The
account was clearly that of Sir James Alexander quoted by Andersson (1856).
On the authority of the natives about the Orange River in southwest Africa,
Sir James says that when the Ostriches leave their nests in the middle of the
day “a white Egyptian Vulture may be seen soaring in mid-air, with a stone
between his talons. Having surveyed the ground below him, he suddenly lets
fall the stone, then follows it in rapid descent. Let the hunter run to the spot,
and he will find a nest of probably a score of eggs, some of them broken by
the vulture”. This method must await confirmation by modern observers,
but I think we can safely accept that the vultures were responsible for break-
ing the Ostrich eggs by one means or another. Another nineteenth century
reference is that of Myers (1876). He anda companion in March 1875 concealed
themselves near the nest of an Ostrich near Kassala in the Sudan, intent upon
shooting the returning bird. “After an hour .. . two visitors in the form of
vultuies pounced down upon the nest, and, apparently quite satisfied with
the certainty of a quiet feast, commenced operations by a personal hunt
amongst their own featheis, then a general survey was made of the white
objects before them; and finally having retired for a moment, each returned
with a stone in its beak and set to work to hammer a hole through the shell
of an ege”’.

Thus the use of tools by Egyptian Vultures is established in localities as
far apart as 5,000 km in Africa. Since the birds respond so readily to eggs

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 78

put out for them (Lawick-Goodalls 1966, 1968, Richard Brock (pers. comm).

and this note), it would be interesting to experiment elsewhere, particularly

in areas where the Ostrich is now extinct and even perhaps in places where it

has never been recorded but where the vulture lives, for example in Spain.

References :

Alcock, J. 1970. The origin of tool-using by Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus. Ibis
Li? '¢ 42.

Andersson, C. J. 1856. Lake Ngami or Explorations and Discovery during Four Years W ander-
ings in the Wilds of South Western Africa. Hurst and Beckett: London.

Baxter, R. M., Urban, E. K. & Brown, L. H. 1969. A 19th Century reference to tool-using
by the Egyptian Vulture. //. A. Africa Nat. Hist. Soc. 27: 231.

Fisher, D. 1970. Wildlife Safari to Ethiopia 3: Africa’s Newest National Park. One 16mm.,
25 min. colour film. B.B.C.

Lawick-Goodall, Jane van & Hugo van. 1966. Use of tools by Egyptian Vulture Neophron
percnopterus. Nature 212: 1468-9.

Lawick-Goodiall, J. van & van Lawick, H. 1968. Tool-using bird: the Egyptian Vulture.
Nat. Geogr. 133(5): 631-641.

Myers, A. B. R. 1876. Life with the Hamran Arabs. Smith, Elder & Co: London.

Wood, J. G. 1877. Wood’s Bible Animals. J. W. Lyon & Co: Ontario.

Address: Natural History Unit, B.B.C., Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2LR, England.

First record of the Knot Ca/dris canutus, and other
records, from Belize (British Honduras)

by Richard Erickson
Received 26 March 1977

The distribution of the avifauna of Belize has been analysed by Russell (1964),
and more recent records have been published in three subsequent papers
(Barlow et al. 1969, 1970, 1972) and in recent Christmas Count issues of
American Birds (Young 1973—1976b). Young’s data are included here together
with observations I made while visiting Belize in late December 1974, and
which affect the published status of some species. Scientific nomenclature
follows Morony e¢ a/. (1975) except in the genus Sterna where amended by
the American Ornithologists’ Union (1976).

Eupocimus aLBus White Ibis. Ten, including several immatures, were
flushed from mangroves just south of Stann Creek on 26 December. Al-
though found locally throughout most of Mexico and Central America,
Russell lists no recent records and none from the Stann Creek District.
Recorded by Young 1973-75 at Christmas at Belize City.

Anas acuta Pintail. About 30 present on a lagoon in mangroves just
south of Stann Creek on 26 December. A rare to uncommon winter visitor
in Central America, Russell mentions no more than six together at one time.

SPIZAETUS TYRANNUS Black Hawk Eagle. An adult I saw on 29 December
c. 3 km east of Belmopan on the Hummingbird Highway is the third record
for Belize. Russell cites one collected at nearby Middlesex in February 1923,
and Young records singletons at Belize City 26 Dec 1974 and at Belmopan 31
Dec 1975.

GALLINULA CHLOROPUS Moorhen. Eight were counted on several ponds
on the Northern Highway between Orange Walk and Belize City on 23
December, and three on a pond c. 8 km west of Belize City on 24 December.

79 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

Russell listed several sight records from two localities, and there are now
three April specimens from Rockstone Pond near Belize City (Barlow ef a/.
1969). Young gives 1973-76 Christmas sight records at Belize City, including
no less than 60 on 27 Dec 1975. The species is obviously more common than
once thought.

CATOPTROPHORUS SEMIPALMATUS W//et. One present at Belize City on 23
December, another at the mouth of Stann Creek 26 December and four there
the next day. Russell lists very few records and only in February, April and
August. Young records it for Christmas 1974 and 1975 in very small numbers
at Belize City.

CALIDRIS CANUTUS Knot. One with terns and other shorebirds at the
mouth of Stann Creek on 27 December is the first record for Belize. Rarely
reported, almost solely as a migrant, between the United States and its major
wintering grounds in South America (Bond 1971, Peterson & Chalif 1973),
there are no records for the Caribbean coast of Guatemala (Land 1970) and
only one for the Caribbean coast of Honduras (Monroe 1968). Its inclusion
in a list of the birds of Belize by Davis (1968) is apparently an unsubstantiated
assumption.

CALIDRIS ALBA Sanderling. Forty on the beach at Stann Creek on 27
December. Surprisingly, Russell lists only two previous records: North Two
Cays in 1864 (date and number seen unknown) and four at Stann Creek 28
Mar 1956. Not uncommon throughout most of Central America (Peterson &
Chalif 1973).

LARUS DELAWARENSIS ing-billed Gull. A sub-adult and an immature at
Belize City 23 December. Only two previous records: five at Corozal 15 Aug
1960, and a sub-adult at Belize City 22 Aug 1961 (Russell). Rarely found in
the Atlantic south of the northern Gulf coast of Mexico (Petersen & Chalif
1973) and the northern West Indies (Bond 1971). There is only one record
from Guatemala (Land 1970) and thtee from Honduras (Brown & Montoe
1974).

GELOCHELIDON NILOTICA Guw/l-billed Tern. One at Belize City 24
December. Russell lists only two records: five collected from a flock of ten
at Stann Creek 28 Mar 1956 and two at Belize City 7-9 Aug 1957. Uncommon
throughout much of Mexico and Central America in winter (Peterson &
Chalif 1973).

STERNA CASPIA Caspian Tern. One ptesent with Royal Terns Sverna
maxima at the mouth of Stann Creek 26-27 December. Russell listed only
three records, all to the north, and Young recorded two at Christmas in 1973
and three in 1974. Land (1970) shows no records from the Caribbean coast
of Guatemala, and Monroe (1968) lists only three from Honduras, which
are the southernmost for Central America, though they do winter on the
Caribbean coast of South America (Meyer de Schauensee 1970).

STERNA SANDVICENSIS Sandwich Tern. Six at Belize City 24 December and
15 at the mouth of Stann Creek 27 December. Russell lists only four records,
none south of Belize City or the Northern Two Cays. Barlow ef a/. (1972)
reported two at the mouth of Stann Creek on 18 Dec 1970. Listed as rather
rate in southeastern Mexico (Edwards 1972) and Guatemala (Land 1970),
and not recorded until recently from Honduras (Brown & Monroe 1974).

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 80

CoLUMBA FLAVIROSTRIS ed-billed Pigeon. One seen at the southern out-
skirts of Stann Creek 26 December is the southernmost record for Belize.
Russell lists one record for 19 Aug 1960 at Corozal. More recently Barlow
et al. (1970) reported three or four at Rockstone Pond between 8 February
and 25 June 1969 and Young records singles at Belize City Christmas 1973,
1975 and 1976. Occurs as far south as Costa Rica (A.O.U. 1957) but prefers
more arid regions. Land (1970) mentions no records for the Caribbean slope
of Guatemala, and Monroe (1968) considered them uncommon in arid
interior valleys on the Caribbean slope of Honduras.

CHORDEILES sp. Four nighthawks flying high over Stann Creek at dusk on
24 December and five the next evening we1e probably minor, though the
Antillean form, gaudlachii, cannot be excluded. Russell and other authors give
no winter records of either form north of South America, but Young records
the “Common Nighthawk”’ at Belize City every Christmas 1973-76.

CHLOROSTILBON CANIVETII. Fork-tailed Emerald. Two males and a female
were seen just north of the Sittee River on the Southern Highway 26 Decem-
ber. Widespread throughout southern Mexico and Central America, Russell,
however, has no records south of Manatee Lagoon.

AMAZILIA RUTILA Cinnamon Llummingbird. At least two present at Stann
Creek 24-27 December. Russell and Young both give few records for
mainland Belize and none from this far south. Apparently absent from the
Caribbean slope of Guatemala (Land 1970) and northwestern Honduras .
(Monroe 1968).

MELANERPES PYGMAEUS ed-vented Woodpecker. Belize is the southern
limit for this very local species. A male at Maskalls 29 December is only the
fourth record. Russell lists two collected at Belize City in 1931 and Barlow
et al. (1969) another near there in 1960 and one from Rockstone Pond in 1967.

Hirunbo rustica Swallow. Fifteen counted on the Northern Highway
between Orange Walk and Belize City on 23 December and three more at
Stann Creek 27 December. Russell lists no records after 24 November but
Young has Christmas records at Belize City for 1973-76. Uncommon in
winter north of Panama (A.O.U. 1957).

Mo.oTurus AENEUS Sronzed Cowbird. About 25 birds together at Benque
Viejo, near the Guatemalan border, on 28 December. Russell mentions only
one, undated, record from nearby Cayo. Barlow ef a/. (1969) report one col-
lected at Rockstone Pond 16 June 1968 and Young has recorded a few at
Christmas at Belize City 1974-76. Widespread throughout much of Central
America but rare in the Petén (Land 1970) and not recorded from Tikal
(Smithe 1966).

PASSERCULUS SANDWICHENSIS Savannah Sparrow. Seven in a grassy field at
the north end of Stann Creek on 27 December. Russell considered it an
occasional winter visitant and listed few records, including four in a grassy
field at Stann Creek 28 Mar 1956. Monroe (1968) lists very few records for
Honduras and considered it a rare winter visitant. Land (1970) shows no
records for the Caribbean slope of Guatemala and Miller et a/. (1957) listed
the subspecies savanna as a spatse winter visitor to the Atlantic coast of —
Mexico, including records for Yucatan and Quintana Roo.

81 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

Acknowledgements: Thanks ate especially due to Tom Schulenberg for initially suggesting

I write this note and for his continued encouragement and aid in searching the literature.

J. V. Remsen also provided useful advice.

References:

American Ornithologists’ Union. 1957. Checklist of North American Birds. Fifth Edition.
Baltimore, Md.

— 1976. Thirty-third supplement to the A.O.U. checklist of North American birds. Auk
93: 875-8709.

Barlow, J. C., Dick, J. A., Baldwin, D. H. & Davis, R. A. 1969. New records of birds
from British Honduras. [bis 111: 399-402.

Barlow, J. C., Dick, J. A. & Pendergast, E. 1970. Additional records of birds from British
Honduras (Belize). Condor 72: 371-372.

Barlow, J. C., Dick, J. A., Weyer, D. & Young, W. F. 1972. New records of birds from
British Honduras (Belize), including a Skua. Condor 74: 486-487.

Bond, J. 1971. Birds of the West Indies. Second edition, Collins: London.

Brown, H. C, & Monroe, B. L. 1974. Bird records from Honduras. Condor 76: 348-349.

Davis, L. I. 1968. Birds of Yucatan and the Peten. Published by author, 2502 Keating Lane,
Austin, Texas.

Edwards, E. P. 1972. A Field Guide to the Birds of Mexico. E. P. Edwards: Sweet Briar, Va.

Land, H. C. 1970. Birds of Guatemala. Livingston Publ. Co: Wynnewood, Pa.

Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1970. _A Guide to the Birds of South America. Livingston Publ. Co.:
Wynnewood, Pa.

Miller, A. H., Friedmann, H., Griscom, L. & Moore, R. T. 1957. Distributional checklist
of the birds of Mexico. Part II. Pac. Coast Avifauna: 33.

Monroe, B. L. Jr. 1968. A distributional survey of the birds of Honduras. Ornithol. Monogr.

oy:

Motrony, J. J. Jr., Bock, W. J. & Farrand, J. Jr. 1975. Reference List of Birds of the World.
American Museum of Natural History: New York.

Peterson, R. T. & Chalif, E. L. 1973. A Field Guide to Mexican Birds. Houghton Miffln
Co.: Boston.

Russell, S. M. 1964. A distributional study of the birds of British Honduras. Ornithol.
Monogr. 1.

Smithe, F. B. 1966. The Birds of Tikal. Nat. Hist. Press: Garden City, N.Y.

Young, W. F. 1973. Christmas bird count. Belize City, Belize. Am. Birds 27: 538-539; 1974,
Am. Birds 28: 550-551; 1975, Am. Birds 29: 596-597; 1976a, Am. Birds 30: 624-625;
1976b, Belmopan, Belize. Am. Birds 30: 625-626.

Address: Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Hayward, CA

94542, U.S.A.

On the ege of Vidua purpurascens
by J. F. R. Colebrook- Robjent

Received 4 April 1977

Nicolai (1964) and Payne (1973) have established that the three indigobirds
(genus Vidua, subgenus Hypochera) of southern Africa each mimic the calls of
and parasitize a different species of Tagonosticta firefinch. Vidua purpurascens
is approporiately called the Dusky Indigobird in Payne’s monograph and he
writes under this species (1973: 235): “All individuals that I heard and
recorded in the field and also all ten males heard in captivity mimicked the
calls and songs of L. rhodopareia’’. It would appear from this work, and also
Friedmann (1960) and McLachlan & Liversidge (1970) that the eggs of V.
purpurascens ate undescribed, although Payne recoids uncalcified oviduct
eggs from all the indigobirds, including a white shelled egg from V’. pur-
purascens in Rhodesia, which was broken.

At 09.00 on 13 March 1977 a male Pink-backed Firefinch Lagonosticta
rhodopareia was flushed at my feet from a typical grass domed nest just above
the ground in the centre of a thick tuft of green grass. The nest was under a

[Bul/. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 82

Mfuti tree Brachystegia bohmii in a flowerbed in my garden, which borders
somewhat disturbed Miombo woodland, near Choma, Zambia. The nest was
not closely examined until 15 March when it was found to contain four eggs,
obviously now deserted. All four eggs are very much alike and it is extremely
doubtful that a parasitic egg would have been detected without careful
examination, though in fact one of them was that of an indigobird, evidently
V. purpurascens, the only species of indigobird I have noted on this farm in
over five years residence. Before being blown the eggs of the parasite differed
from the host’s in a number of ways: the /zdua egg appeared to have a paler
yolk and the diameter of the ait space was smaller, measuring ¢. 5-5 mm
against c. 7-5-8-0 mm for the firefinch’s eggs; the Vzdua egg was more
rounded at both ends and with larger pores and also had protuberances
which are lacking in the host’s eggs; conversely, the eggs of the firefinch were
mote oval and pointed at the narrow end. On puncturing the eggs with a pin
there was a marked difference in shell thickness, that of the Vzdya requiring
greatet pressure to pierce it. On emptying the eggs there was found to be no
discernable difference in yolk colour, the apparently paler yolk of the parasite’s
egg being due to its thicker shell. It must be emphasised, however, that these
distinctions are extremely subtle and are likely to be overlooked by anyone
not particularly looking for differences.

There are no breeding records for V. purpurascens in Benson ez. al. (1971),
though birds with active gonads have been collected from January to March
and in May. Previously, I had found only five nests with eggs of L. rhodo-
pareia since 1970, all in the Choma District, three in February, and one each
in March and May; four were C/4 and one C/5, none of which wete para-
sitized.

Egg shell weights of the Village Indigobird V. chalybeata are significantly
heavier, on average, than those of its small host, the Red-billed Firefinch L.
senegala (Colebrook-Robjent, in prep). In the present record the eggs of the
Pink-backed Fitefinch are slightly larger (certainly longer) than the egg of
the Dusky Indigobird, but they weighed less than the parasitic egg, as clearly
shown below. All shells were weighed on a Mettler H 10 T™ scale.

Egg size Shell weight

(in mu) (in gnis)
Vidua purpurascens: EGA xX. 1250 uOTa
Lagonosticta rhodopareia: 15-8 X 11°6 "O50
15,00. 0129 -056
150k de "053

Acknowledgements: 1 am grateful to Dr. G. W. Howard, Department of Biology, Uni-
versity of Zambia, who kindly allowed me the use of his Mettler scale.

References:

Benson, C. W., Brooke, R. K., Dowsett, R. J. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1971. The Birds of Zambia.
London: Collins.

Friedmann, H. 1960. The Parasitic Weaverbirds. Bul]. U.S. Nain. Mus. 223.

McLachlan, G. R. & Liversidge, R. 1970. Roberts’ Birds of South Africa. Cape Town: John
Voelcker Bird Book Fund.

Nicolai, J. 1964. Der Brutparasitismus der Viduinae als ethologisches Problem. Zeétschr. f.
Tierpsychol, 21: 129-204.

Payne, R. B. 1973. Behaviour, mimetic songs and song dialects and relationships of the
patsitic indigobirds (Vidua) of Aftica. A.O.U. Ornith. Monog. 11.

Address: Musumanene, P.O. Box 303, Choma, Zambia.

- — ©

83 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

Mascicapa williamsoni Deignan; a reappraisal
by D. BR. Wells

Received 4 April 1977

Among eastern continental forms of the Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa
latirostris, Deignan (1957) assigned tropical resident status to M. /. siamensis
known from the highlands of northern Thailand and southern Vietnam, to
an unnamed population said to resemble Palaearctic M. /. /atirostris in
peninsular Malaysia, and to a redder, ventrally streaked but clearly related
bird of wide Southeast Asian distribution which he named Mauscicapa
williamsoni. This last named, new, species remained unrecognised in the field
until 1 September 1966 when an immature was mist-netted in a wooded
suburban garden near Malacca, peninsular Malaysia, and killed there the
following day by a cat (Medway & Wells 1970). Identification was confirmed
from British Museum (Natural History) paratypes by Mrs. B. P. Hall (za
itt. 1969). In 1975 others were recognised in similar habitat near Kuala
Lumpur and on Penang island, and two specimens were collected that year at
Frase1’s Hill (3° 43’ N), Pahang state. Further comparison of these recent
acquisitions with most of Deignan’s type series, including the holotype
(ANSP 127964), plus additional material from the Field and American
Museums, Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences and University of
Singapore, has revealed deficiencies in the original description.

Adult. Entire upper body from forehead milk-chocolate-brown, faintly
bloomed vinaceous in a fresh-plumaged recent skin, slightly rufescent in
older material. In all specimens upper tail-coverts a shade more rufescent than
elsewhere. Upper wing-coverts dark brown: lesser and median coverts
margined chocolate-brown (distinctly rufescent in some skins), greater
covertts margined a paler, buff-brown. Remiges dark brown, basal half to
two-thirds of the inner webs pinkish buff; secondaries tipped and externally
margined buff, most conspicuously on the proximal feathers. Rectrices dark
brown finely margined chocolate-brown on the outer webs. Eye-ring pinkish
buff; lores off-white, finely tipped brown; sides of head and body to flanks
chocolate-brown; chin to under tail-coverts white to buff-white with medium
to broad, adolescent chocolate-brown streaks over the breast. Chin and
throat vary in the extent to which they are more finely streaked. Thighs and
under wing-coverts pinkish buff. Feet blackish; claws dark horn; upper
mandible blackish horn, lower mandible yellow suffused dark horn at the
extreme tip. Iris dark brown.

TABLE:
Measurements (mm) from Muscicapa williamsoni and related taxa
M. williamsoni M., 1. siamensis M. 1. latirostris
10 6g 429 3 df 11g9
Wing-length 68-73 (71) 68-71 (69) 68-70 68-72 (70)
Tail-length 44-52 (49) 46-49 (48) 46-48 40-50 (47)
Tarsus 13-15 (14) 13-15 (14) 13-14 14-15 (14)
Bill-length —_7-5—8-7 (8-1) 7°4-8-0(7°8) —-7-4-8°2 Grp 7 C7 4)
Bill-width 4°6-5°7 (5°2) $:0-5°8 (5:3) — 4°8-5-2 4°3-5°5 (5°2)

Notes: Wing-length is maximum chord.
Bill-length is from tip to anterior margin of nares and bill-width is across the
upper mandible at the latter level.
Averages ate given in brackets.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 84

Immature. Fledgling body plumage, seen only in one specimen, is buff-
spotted. After post-juvenile moult head and body are as in adults although
the 1966 specimen form Malacca is more rufescent overall and has narrower
streaks on the underparts. Primary coverts tipped and greater coverts edged
and broadly tipped rufous-buff, palest on the inner feathers. Remiges extern-
ally margined and tipped creamy buff, finely on the primaries, broadly and
conspicuously towards the inner secondaries. Rectrices finely margined
rufous-buff and conspicuously tipped creamy buff.

Measurements. See Table 1.

Range. Southern Burma (Pegu district), southern Vietnam (Saigon),
central and southern Thailand (Bangkok district, Prachuap Khiri Khan,
Chumphon, Phangnga and Krabi provinces), peninsular Malaysia (Penang,
Pahang, Selangor and Malacca states), Sumatra (Medan district and Siberut
island—ZDUS collection) and Sarawak (First Division—SM collection).
There are no records from the Philippines ¢f Medway & Wells 1976); the
skin from Negros island discussed by Deignan (1957) is M. /. randi.

Habitat and Behaviour. Specimens come from sea-level to 1300 m a.s.l.,
though most recent encounters in Malaysia have been in the lowlands, in
wooded gardens and on the edge of disturbed forest. In my own garden near
Kuala Lumpur up to two immatures were present on most days between 26
July and 6 August and an adult was seen on 22 August 1975. All frequented
the interior crowns of ornamental trees (Spondias, Adenanthera and Pelto-
phorum) 2-5 m from the ground and commonly foraged from perches later
used by wintering MM. /. Jatirosiris. Prey was captured in short sallying flights
with a slightly greater tendency than in /atrostris to pick directly from bark
and leaf surfaces and a lesser tendency to return to the original perch. They
were intermittently attacked by resident Pied Trillers La/age nigra and the leaf-
searching warbler Gerygone sulphurea, and one noisy intraspecific confronta-
tion and chase flight between the two immatures was seen on 6 August.
Vocalizations included a brief, thin ¢s7, a buzzing chichichichi similar to the dry
chitter of wintering /atvrostris, and soft, prolonged subsong by the adult on
22 August.

Though I could not compare them in the field directly, at fairly close range
separation of both adult and young wi/iamsoni from paler, greyer wintering
M. /. latirostris would not have been difficult. The recent sightings and
material similarly invalidate Vaurie’s objection (in Mayr 1971; see also
Amadon & DuPont 1970) that wé//amsoni has been inadequately separated
from szamensis; tufescence in williamsoni is clearly neither transient nor due to
foxing. Three scamensis, all collected more than 40 years ago, are paler, mote
fawn-brown above than any post-fledgling stage of wz//iamsoni and barely a
shade browner than contemporaneous MM. /. latirostris; while below stamensis
are off-white, faintly sullied fawn-grey across the breast, which is finely
streaked in birds from Vietnam (ZDUS collection; USNM 278528), and not
at all in one from northwest Thailand (USNM 350230). Eye-ring and under
wing-coverts are whitish rather than buff, as in /atzrostris, but the bill resembles
williamsoni: upper mandible brownish black, lower dull yellow suffused horn
at the extreme tip, distinct from J/atirostris in which the apical half of the
lower mandible is sharply demarcated blackish.

Colour differences are constant enough for acceptance of wi//iamsoni as
distinct, presumably within the Musicapa Jatirostris complex; but whatever

85 [Bull, B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

its status, Deignan’s argument for full species rank through sympatry in
peninsular Malaysia is flimsy. Breeding by Brown Flycatchers in Malaysia
was rumoured by Robinson (1928) but without supporting evidence, and
there is no subsequent indication except from a bird shot by G. C. Madoc’s
collector in north Kedah state while it hung about a small but empty nest in
a roadside rubber tree. Indentification, however, was never confirmed and
the specimen is now lost. Its date, beginning of May 1941, Mr. Madoc informs
me was in any case an estimate based on correspondence which he retrieved
from the abandoned Raffles Museum, Singapore, after his original field-notes
had been lost during the Japanese invasion. Although wintering Brown
Flycatchers have been recorded as late as 27 April, and regularly forage from
one ot a few habitual perches, the association of bird and nest could still have
been coincidence.

Deignan’s own evidence for summer residents in Malaysia was provided by
two skins (BMNH 86.4.1181, 1182) “of /atirostris facies” obtained by W. R.
Davison at Malacca in July 1877. By contemporary standards Davison was a
meticulous recorder and lack of more precise dates on these specimens seems
as suspicious as their tight cylindrical shape, typical of the trade productions
for which 19th century Malacca was a well-known entrepot. Since Davison
invariably made flattish skins himself (many BMNH examples extant) he
could have bought these two as prepared specimens, in which case their true
collection dates and even provenance are in doubt. They are slightly browner
and smaller than average, due perhaps to age and shrinkage, but otherwise
indistinguishable from ordinary northern migrants. No claim of sympatry
between williamsoni and siamensis has ever been made; indeed, the nearest
approach by wélliamsoni to the known range of s/amensis is made by an un-
dated specimen (BMNH 78.6.19.44) labelled “Saigon”. Dran, the only
Vietnamese locality for ssamensis that I have come across, is about 260 km to
the northeast, at 1000 m a.s.l. in the pine zone on the road between Phan
Rung and Da Lat (Dr. B. Rollet).

Finally there is the status of wi/lamsoni itself. No nest has ever been
reported and the one bird showing fledgling feathers (FMNH 81161, dated
15 August from central Thailand) is in mainly post-juvenile plumage with no
obvious sign of active moult. Deignan apparently never saw this specimen
and based his supposition of residence on what he considered to be summer
records. In effect twelve of the 17 collection dates and all but two sightings
fall between 21 July and 14 September, an eight week period more evocative
of passage migration, particularly as some other undoubtedly migrant
passerines (including a flycatcher) are now known to reach their Southeast
Asian wintering grounds by late July-early August (Medway & Wells
1976). Other dates are in November, December, January, February and
Match, and the longest gap in the record starts actually at the seasonal peak
of nesting by insectivorous birds in Malaysia.

Further points in favour of migrant rather than resident status are that the
winter dated records (November-March) come exclusively from south of
latitude 10°N; that on 13 August and 8 December 1975 an adult and first-
winter juvenile were caught at flood-lights with known long-distance
nocturnal migrants crossing the crest of the Malayan main range at Fraser’s
Hill; that the shape of the wing-tip of wi/iamsoni (Figure 1) much more
closely resembles migratory M. /. /atzrostris than the proven tropical resident

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 86

Figure 1. Average wing-tips of wi/iamsoni and four subspecies of Muscicapa Jatirostris,
drawn to scale. Numbers in parentheses are sample sizes and the vertical bars represent the
range of short-fall behind the wing tip of primaries 1, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10 (descendant).

g (op. ey ) cos 9.

5

fe We
| Ss HI
ae N
7 | } rere | i | i |
Weer beled

williamsoni(12) Jlatirostris(11) siamensis(3) — segregata (6) randi (8)

M. 1. segregata of Sumba island, Lesser Sundas, or MV. /. randi which Amadon
& DuPont (1970) have guessed is resident in the Philippines; and finally what
is known of the timing of moult. Among almost all resident insectivores,
at least in Malaysia, moult occurs June—October, yet only two of 16 wi/iam-
soni examined show moult, including the type (an adult male) dated 3
August, from south Thailand, in which primaries 1-6 (descending) are new,
7 is growing, 8-10 are old and rectrices 2-6 are growing, while a post-
juvenile male, dated 30 July, from south Burma, is growing some tail- and
wing-coverts and body feathers. Most of the others have wings and tail
unworn and the total freshness of the August male from Fraset’s Hill sug-
gests that, like northern /a/rostris (Stresemann & Stresemann 1974, Nisbet
& Neufeldt 1975), adults normally complete all moult before they migrate,
although juveniles retain their remiges and rectrices until later. The excep-
tional two could have suffered arrest of moult during migration, as sometimes
occurs in autumn among Lanius cristatus and Locustella certhiola wintering in
Malaysia (Medway & Wells 1976.)

The above arguments, of course, merely weaken certain previous as-
sumptions, and although w7//iamsoni, siamensis and Jatirostris fotm a pur-
suasive chromatic cline, the only positively fresh clue to relationships is a
possible wé//iamsoni — latirostris intergrade (SM 458) dated 16 November 1956
from Ulu Simunjan, south Sarawak (Borneo). This is an adult female, wing-
length 72 mm, tail 5o mm, tarsus 14 mm, bill-length from nostrils 6-7 mm,
width 5-o mm. The wing-linings are whitish and the apical half of the lower
mandible sharply demarcated blackish as in /atirostris. The bill is also nearly
1 mm shorter, and the shortness in relation to the wing-tip of primaries 1-6
and 1o is slightly greater, than in any w/iamsoni measured. Against this
several specimens of wz/liamsoni are closely matched by the brown of the
upperparts, flanks, sides of the breast, wings and tail, and buff edging of the
greater wingcoverts and inner secondaries. Crucial areas of the face, throat
and breast have unfortunately been ruined by varnish.

If, as several times suggested, wz//iamsoni and Jatirostris are in fact con-
specific and, as now seems likely, merely synhiemic in Southeast Asia,
williamsoni’s anknown breeding range could be restricted. Brown Flycatchers

87 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

in the Himalayas are of /atirostris facies (Stresemann & Stresemann 1974) and
these authors report, and I have re-examined, typical /atirostris dated June,
July and August, including birds in moult (USNM collection), from the
mountains of Szechuan and Yunnan, southern China.

Acknowledgements: 1 owe special thanks to Mr. B. D. Bond for sending in the first recent
specimen of williamsoni from Malacca; to Mr. H. T. Pagden for field observations from
Penang; Mr. G. C. Madoc for his unpublished records; and Messrs. R. M. de Schauensee
and I. C. J. Galbraith for comparative data from the type specimen and two inaccessible
paratypes. Other specimens, including as far as I am aware all other recognised wi//iamsoni,
were borrowed through the kind co-operation of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Phila-
delphia (ANSP), the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), the Berlin Zoological
Museum, the B.P. Bishop Museum, the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH), the
Delaware Museum, the Federal Malaysian Game Department, the Field Museum (FMNH),
the Museum Zoologicum, Bogor, the Sarawak Museum (SM), the United States National
Museum (USNM) and the Zoology Department, University of Singapore (ZDUS).

Note: Mr. E. C. Dickinson has suggested to me (én /itt) that by including the Brown-
breasted Flycatcher Muscicapa muttui in the Thai fauna, Ripley (1961) and Ali & Ripley (1972)
have compounded an early misidentification of M. /. siamensis by Deignan (1945). These
taxa are unlikely to be conspecific and as Deignan later pointed out williamsoni and muttui
are equally dissimilar.

References:

Ali, S. & Ripley, S. D., 1972, Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan Vol. 7. Bombay:
Oxford University Press.

Amadon, D. & DuPont, J. E. 1970. Notes on Philippine birds. Nemouria 1: 1-14.

Deignan, H. G. 1945. The birds of northern Thailand. Bu//, U.S. natn. Mus. 186: i-v, 1-616.

— 1957. A new flycatcher from southeastern Asia, with remarks on Muscicapa latirostris
Raffles. [bis 99: 340-344.

Mayt, E. 1971. New species of birds described from 1956 to 1965. J. Orn. Lpz. 112: 302-316.

Medway, Lord & Wells, D. R. 1970. Bird Report: 1968. Malay. Nat. J. 23: 47-77.

— 1976. The Birds of the Malay Peninsula. Vol. 5. London H. F. & G. Witherby.

Nisbet, I C. T. & Neufeldt, I. 1975. Studies of less familiar birds 175: Brown Flycatcher.
Brit. Birds 68: 68-75.

Ripley, S. D. 1961. A Synopsis of the birds of India and Pakistan. Bombay: Bombay Natural
History Society.

ae in H. C. 1928. The Birds of the Malay Peninsula. Vol. 2. London: H. F, & G. Wither-

y.

Stresemann, E. & Stresemann, V. 1974. Problems resulting from the discontinuous

distribution of Muscicapa latirostris Raffles. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soe., 71: 445-451.

Address: Zoology Department, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 22-11, Malaysia.

Phedina borbonica madagascariensis in the Amirantes
by C. J. Feare |

Received 9 April 1977

On 15 October 1976 a Phedina martin was discovered flying around egg
collectors’ huts on Desnoeufs (53° 1’ E, 6° 13’ S) in the Amirantes, Indian
Ocean. The bird was caught by hand at night while it was roosting in a build-
ing, and the skin is preserved in the British Museum (Natural History). It was
a9, with a completely ossified skull and a regressing ovary. It weighed 18 g,
and while there was a little subcutaneous fat on the neck there was none
elsewhere. Wing and maximum width of the upper mandible of the Des-
noeufs specimen, and of other Phedina specimens in the BMNH collection,
are given in Table 1.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 88

TABLE 1
Measurements (mm) of Phedina specimens in the British Museum (Natural History)
Mean wing Mean max. upper
Locality (n) Sex length mandible width
+ SD, range + SD, range
P. borbonica Desnoeufs 19 112 I2°1
P. borbonica Pemba 19° rEgitt II°9
madagascariensis
e Nyassa Jiggs 113 T2455
Lake Chilwa
# a I 112 12°8
4 Madagascar 13 99 I12°§ 12°5
-k 3°I, 107-119 = 0°7, 10°8-13°5
f 43 12 ¢¢ 115°6 12°4*
+ 1°6, 113-118 + 0°6, 11°7-13°8
fe & 6 unsexed 1T7 "1 12°6
+ 4°0, III-122 + 1°5, 10°§-14°5
P. borbonica Mascatenes 496 113°0 I4°5
borbonica + 4°4, 109-118 sk 0°3, 14°2-14°9
P. brazzae Zaire 8 2d 98°7 9:2
+2°8, 95-102 = 0°4, 8°7-9°9
ee Seat

The plumage resembles P. borbonica madagascariensis and P. brazzae in that
the breast and belly are streaked and the under tail-coverts white with dark
feather shafts. The streaking is much more pronounced than in P. b. borbonica,
in which the under tail-coverts are largely brown with white feather edgings.
These plumage charactersitics, combined with the wing and bill measure-
ments, identify the Desnoeufs specimen as P. b. madagascariensis.

This is the first occurrence of the Madagascar Martin to the northeast of
its breeding range in Madagascar. Elsewhere it has been recorded in two
areas in East Africa in June-July (Benson 1944, Clancey e¢ a/. 1969), on
Pemba between September and March (see Clancey e¢ a/. 1969) and on
Aldabra in November (Benson & Penny 1971). According to Rand (1936),
P. b. madagascariensis breeds in October and November, but possibly also in
other months. The records on western Indian Ocean islands appear, there-
fore, to fall within the known breeding season on Madagascar. At present
there is too little information to indicate whether P. b. madagascariensis
regularly migrates to East Africa out of the breeding season. For comparison,
some individuals of the Malagassy breeding FEurystomas g. glaucurus, which
does do so (Moreau 1966), on their return migration appear to be blown off
course and settle temporarily on various western Indian Ocean islands (see
Benson (1960) for the Comores, Benson & Penny (1971) and Frith (1976) for
the Aldabra group, Feare (1975) for the Seychelles, and I have an unpublished
sight record on Providence Island on 27 October 1976). In a like way, any
migrating P. b. madagascariensis may be blown off course: the present record
followed the passage of cyclone Agatha through the Amirantes during
10-13 October 1976.

I am grateful to the National Geographic Society for their grant which enabled me to
visit the Amirantes and to Mr. I. C. J. Galbraith, British Museum (Natural History), for
permission to examine specimens.

89 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

References:

Benson, C. W. 1944. The Madagascar Martin from Nyasaland. Bull, Brit. Orn. Cl. 65: 4-5.

— 1960. The birds of the Comoro Islands. [bis 103b: 5—106.

Benson, C. W. & Penny, M. 1971. The land birds of Aldabra. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. B.
260: 417-527.

Clancey, P. A., Lawson, W. J. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1969. The Madagascar Martin Phedina
borbonica (Gmelin) in Mozambique: a new species to the South African list. Ostrich 40:
5-8.

Feare, C. J. 1975. Further migrant birds in the Seychelles. Bu//. Brit. Orn. Cl. 95: 48-50.

Frith, C. B. 1974. New observations of migrants and vagrants for Aldabra, Farquhar and
Astove Atolls, Indian Ocean. Bul/. Brit. Orn. Cl. 94: 12-19.

Moreau, R. E. 1966. The Bird Faunas of Africa and its Islands. Academic Press: London.

Rand, A. L. 1936. The distribution and habits of Madagascar birds. Bul/. Am. Mus. nat.

Hist. (5) 72: 143-499.
Address: Pest Infestation Laboratory, Tangley Place, Worplesdon, Guildford, Surrey
England.

Normal and aberrant specimens of the Spotted-backed
Weaver Ploceus cucullatus

by D. B. Hanmer & C. W. Benson

Received 27 April 1977

The following observations are confined to Rhodesia, Zambia and Malawi,
and cover only Ploceus cucullatus nigriceps and P. c. paroptus. They are based on
an examination by D. B. H. of some 800 specimens handled by her in the
course of netting operations since 1973 at Nchalo, lower Shire Valley,
Malawi, 16° 15’ S, 34° 55’ E, 200 feet a.s.].; and by C. W. B. of 377 specimens
preserved in the National Museum of Rhodesia (NMR), Bulawayo, and 4o
in the British Museum (Natural History) (BMNH), Tring. Following
Clancey (1970), paroptus is recognised as separable from ngriceps, mainly on
account of the somewhat richer colour of the male in breeding dress. In the
region covered, paroptus replaces nigriceps in the Zambezi Valley below the
Victoria Falls and in eastern Zambia generally, and in Malawi throughout.

The immediately following remarks on plumage and soft parts are mainly
a preliminary for the purpose of the present paper: variation—in sex,
season and age—is complex, and requires further study.

Adult plumage. The breeding dress of the adult male is well known, and
needs no description. Although egg-laying is mostly in September/April
(see Benson ef a/. 1964: 97), breeding dress is assumed sometimes as early as
July, and is entirely absent perhaps only in May and June. In the off-season,
in both sexes the crown is olive streaked dusky; the rest of the upperparts
ashy gtey, the mantle and scapulars streaked dusky. Below, the chin and
throat are pale yellow, breast and flanks buffy, and the rest of the underparts
white. In breeding dress the adult female is predominantly olive above,
brightest on the crown, with the crown, mantle and scapulars streaked
dusky, the mantle often with some admixture of ashy grey. The underparts
are uniform bright yellow, less orange in tone than in the breeding male.

Immature plumage. At what age the breeding dress is first assumed is still
uncettain, but in both sexes the not fully adult bird resembles the off-season
adult, except that in the earliest stages the mantle and scapulars are olivaceous
brown rather than the adult ashy grey and the underparts as a whole are

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 99

washed dull yellowish, not white. This was well evident in 9 out of 34 NMR
specimens collected by H. D. Jackson on the Muneni River, near Umtali,
18° 59’ S, 32° 41’ E, 25 November/s; December 1971: all nine had skull
“soft”. Two similarly coloured NMR specimens were one from Humani
Ranch, 20° 31’ S, 32° 16’ E, 10 March 1972 (No. 75817), and one from Mweru
Marsh, 8° 28’ S, 32° 16’ HE, 27 May 1955 (No. 22045); the former not yet fully
grown, wing only 70 mm and the crown uniform with the mantle, instead
of a contrasting olive. That so few brown-mantled specimens were found in
the large NMR series suggests that this stage of immature plumage occuis
only for a short time, perhaps not more than two months. Mackworth-Praed
& Grant (1955: 891; 1963: 566) state that the young of mgriceps is “similar”
to the adult female in non-breeding dress, but has the whole upperside
yellow-green; mantle and scapulars streaked with dusky’’, presumably basing
this on the 180 BMNH specimens. Among these, which embrace the whole
range of nigriceps and paroptus, only three were found pencilled in Captain
Grant’s handwriting as “‘young”’: one, from the Athi River, Kenya, appears
to be one of the xanthochroic examples which they mention, and is discussed
below; another, from Beira, Mozambique, 4. Decembe1 1906, appears to be a
female in bieeding dress; and the third, from Port Herald (now Nsanje),
Malawi, 6 June 1924, is like 11 NMR specimens discussed above, albeit
slightly more olive on the mantle. No other specimen of an apparently very
young bird could be found in Tring. The shorter statement by Mackworth-
Praed & Grant (1973: 615) that the “‘young bird is very similar to the adult
female in non-breeding dress” seems mote strictly correct.

Soft parts. Broadly there appear to be three main colour stages in the soft
parts: 1) young, perhaps always less than six months old; 2) intermediate;
3) adult, capable of breeding, perhaps always more than 24 months old.

Bill. Maxilla sepia, mandible whitish horn in stage 1 and stage 2, although
in December/February the maxilla is blackish rather than sepia in some males
which show no other sign of breeding dress, excepting four with black
spotting (D. B. H.), referred to again below; darker in stage 3, in breeding
male wholly black, not quite so intense in breeding female, keel of mandible
tending to whitish horn. There is a tubercle on each side of the base (not
apparent in museum specimens and unrecorded by any collector), relatively
large, yellowish white at start of stage 1, diminishing and changing to brown
(sometimes blackish in males) in stage 2 and black in stage 3.

Eye. Brown (“grey” on some collectors’ labels) in stage 1, changing to
reddish brown in stage 2 and red in stage 3, with possibly some change to
brownish red in the off-season (D. B. H.). Thus in February 1977 some
females handled, in full breeding dress and with the oviduct visible on
external examination (indicating that they had laid), had eyes brownish-red.
No such change was noted in the males, but they were still nest-building,
and the change might occur later.

Legs and feet. Collectors’ labels provide little data, but D. B. H. found them
grey or grey-brown in stage 1, pinkish-brown in stage 2, bright pink in stage
3, perhaps more brownish in off-season.

It should be stressed that the ages at which the changes in plumage and
colour of the soft parts occur require further investigation.

Pueumatization. This may be quite slow: there is a BMNH specimen (No.
1936.4.13.368) collected by Rear-Admiral H. Lynes on 8 August 1933 at ¢.

2

QI [Bull, B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

10° 55’ S, 26° 48’ E, not far north of the Zambia/Zaire boundary, marked
“Suv. g, [wing 86 mm] testes quite clear. A// skull clear, do weavers’ skulls
take a long time to fully ossify?”. The specimen must have been from an ege
laid not later than April (the normal end of the laying season), and already
has the adult ashy grey (lacking any olivaceous brown) on the mantle and
scapulars, and the yellow on the underparts confined almost entirely to the
chin and throat. There is no record of the colour of the soft parts, but the
maxilla appears dark sepia, the mandible whitish horn.

Measurements. The male averages larger and heavier than the female (Table 1).

TABLE 1
Measurements (mm) and weights (g) of Ploceus cucullatus in whole or partial
breeding dress
Wing Weight
nt AD. Range Ap. Range

22939 (live—D.B.H.) 87-1 83 — 9I 37°7 ay eT
13499 (live—D.B.H.) 80-0 75 — 85 31°4 26, sat 37

2249 (skins) 86-2 83 — 88 -— =

299 (skins) — 77, 81 — =
Rhodesia

107499 (skins) 87°5 82 — 91 —

433 (live) as 9 36°7 31°3—48-3

6399 (skins) 80°4 77 — 86 an pang

3699 (live) — _- 31°6 26:8—39°3
Zambia

51g (skins) 86-8 83 — 92 — =m

1799 (skins) PBs Cue or rT —

Aberrant plumage.

(a) The most remarkable aie two found by D. B. H. at Nchalo. The first is
dated 2 January 1976, and is now in the Museum of Malawi, Blantyre. Its
wing when first examined, measured 79 mm (D. B. H.) and 77 mm on 14
November 1976, after drying out (C. W. B.), weight 26 g, no wing moult
evident. On dissection it proved to be a female holding minute oocytes
(detected with a lens), with no indication from the oviduct that any egg had
ever been laid, yet a fully pneumatized skull. The bill was horn-coloured,
culmen darker; but anomalously in view of the state of the ‘“‘adult” skull,
the tubercles at the base of the bill were still large and yellowish white, and
the eye reddish brown, not merely the brown of the intermediate growth
stage. However, the most remarkable feature of this specimen, which was
compared by C. W. B. with material of paroptus in the National Museum of
Kenya, Naitobi, is the presence of male-like fresh breeding dress on all but
the crown. The main plumage features are :—(1) crown olive, worn; (2) sides
of head likewise, but some replacement by black; (3) nape black-and-yellow,
fresh; (4) mantle and scapulars ashy grey, streaked dusky, worn, but some
replacement with black-and-yellow, fresh, on one side; (5) underparts orange-
yellow, with some black on thioat and centre of chest, and bright saffron on
sides of chest. On 9 January 1976 a similar specimen was found, though the
anomalies were less pronounced. It too was smaller and lighter than any true
male, wing 80 mm, weight 31 g. Unfortunately, before it could be skinned,
it was eaten by a captive owl.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 92

(b) In NMR C. W. B. found three specimens taken in the breeding season
in adult non-breeding dress but with slight signs of breeding plumage :—(r1)
No. 77343, 6, Muneni River, near Umtali (see above), 21 October 1971,
collector H. D. Jackson, has some yellow (same tone as on chin and throat of
off-season birds) on underparts as a whole, but more significantly most
feathers of chin and throat with a dusky spot towards apex, wing 87 mm,
testes 24 x 2, 24 x 14 mm (thus not near breeding). The skull is labelled
“hard”, eye “‘brown’’, bill “dusky, flesh basally’, but the bill now is very
dark sepia, the keel of the mandible whitish horn. (2) No. 77340, 4, locality
and collector as for 77343, date 25 November 1971, has yellow on the under
parts as in 77343, but more extensive, some feathers on centre of throat black
at base, some on sides of throat striated with black, wing 86 mm, testes
“small’’. The skull is labelled “hard”, eye “‘red’’, bill ““black/grey’’, but the
maxilla is now blackish sepia, the mandible whitish horn. (3) No. 3503, un-
sexed, Mpika, Zambia, 18 January 1950, collector W. E. Poles, underparts
as in 77340, most feathers on lower throat with conspicuous black at base,
likewise on sides of chest, unsexed (gonads recorded as very small), but wing
89 mm, so presumably a male. Skull fully pneumatized, eye ‘“‘red’’, bill now
like that of 77340.

(c) D. B. H. found four immature males at Nchalo in 1977, showing no
sign of a breeding dress except for odd black spots on the face and throat (in
the first on the chin only), thus akin in this respect to the three preceding :—
(1) 27 January, eye dull orange, bill dark horn, pale below, testes 14 mm,
skull three-quarters pneumatized; (2) 16 February, eye brown-orange, bill
black, slightly paler below, testes 4 mm, skull one fifth pneumatized; (3, 4)
17, 21 February, both with eye orange-red and bill as for last: not dissected,
but wings 85, 88 mm.

(d) Mackworth-Praed & Grant (1955: 891; 1963: 566) mention two
xanthochroic examples, and although from outside our area there are two
such specimens in BMNH worth mention. One is from Kilosa, Tanzania,
2 December 1920, unsexed, the other from the Athi River, Kenya, 22 August
1900, sexed male. Both have wing 74 mm, which is more compatible with
females. They are a much brighter olive on the upperparts as a whole than
in the female in breeding dress, the ashy streaking much less conspicuous. The
underparts appear normal, the Athi specimen in off-season dress, the other with
yellow more extensive. Neither bears any record of the colour of the soft parts,
although both appear to have had maxilla sepia, mandible whitish horn.

Frith (1967: 176-177) has discussed aberrations in two other ploceids, the
Aldabran Fody Foudia eminentissima aldabrana and the Madagascar Fody F.
madagascariensis. In these, however, it was a question of all the red areas such
as ate found in the breeding male being replaced by golden yellow, and the
bill brown or horn colouted instead of black. None of the specimens was
sexed certainly as a male, and four carefully examined showed no trace of any
sexual organs. These cases ate not comparable to any of those in Ploceus
cucullatus. Our seven aberrant specimens under (b) and (c) above, seem likely
to have been not fully adult, but with precocious signs of the breeding dress
in variable amounts. Although not recorded previously, this may be a not
infrequent phenomenon; but no explanation can be offered for the two speci-
mens under (a) which are much the most anomalous and remarkable, and we
can do no more than draw attention to them.

93 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

Acknowledgements: D. B. H’s. contribution was assisted by a grant from the Frank M.
Chapman Memorial Fund. C. W. B.’s visit to Bulawayo was made possible through the
generosity of the National Museums and Monuments of Rhodesia (per M. A. Raath,
G. Bell-Cross and M. P. Stuart Irwin). For his examination of specimens in Nairobi thanks
are due to G. R. Cunningham van Someren, and in Tring to I. C. J. Galbraith and D. K.
Read.

References:

Benson, C. W., Brooke, R. K. & Vernon, C. J. 1964. Bird breeding data for the Rhodesias
and Nyasaland. Occ. Pap. Natn. Mus. S. Rhod. 26B: 30-105.

Clancey, P. A. 1970. Miscellaneous taxonomic notes on African birds. XXIX. Durban Mus.
Novit. 8(20).

Frith, C. B. 1976. A twelve-month field study of the Aldabran Fody Foudia eminentissima
aldabrana. Ibis 118: 155-178.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1955. Birds of Eastern and North Eastern
Africa. Vol. 2. London: Longmans, Green & Co.

— 1963. Birds of the Southern Third of Africa. Vol. 2. London: Longmans.

— 1973. Birds of West Central and Western Africa. Vol. 2. London: Longmans.

Addresses: Mts. D. B. Hanmer, Sucoma, Post Bag 50, Blantyre, Malawi.
C. W. Benson, Dept. of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge.

A third locality in Colombia for the Dusky-chested
Flycatcher I'yrrannopsis luteiventris
by J. V. Remsen, Jr.

Received 7 May 1977

The Dusky-chested Flycatcher 7 yrannopsis /uteiventris has only been recorded
from two localities in Colombia:—upper Rio Putumayo (in Meyer de
Schauensee 1950) and Mitu, Vaupés (Olivares 1964), and indeed is known
from only a few other localities in the whole of South America, namely one
or two recoids each from Ecuador, Peiu, and Venezuela and several from
Surinam and Brasil (Blake 1961, Meyer de Schauensee 1966). Virtually
nothing has been published concerning its natural history, and it is pethaps
the most poorly known and rarest of the multigeneric assemblage of medium
and large sized, yellow-bellied Tyrannids.

On 25 June 1975 I observed two individuals of this species feeding in the
tops of small trees about 10 m in height along the edge of a stream about
15 m wide in seasonally flooded “‘varzea” forest approximately 1 km from its
junction with the Amazon River. This stream, locally called Quebrada
“Guacari” but probably not appearing on any published maps, is about 45 km
northwest of Leticia, Amazonas, Colombia. A male was collected (Museum
of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, California No. 164046), largest testis 2 mm,
weight 20-5 g, of the nominate race /y/eiventris. Stomach contents revealed it
had been feeding on a hard fruit, cylindrical in shape (6 x 3 x 3 mm) and bright
orange in colour. Both birds called persistently, giving a very nasal “chew”’
note.

On 19 July 1975 two individuals were seen in the middle strata about 20 m
above ground at the edge of “‘tierra firma” forest on the outskirts of Leticia.
Again the nasal ‘‘chew” call was heard several times. They wete sallying from
small, leafless branches to nearby foliage, probably for insects (no fruit
visible). Available for direct comparison at this spot were both Myiozeretes
granadensis and M. similis, which form useful comparison with /wéeiventris in
appearance, body proportions and overall behaviour.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 94

On 23 July 1975 two more /ueiventris were studied at very close range
(7 m) for ten minutes in a small agricultural clearing at the edge of “tierra
firma” forest near Pobre Alegre, a small village on the lower Rio Javari,
Loreto, Peri. They frequently gave the nasal “chew” call from the tops of
banana plants about 3 m above the ground, and showed little fear of humans.
No foraging was observed; these birds spent the entire time calling back and
forth to one another.

Although direct evidence for breeding was lacking, that all three observa-
tions were of birds which definitely appeared paired implies residency in the
immediate vicinity rather than migrant status. All three observations were
from forest edge situations, and if indeed this species proves to prefer forest
edge habitats, /uteiventris will be one of the few examples of a truly rare species
to do so, since most rare or locally distributed birds in the Amazon Basin
inhabit forest interiors.

I’. luteiventris perches in rather exposed locations, has a distinctive and
persistent call, and is readily distinguished in the field from the similar
Myiozetetes species. Thus with only three records in nine months of daily field
work, this species is certainly rare near Leticia and would not be likely to be
detected on brief collecting trips. It remains to be seen whether this species’
distribution is truly discontinuous or whether the gaps will be filled by more
intensive field work.

Acknowledgements: My teseatch in the Leticia area was supported by a National Science
Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Grant and by the Frank M. Chapman Fund of the
American Museum of Natural History. I thank Emmet R. Blake, Ned K. Johnson, Frank
A. Pitelka, and Melvin A. Traylor for useful comments on this note.

References:

Blake, E. R. 1961. Variation in Myiozetetes luteiventris. Fieldiana (Zoology) 44(9): 63-66.

Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1950. The birds of the Republic of Colombia (Dendrocolaptidae—
Tyrannidae). Caldasia 5(24): 645-871.

— 1966. The Species of Birds of South America with their Distribution. Narberth,
Pennsylvania: Livingston.

Olivares, A. 1964. Adiciones a las aves de Vaupés, Il. Caldasia 9(42): 151-184.

Address: Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California
94720, U.S.A.

Identity of pelicans on St. Joseph Atoll, Amirantes
by D. R. Stoddart

Received 14 May 1977

J. S. Gardiner reported the presence of a colony of pelicans during a visit to
St. Joseph Atoll (5° 25’ S, 53° 20’ E), Amirante Islands, western Indian Ocean
on 10-11 October 1905. Gadow & Gardiner (1907: 110) named the species
as the Dalmatian Pelican Pel/ecanus crispus, and though the colony has not
been seen since, and was indeed extinct at the time of a visit by D. Vesey-
FitzGerald in the 1930s, this species has been recorded as present on the basis
of Gardiner’s identification by Betts (1940: 504) and Watson ef a/. (1963:
180).

Gardiner & Cooper (1907: 154) state: “St. Joseph is covered with tall
coconuts, some of which were weighted down and killed by the large nests
of Pelecanus crispus, of which there was a numerous colony. How fat this bird
is a wanderer we do not know”. According to Gadow & Gardiner (1907:
110) “these large birds were found breeding in a colony in the coconut and

:

95 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

other large trees of the eastern island of S. Joseph Atoll, Amirante Group.
Young birds were seen in October 1905”. P. crispus is, however, a gtound-
nesting species, and the nearest known breeding locality is at the head of the
Persian Gulf, where it formerly bred (Vaurie 1965: 43). In terms of range a
mote probable candidate is the White Pelican P. onocrotalus, but this too is a
ground-nesting species.

The identity of the St. Joseph pelican can, however, be resolved, as W. L.
Abbott collected a specimen, hitherto overlooked, on 29 August 1892.
Ridgway (1895 : 516) names it as a Pink-backed Pelican P. rufescens, and refers
to “a small colony—perhaps one hundred individuals . . . the only colony of
pelicans in these seas”. Dr. G. E. Watson has kindly located Abbott’s speci-
men in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, and states that
it is definitely rufescens in juvenile plumage, with the back of neck, mantle,
and upper surface of wings dark greyish brown, and the lower back and rump
pure white. Measurements are: wing 463 mm, culmen from skull 315 mm,
exposed culmen 295 mm.

There is a record of this species in the Dahlak Archipelago, Red Sea
(Mackworth-Praed & Grant 1952: 34), and several from Madagascar (Milon
et al. 1973: 31), including one of a colony at Antsalova (18° 40’ S, 44° 37’ E),
but otherwise no records outside mainland Africa: its occurence on an
oceanic island is thus quite exceptional. The only other report of pelicans in
the western Indian Ocean is the unconfirmed hearsay repott of two indi-
viduals of P. crispus on Bijoutier, Alphonse, by Loustau-Lalanne (1963 : 23).
Watson ef a/. (1963: 180) suggest that pelicans were introduced to St. Joseph
but this seems very unlikely. The colony was probably present as early as
1882, when H.M.S. A/er¢ charted a Pelican Island on the atoll, but apart from
the observations quoted above and its presumed extinction between 1905
and the 1930s, there are no further records of the colony.

Acknowledgement: 1 am grateful to Dr. G. E. Watson for kindly locating and reporting
on Abbott’s specimen, and to C. W. Benson for much advice and for reading a draft of this
note.

References:

Betts, F. N. 1940. The birds of the Seychelles. II. The sea-birds—mote particularly those of
Aride Island. Ibis (14) 4: 489-504.

Gadow, H. & Gardiner, J. S. 1907. Report on Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to Indian ~
Ocean 1905, 1. Aves, with some notes on the distribution of the land-birds of the
Seychelles. Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. (2) 12: 103-110.

Gardiner, J. S. & Cooper, C. F. 1907. Report on Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to Indian
Ocean 1905, 1. Description of the expedition. Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. (2) 12: 111-175.

en P. 1963. Sea and shore birds of the Seychelles. Occ. Publ. Seychelles Soc. 2:
1-26.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1952. Birds of Eastern and North Eastern
Africa. Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green and Co.

Milon, P., Petter, J.-J. & Randrtianasolo, G. 1973. Oiseaux. Faune Madagascar 35. Tanana-
rive: ORSTOM, Paris: CNRS.

Ridgway, R. 1895. On birds collected by Doctor W. L. Abbott on the Seychelles, Amirantes,
Gloriosa, Assumption, Aldabra and adjacent islands, with notes on habits, etc., by the
collector. Proc. U.S. nat. Mus. 18; 509-546.

Vaurie, C. 1965. The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna. Non-Passeriformes. London: H. F. and
G. Witherby Ltd.

Watson, G. E., Zusi, R. L. & Storer, R. E. 1963. Preliminary Field Guide to the Birds of the
Indian Ocean, Washington: Smithsonian Institution. .

Address: Department of Geography, Downing Place, Cambridge CB2 3EN, England.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 96

Weights of West African Savanna birds
by P. W. Greig-Smith & N.C. Davidson

Received 14 May 1977

During studies of the behaviour and ecology of birds in Mole National Park,
Ghana, in 1974 and 1975, we weighed 1187 bitds of 111 species, including
several species for which there is little other such information (see e.g. Fry
1970, Karr 1976).

Birds were mist-netted in a variety of habitats in the vicinity of Samole
(9° 15’ N, 1° 51’ W) 8 July — 27 Aug 1974, 7 July — 2 Sep 1975, and 2 Nov —
2 Dec 1975. Weights were measured with Pesola spring balances, and are
accutate to o:1 g (weights less than 40 g), to 0-5 g (40 — 80 g), or to 1:0 g
(over 80 g). The bird communities of the area are described by Greig-Smith
(1976).

W. G. Harvey et a/. (in Fry 1970) collected weights from Mole National
Park in the wet season of 1968, and their samples agree closely with our
means and ranges for most species represented by large samples (e.g. Merops
bulocki, Pycnonotus barbatus, Serinus mozambicus, Esstrilda melpoda). This sug-
gests that the samples are truly representative, and where they differ from
other published weights of the same species there may be some biological
significance. We have commented on some such cases below, and where
possible we have compared male against female, and wet against dry season
weights, using Student’s t-test. These weights will be used in an investi-
gation of ecological segregation between savanna species (Greig-Smith &
Davidson, in prep.).

In the following list, each species name is followed in brackets by the
number of birds weighed in each season. Wet season weights (July — Sep)
are given separately from early dry season weights (Nov — Dec), which are
prefixed by D. For most samples of 5 birds or fewer, weights are listed
individually; for larger samples, the mean + one standard deviation is
followed in brackets by the range. Where sexes and ages were distinguished
on plumage characteristics, they have been listed separately. The sequence
and nomenclature of species follow White (1960-65).

Butorides striatus (1): 193

Porphyrio alleni (1): 140

Streptopelia senegalensis (1): 98

Turtur afer (8): 66-5 + 5°7(57°5—74°0); D(2): 62-0, 62°5

Turtur abyssinicus (10): 59:0 + 3°9 (55°0-66°5); D(2): 55°0, §7°0

Treron australis (1): 239 :

Treron waalia (1): 268

Clamator levaillanti (1): 122

Chrysococcyx klaas (2): $$ 23:+0, 23:0

Chrysococcyx caprius (2): dh 26°2, 28°6

Glaucidium perlatum (1): juv 61-0

Caprimulgus climacurus (4): 3 43°5, 22 36°3, 39°0, unsexed 38°5

Ceryle maxima (1): 282; D(1): 305

Alcedo quadribrachys (7): 35:6 + 2°3 (33:0 —39°5)3; D(z): 36:5, 37-0. Britton & Dow-
sett (1969) list 6 birds from Zambia with a mean weight of 31-6.

Alcedo cristata (4): 11°0, 11°5, 11°7, 12°53; D(1): 13°5. The weights of 9 birds from Mole
(Fry 1970) are slightly higher (mean = 12-9), and birds in East and Southern Africa
ate much heavier—means = 15-8 (Britton 1970), 15°5 (Britton & Dowsett 1969),
14°9 (one bird, Liversidge 1968).

97 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

Ceyx picta (33): 13 adults, 11-4 + 1-1 (9°6 — 13-5), 10 juvs, 10°6 + 0°6 (9:6 — 11-2), Io
unaged, 10°6 + 0-8 (g-0 — 11°7); D(5): 11°4 + 0°7 (10°74 — 12-4). The difference
between wet season adults and juveniles is close to significant (P approx. equal to
0-05), though both are lighter than wet season birds in Zambia (mean = 14°3, Britton
& Dowsett 1969).

Halcyon senegalensis (2): 54°09, §5°4

Halcyon malimbica (11): 90°8 + 8-0 (79 — 105); D(z): 103

Halcyon chelicuti (2): 32°5, 35°0. Dean (1974) quotes weights of 41 and 43 g for H. chelicuti
in Angola.

Halcyon leucocephala D(1): 44-0

Merops pusillus (2): 11 +6, 13°2

Merops bulocki (52): 22°6 + 1°5 (19:0 — 26-4); D(4): 19-9, 21-6, 23-0, 23°5

Merops hirundineus (11): 9 ads 21-8 + 1°5 (19-5 — 23-6), juvs 19°5, 20°5

Phoeniculus purpureus (7): $3 760, 90, 96, 99, 22 56-0, 63°5, juv 59°5

P hoeniculus aterrimus (1): 3 22°8

Lybius dubius (16): 8 33 92-0 + 8:5 (81 — 105), 5 PP 87°6 + 6-9 (80 — 98), unsexed 94, 95,
99; D(2): dd 85, 85. Males vs females, P> 0-30

Pogoniulus chrysoconus (2): 9°6, 9°8. The mean of 5 Zambian birds (Britton & Dowsett 1969)
is 12°7

Indicator indictaor (3): ads 54-0, 50°5, juv 37°0

Indicator minor (2): 26+5, 32°0

Campethera punctuligera (2): 3 67, ¢ 71

Campethera abingoni D(1): 55+0

Mesopicos goertae (5): 33 50°0, 5§2°0, 9 45°5, unsexed, 49-0, 52°5

Psalidoprocne obscura (1): 10°0

Prionops plumata (18): 12 ads, 43-0 + 3+0 (40-0 — 48°5), 6 juvs 39°8 + 2:0 (37°0 — 42:0).
Adults vs juveniles, P <o: o5. Britton & Dowsett (1969) found a mean of 32-4 + 1-9
for 21 Zambian birds. See Greig-Smith (1976a) for possible sex differences of the Mole
birds.

Nilaus afer (3): 3 19°9, unsexed 17°3, 18-9

Dryoscopus gambensis (5): $3 31-1, 36°0, 39°70, 9P 31-0, 34°4; D1): 2 35°5

Tchagra minuta (2): 3 30°0, 2 32°2

Tchagra senegala (1): 62-0

Laniarius barbarus (11): 47°1 + 3°4 (43:0 — 52:0); D(1): 46-0

Malaconotus sulfureopectus (6): 33 31°0, 3470, PP 28-0, 29°5, unsexed, 29-6, 30-0

Corvinella corvina (1): juv 66°5

Dicrurus ludwigii (3): 24°5, 27:0, 28°5. Karr (1976) gives a weight of 46 g for a bird in
Liberia.

Dicrurus adsimilis (1): 34°5

Campephaga phoenicea (6): ad 3 28-1, immd 27°5, 9 25°5, 27°5,29°0, 30°0; D (1): 9 35°75

Pycnonotus barbatus (44): 35°9 + 1°9 (30°8 — 42:4); D(4): 40°5

Chlorocichla flavicollis (2): 45°5, 55°0

Cercomela familiaris (2): 151, 15°6

Cossypha albicapilla (9): 59:2 + 4°1 (530 — 65-0); D(2): 53:0, 65-0

Cossypha niveicapilla (14): 33°8 + 3-1 (27°3 — 38:5); D(2): 31°5, 39°5

Turdus pelios (11): 64°9 + 3°2 (57:0 - 69°5); D(5): 68-8 + 2°6 (65-0 - 71-5). Dry season
“en season, P <o-o05. Day (1975) found a mean of 78-6 + 1-2 for 17 birds in South

rica.

Turdoides plebejus (4): 61-0, 66°5, 67°0, 71-0

Turdoides reinwardii (4): 78:0, 79:0, 86, 91; D(2): 75-0, 83

Sphenoaeacus mentalis (9): 33°5 -— 1°8 (30°6 —37°0)

Phylloscopus trochilus D(2): 7°4,7°9

Cisticola erythrops (9): 92 12°1, 13°0, 14°1, umsexed 12°7, 13°0, 13°0, 13°2, 15°6, juv 12°7

Cisticola fie (5): 17°0, 18:0, 18°3, 19:0, 19°6. The mean for 9 Mole birds in Fry (1970)
is 16°4

Cisticola Pa ok (6): SS 17° iy 19°2, 9 18-5, unsexed 16-6, 17-1, 17°1. The mean of 4
Mole birds (Fry 1970) is 16-2 g.

Cisticola ruficeps (1): 9°8

Cisticola rufa|brachyptera (4): 7°4, 7°5, 7°9, 9°13; D(3): 6:0, 6°5, 6:9

Prinia erythroptera (3): 5 +6, 8°3, 14°5

Prinia subflava (5): 7-5, 7°5, 7°6, 7°7, 8°3- The mean of 6 Zambian birds (Britton & Dow-
sett 1970) is 10°4 g.

[Bull, B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 98

Hypergerus atriceps (7): 28°9 —+ 2°2 (26°4- 31°5)

Camaroptera brachyura (18): 16 ads 1075 + 1-0 (8-9 — 13°06), juvs, 8°5, 10°5

Eremomela pusilla (26): 6-1 + 0°2 (5:0—8+4); D(5): 6-1 + 0°2 (6:0-—6°4)

Sylvietta brachyura (6): 8:0 + 0°4 (7°4- 8°4)

Muscicapa aquatica (2): 10°2, 11-0

Myioparus plumbeus (4): 11°5, 12°0, 12°3, 13°0

Ficedula hypoleuca D(z): 99 11°6, 11°8

Melaenornis edolioides (9): 30°8 + 1°7 (28-1 — 33:9). Karr (1976) lists a bird from Ghana
weighing 59°5 g.

Bradornis pallidus (6): ads 19°7, 20°3, 22°5, 23°5, juvs 18°5, 22°0

Ayliota flavigaster (2): 9 12°2, juv 11°4

Batis senegalensis (15): 6 $3 .9°4 + 0°6 (8°6 — 10-2), 899 9:3 4+ 1°1 (8°0 — 11°4), unsexed
9:0; D(3): 9°3, 22. 9°0, 9°0. Males vs females, P> 0-50. Fry (1970) found a significant
difference, males 8% heavier than females.

Platysteira cyanea (13): 43S 14°3 + 0°6 (13-5 — 15-0), 8 PP 13:0 + 0-9 (11°6 — 14°5), juv
11°7; D(1): ¢ 15-0. Males vs females, P <o-05.

Trochocerus longicauda (6): ads 8-2, 8-5, 8°8, 9:3, 9°5, fledgling 6-7, D(1): 6°3

Terpsiphone viridis (10): 33 11°3, 15°0, 16°0, 99 14°5, 14°7, 14°9, 15 °6, unsexed 12°3, 14°5,
juv 13:0; D(7): unsexed 14°4 -+ 1-5 (12-8 — 17-0). Wet season adults (mean = 14°3 -
1-3) vs dry season adults, P> 0-50.

Parus leucomelas (10): 161 + 1*2 (13°1 —17°5)

Nectarinia verticalis (1): 8 13:2; D(1): 5 11°8

Nectarinia senegalensis (26): 16 $$ 10°3 + 0°6 (9°6—11°9), 722 8-4 + 0°9 (6:8 —9°8), juvs
9°4, 10°1, 1072. Males are 23% heavier than females (P<o-o1); Fry (1970) found a
17% difference.

Nectarinia cuprea (10): 5 33. 7:2 +0°3 (6°8-7°6), 5 996-1 + 0°5 (5-5 -—6°8); D(z):9 6:6.
Males are 18% heavier than females (P <o-o1); Fry (1970) found a 13 % difference.

Nectarinia pulchella (19): 12 88 7°13 4 1°1 (§°6 — 10°2), 7 22 6:6 + 0°5 (5:6 —7°3). The
male vs female difference (8 °%) is not significant (P> 0-20); Fry (1970) found a 12%
difference.

Zosterops senegalensis (2): 8°1, 8°7

Emberiza cabanisi (3): 3 24°0, 99 24°1, 25°5

Emberiza forbesi (4): 14°5, 14°9, 16:0, 16:0

Emberiza tahapisi D(1): 12°8

Serinus mozambicus (81): 40 3 10°8 + 1°7 (9°5§ — 12°5), 31 PP 10°4 + 1:0 (9°1 — 13°5),
7 unsexed 10°5 + 0:6 (9-9 —11°'7), juv 9:6. Males vs females, P <o-05.

Ploceus luteolus (7): 3 13°0, 92 11°2, 12°5, 12°8, 13°5, unsexed 12°5, 12°9

Ploceus heuglini (2): 23+0, 26°4

Ploceus cucullatus (5): 29 29°5, 30°5, 31°0, 32°3, 32°7. Lhe mean of 15 wet season females in
Nigeria (Fry 1970) is 35°7 + 4°3.

Ploceus nigricollis (18): 7 83. 24°6 + 0-9 (23°0 — 25°8), 8 99 23°7 + 3:2 (21-0 — 31°2),
unsexed 23-2, juvs 23-5, 23:9. Males vs females, P> 0-40.

Malimbus rubriceps (1): 3 22-0

Quelea erythrops (10): $8 17°7, 21°7, 8 99/imm 3S 16:0 + 2°5 (13°9-21°8)

Euplectes afra (132): 81 8S 14°7 + 2°7 (11°2—- 20°5), 44 92 /immgg 13:9 + 1°0 (12:2 -
16+2), 7 unsexed 15-1 + 0-9 (13°3-—16-1). Malesvs females/immature males, P <o-oo1

Exuplectes hordeacea (2): $$ 21°4, 22°2

Euplectes macrourus (8): 3 21°3, 6 99/imm 3g 17:4 + 1:0 (16-0 — 18:8), juv 14°9

Euplectes orix (50): 30 8g 17:0 + 1°0 (14°3 — 18°9), 20 99/immgg 15°5 + 2°2 (11°4-
21°2). Males vs females/immature males, P <o-oor. For a discussion of size differences
in all four Explectes species, see Davidson (in prep.).

Plocepasser superciliosus (3): 32°0, 35°3, 36°0

Passer griseus (1): 25°0

Petronia dentata D(2): 15*5, 16°7

Vidua macroura (7): 12°8, 6 92 12:7 + o°9 (11°6 — 13°8)

Vidua chalybeata (5): $3 11°7, 12°4, 12°5, 9P 10°7, 11°8; D(1): 2 12°5

Nesocharis capistrata (2): 10°4, 10°5

Pytilia hypogrammica (1): 3 14°3

Pytilia phoenicoptera (3): 13°9, 14°0, 14°93; D(z): 13°7, 16°1

Esstrilda melpoda (43): 7°6 + 0-7 (6°5 — 9:6)

Esstrilda caerulescens (10): 8-4 + 0°7 (6*7-9°1)

99 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

E:strilda bengala (28): 14 33 9°3 + 0°7 (8°3 — 10°5), 1422 9°6 + 0°6 (8-6—11°0). Males vs
females, P> 0-20. Britton & Dowsett (1969) list means of 10-5 and 10-7 for males and
females in Zambia.

Estrilda larvata (7): 33 9°9, 9°5, 9°7, 10°5, 9Y 8°8, 9°3, unsexed 10°6

Lagonosticta rufopicta (11): 9*1 + 1°1 (8:0 —11°6); D(2): 8-3, 9-0

Lagonosticta senegala (9): 5 33. 7°9 4 0°5 (7°6 — 8°5), 499 7°8 + 0°9 (7°2 — 82); D(a):
3 7:8. Males vs females, P> 0-50.

Lagonosticta rara (5): 3 9°7, 22 9°2, 10°4, unsexed 10°3, 11°33; D(1):2 9-1

Lonchura cucullata (4): 8-0, 8-7, 8-9, 9°0; D(2): 8-9, 9°7

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the Ghana Game & Wildlife Department for per-
mission to study birds at Mole, and for the facilities provided. J. Amponsah, E. D. Agyem-
fra, Duku-Frimpong, and members of the 1st and znd Aberdeen University Ghana expe-
ditions helped with netting at various times. Finance was provided by grants from the

Royal Society, Aberdeen University, the Carnegie Trust, the Explorers Club, the Drapers

Company, and others.

References:

Britton, P. L. 1970. Some non-passerine bird weights from East Africa. Bu//. Brit. Orn. C7.
90: 142-144, 152-154.

Britton, P. L. & Dowsett, R. J. 1969. More bird weights from Zambia. Ostrich 40: 55-60.

Day, D. H. 1975. Some bird weights for the Transvaal and Botswana. Ostrich 46: 192-194.

Dean, W. R. J. 1974. Bird weights from Angola. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 94: 170-172.

Fry, C. H. 1970. Migration, moult and weights of birds in northern Guinea savanna in
Nigeria and Ghana. Ostrich suppl. 8: 239-263.

Greig-Smith, P. W. 1976a. Observations on the social behaviour of Helmet-Shrikes. Bu//.
Nigerian Orn. Soc. 41: 25-30.

— 1976b. The composition and habitat preferences of the avifauna of Mole National Park,
Ghana. Bull. Nigerian Orn. Soc. 42: 49-66.

Karr, J. R. 1976. Weights of African birds. Bu//. Brit. Orn. Cl. 96: 92-96.

Liversidge, R. 1968. Bird weights. Ostrich 39: 223-227.

White, C. M. N. 1960-65. A Revised Check-list of African Birds. 5 vols. Government
Printer, Lusaka.

Addresses: P. W. Greig-Smith, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton; N. C. Davidson, Department of Zoology, University of Durham, South Road,
Durham, England.

Notes on some non-passerine birds of Wallacea
by C. M. N. White

Received 26 May 1977

The five notes which follow arise from the preparation of an annotated
check-list of the non-passerine birds of Wallacea. They indicate the need for
modern field work in these Indonesian islands before some of the questions
discussed can be finally resolved. The inventory of species occurring in
Wallacea is no doubt still incomplete, and the status of many already known
to occur is still not clear: the birds of many smaller islands are known only from
collections made over half a century ago, unaccompanied by any field data.

DISTRIBUTION OF Dendrocygna arcuata

This duck is reliably recorded in Wallacea from Celebes and in the Lesser
Sundas from Sumba, Roti and Timor. Stresemann (1941: 17) incorrectly
stated that it is absent from the Lesser Sundas. Peters (1931: 153) gave
Moluccas as part of its range, not mentioning any specific island. Mayr
(1945: 3), in a taxonomic revision, cited Ambon as the only locality in
Moluccas, and Van Bemmel (1948: 396) included the species in his list of
Moluccan birds solely on the authority of Mayr’s reference to Ambon.

I have failed to find any evidence that this duck occurs in Moluccas. There
are no specimens from these islands in the British Museum (Natural History),

[Bull. B.O.C. 7977: 97(3)] 100

the American Museum of Natural History, or the Leiden Museum, and I am
erateful to Dr. G. F. Mees for drawing attention to the probable source of
the error. In 1863 and 1864 specimens of D. guttata were collected at Ambon
and sent to Leiden; but prior to D. guttatfa being described as a distinct
species, Finsch in 1865 (Vew- Guinea: 183) had mentioned birds from Ambon
under the name D. arcuata. It is thus evident that Moluccas and Ambon must
be deleted from the known range of D. arcuata. One cannot now follow
Stresemann (1941: 17) in the suggestion that it colonised Celebes from
Moluccas, unless it can be shown that a former Moluccan population has
disappeared.

Berlioz & Pfeffer (1966: 909) listed a downy young from Ambon as
Dendrocygna ?sp. saying that both D. arcuata and D. guttata occur there. On
present knowledge the specimen should be D. gutiata.

Three species of Dendrocygna have been recorded from Wallacea, but only
a single species occuis on any given island except for Celebes where D.
artuata and D. guttata both occur, though whether sympatrically is not
known. Heinrich did not find them together, though Raven in 1916
collected both species on different dates at Likoepang in north Celebes.

THE STATUS OF Alccipiter fasciatus buruensis

The Brown Goshawk of Australia is represented in the Lesser Sunda
Islands and Djampea to Tukang Besi Islands by three well marked sub-
species, and two others less well differentiated. They are not uncommon in

open woodland and cultivation. In contrast only five specimens are known ~

from Buru, all females and only one certainly an adult. Stresemann described
them as buruensis, stating that they differed from the nominate Australian
form only in smaller size. Condon & Amadon (1954: 215-216) recognised
north Australian birds as A. f. didimus (Mathews), and said of the type of
buruensis ““Were Buru adjacent to north Australia we should not hesitate to
list buruensis as a synonym of didimus’’. Greenway (1973: 265) commented
on this “The occurrence of subspecies on islands between northern Australia
and Buru does not appear to be strong enough ground for retention of a
subspecies without morphological differences”. I agree with Greenway and
propose to treat buruensis as a synonym of didimus until more adequate
material reveals some distinguishing characters. It is possible that Australian
birds colonised Buru comparatively recently and have not yet developed any
distinctive characters. This parallels the situation at Rennell and Bellona,
Solomon Islands where the birds are identical with nominate fasciatus. The
presence of distinct wa/lacii and hellmayri in the Lesser Sundas east to Set-
matta and Damar poses no objection if Buru was colonised across the sea
directly from north Australia.

It should, however, be noted that the apparent rarity of the species in Buru
is curious, unless the island, being wetter and more forested than the Lesser
Sundas, is ecologically unsuited to the species, which can then only exist as a
small population. On the other hand, it is just possible that no breeding
population at all exists in Buru and that the few specimens obtained thete are
sporadic vagrants from north Australia. The fact that all were females, and
perhaps only one an adult, may lend some support to this view. On the other
hand, the lack of didimus as a vagrant on inte1vening islands would be
strange if this were true. Field work in Buru is required to establish the true
status of the species there.

IOI [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

VARIATION IN Piilinopus bernsteinii

This fruit dove was discussed by Goodwin (1967: 342) under the mote
familiar name P. formosus, but Mees (1973: 120) has since pointed out that it
should be known as P. bernsteinii. It is confined to the north Moluccas:
Toxopeus’ sight record in Buru (Siebers 1930) of a bird which appeared to be
of this species cannot be firmly accepted.

Jany (1955: 106) separated the population of this fruit dove in Obi from
birds of Batjan, Halmahera and Ternate (as Megaloprepia formosa micra),
stating that it is smaller. Unfortunately he only gave wing measurements of
birds from Obi, and none from other localities to demonstrate the difference.
I am very grateful to Mrs. M. LeCroy for the following wing measurements
of the series in the American Museum of Natural History :—

Batjan (17) males 146-151 mm _ females 142-150 mm.
Halmaheta (7) » 144-152 oe te baa, Tae
Ternate (2) ves hed eta

Obi (3) mand taka 132

Jany’s measurements from Obi were for males 130-1 38 mm, females 128—
137 mm. It is thus clear that the birds from that locality are distinctly smaller
and warrant separation as P. b. micrus (Jany).

THE STATUS OF Cacomantis variolosus tymbonomus

Cuculus tymbonomus Muller was named in 1843, based on a specimen from
Timor. Peters (1940: 25) listed it as a synonym of nominate Australian
Cacomantis variolosus, adding in a footnote that Dr. Junge had informed him
that ¢ymbonomus was an earlier name for dumetorum if the latter were considered
a distinct north Australian form. Peters did not mention that Junge had
already (1937: 179-180) published his views about the identity of ¢ymbonomus.

Mayr (1944: 149) reported a series of seven specimens of C. variolosus
collected in Timor by Stein. They differed from Australian birds in having
narrow rufous edges to the greyish brown back, scapulars and lesser upper
wing coverts, and in some other respects. No dates were given, but from
Stein’s itinerary they must gave been collected in January, February and
April. Mayr considered that these birds represented a distinct endemic form,
resident in Timor, and adopted ¢ymbonomus as their name.

It is difficult to reconcile Junge’s views on ¢ymbonomus with those adopted
by Mayr. Dr. G. F. Mees has kindly re-examined the type of ¢ymbonomus in the
Leiden musuem. He informs me that allowing for its age, it agrees well with
north Australian birds and has none of the rufous dorsal markings which
Mayr found in Timor birds. It is labelled 1829 without further date, and
could in fact have been a migrant from Australia, since nominate variolosus
winters in Wallacea as far as the north Moluccas and Sula Islands. If there is a
distinct resident form in Timor, it is evident that zywbonomus is not on present
evidence available as its name.

Cacomantis variolosus was last revised by Hartert (1925). A new revision of
the species is badly needed, and this should take account of plumage sequen-
ces, since Parkes (1960: 332-335) found that some C’. variolosus moult from
the barred juvenile plumage to a second barred plumage. It would also be
desirable to have confirmation that the species in fact breeds in Timor. In the
meantime I leave the Timor birds obtained by Stein without a subspecific name.
THREE QUESTIONABLE RECORDS FROM TALAUD ISLANDS

The Talaud Islands including the adjacent Nenusa group are small, non-
volcanic isolated oceanic islands, and are the northernmost land area

[Bull, B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 102

included in Wallacea. Only about 38 species of birds recorded there are likely
also to breed. No experienced ornithologist has visited the islands: most
knowledge of their birds comes from collections made by Indonesian hunters
working for C. W. Cursham or J. Waterstradt last century. Hartert (1898:
88-91) reported on a collection sent by Waterstradt. He noted that the col-
lection included two examples of Oriolus chinensis celebensis which were
probably not obtained at Talaud but on the way to or from Talaud (a strongly
matked endemic subspecies in fact occurs at Talaud).

Three other species listed from Talaud also seem suspect :—

Trichoglossus ornatus: one specimen of this Celebes allospecies of 7. haema-
todus (Hartert 1898). Peters (1937: 148) and Cain (1955: 432-479) have
overlooked or ignored this record. The species is not reported from the
islands between Talaud and Celebes so that the presence in Talaud of a bird
identical with that of Celebes is peculiar. It is also odd that Cursham’s
collectors failed to obtain this conspicuous lory.

Eurostopodus macrotis macropterus: one specimen identical with Celebes
specimens. The nominate form occurs in the Philippines, but there are no
other records from the intervening small islands. This large nightjar is a
common lowland species in Celebes, but it has never been recorded from any
small oceanic island.

Picoides temminckii: a pair identical with Celebes birds, where this small
woodpecker is endemic. It has not been reported from islands close to

Celebes such as Muna, Butung or Banggai nor from Siau or Sangihe, and it |

would appear to be a species unable to make over-water colonisations, so that
its presence, undifferentiated, at Talaud seems unlikely. In Celebes it is a
common species in any timbeted area, even an urban one.

These doubtful records underline the need for modetn investigation of the
birds of many patts of Wallacea. Although one cannot categorically prove
that the specimens came from Celebes (like the Orio/us), a strong suspicion
must remain that they did so, at least until the converse is proved by new
records from Talaud.

References:

Berlioz, J. & Pfeffer, P. 1965 (1966). Etude d’une collection d’oiseaux d’Amboine (Iles
Moluques). Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. Paris Set. 2. 37: 907-915.

Cain, A. J. 1955. A revision of Trichoglossus haematodus and of the Australian Platycercine
parrots. [bis 97: 432-479.

Condon, H. T. & Amadon, D. 1954. Taxonomic notes on Austtalian hawks. Recd. S.
Austr. Mus, 11: 189-246.

Goodwin, D. 1967. Pigeons and Doves of the World. London: Trustees of the British Museum
(Natural History).

Greenway, J. C. 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural
History. Part 1. Bull, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 150: 207-346.

Hartert, E. 1898. List of a collection of birds from the island of Lirung or Salibabu, the
largest of the Talaut group. Novit. Zool. 5: 89-91.

— 1925. Revision of the genus Cacomantis Mull. Novit. Zool. 32: 164-174.

Jany, E. 1955. Neue Vogel-Formen von den Nord-Molukken. J. Orn. 96: 102-106.

Junge, G. C. A. 1937. The birds of south New Guinea. Part 1. Non-Passeres. Nova Guinea
(n.s.) I: 125-187

Mayr, E. 1944. The birds of Timor and Sumba. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 83: 123-194.

— 1945. Birds collected during the Whitney South Seas expedition 55. Notes on the birds
of northern Melanesia 1. Amer. Mus. Novit. No. 1294.

Mees, G. F. 1973. Once mote: the identity and authorship of Treron griseicauda, Bull. Brit.
Orn. Cl. 93: 119-120.

Parkes, K. C. 1960. Notes on some non-passerine birds from the Philippines. Ann. Carneg.
Mus. 35: 331-340.

|

103 [Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)]

Peters, J. L. 1931, 1937, 1940. Check List of Birds of the World. Vols. 1, 3, 4. Harvard Univ.
Press.

Siebers, H. C. 1930. Fauna Buruana: Aves. Treubia 7 (Suppl.): 179.

Stresemann, E. 1941: Die V6gel von Celebes. J. Orn. 89: 1-102.

Van Bemmel, A. C. V. 1948. A faunal list of the birds of the Moluccan Islands. Treubia 19:
323-402.

Address: 2 Belvedere Court, Kingsway, Ansdell, Lytham-St. Annes, Lancashire, England.

First record of the Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus
from Taiwan
by S. R. Severinghaus

Received 21 March 1977
On 28 September 1967, a female Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus was trap-
ped 250 mazs.l. in the hills east of the town of Heng Chun, Pingtung Hsien
(22° 00’ N, 120° 45’ E) at the southern tip of Taiwan (Formosa). This was
the first, and remains the only, record to date of the Ashy Drongo from
Taiwan, and is the basis for including Taiwan within its range in King ef a/.
(1975).

The specimen is deposited in the bird collection of the Environmental
Research Centre at Tunghai University (Taichung, Taiwan, ROC). Measure-
ments (in mm) were recorded as follows: wing, 135; tail, 124; culmen, 23-4;
gape, 28-9; tarsal length, 18-6; tarsal diameter, 2-5; total length, 239;
weight, 34°4 g.

The bird was uniform grey except for a paler silver-grey facial patch (lores,
eat coverts and narrow border above and below eyes), a narrow black
forehead, and blackish primaries. Bill, legs, feet and toes were black. The itis
was rich dark brown.

Although the races of the Ashy Drongo are difficult to differentiate, the
specimen in question almost certainly belongs to D. /. sa/angensis: the light
facial patch was a silver-grey, not white, and extended only slightly around
and behind the eye to include the ear coverts. This agrees with the description
of salangensis in Vaurie (1949). It is distinct from D. /. /eucogenis in which the
facial patch is white and extends further backward to the sides of the neck.
The Taiwan specimen closely resembles the specimens of sa/angensis in the
American Museum of Natural History. Both it and the museum specimens
have darker plumage, including the facial patch, than the specimens of
Jeucogenis in the museum.

Along coastal mainland China, sa/angensis usually breeds south of the
Kwangtung-Fukien border, while /eacogenis breeds north of that border
(Vaurie 1949). Their breeding ranges meet, therefore, directly across the
Formosa Straits from central Taiwan. Both subspecies migrate southwest
across the continent to Thailand and the Malay Peninsula; sa/angensis also
migrates to Hainan, arriving in late September (Vaurie 1949). The Taiwan
specimen was doubtless a straggler to the island during autumn migration.
It was caught on a perch trap (intended for migrating Brown Shrikes Lanius
cristatus) placed on hills of cultivated sisal (Agave sp.).

This paper resulted from research during the Migratory Animal Pathological Survey, a
project suppotted by the U.S. Army Research and Development Group (Far East), Depart-
ment of the Army under Grant No. DA-CRD-AFE-S92-5 44-68-G130. I also wish to
thank the staff of the American Museum of Natural History for permission to use their
collection.

[Bull. B.O.C. 1977: 97(3)] 104

References:

King, B. F., Woodcock, M. W. & Dickinson, E. C. 1975. A Field Guide to the Birds of
South-East Asia. Collins. London.

Vaurie, C. 1949. A revision of the bird family Dicrutridae. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.

93(4): 203-342.
Address: 3761 Park Ave., Coconut Grove, Fla., 33133, USA.

Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature: Opinions

In continuation of Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 97, 1977: 31, and by permission of the International
Trust for Zoological Nomenclature, the following Ruling is quoted as an extract from an
Opinion published in Bu//. Zool. Nomencl. affecting birds:

OPINION 1069
(Bull. Zool. Nomencel. 33(3/4), 1977: 162)
Correction of entry in Official List of Family-Group Names in Zoology fot Name Number
428 (Thraupidae).

(1) The request to use the plenary powers to suppress all uses of the family-group name
Thraupidae (Aves) prior to its use by Wetmore & Miller, 1926, is refused.

(z) The entry for Name Number 428 on the Official List of Family-Group Names in
Zoology is hereby corrected to read: Thraupidae, Cabanis, 1847 (type-genus Thraupis
Boie, 1826) (Class Aves).

The following Rulings in Opinions are summarised:

OPINION 1068
(Bull. Zool. Nomencl. 33(3/4), 1977: 159)
Leptosomatidae in Aves and Nematoda; resolution of homonym arising from similarity in
the names of the type genera. Leptosomidae (type-genus Leptosomus) to be used in Aves,
Leptosomatidae (type-genus Lepfosomatum) in Nematoda.
OPINION 1070
(Bull. Zool. Nomencl. 33(3/4), 1977: 165)
Archaeopteryx lithographica von Meyer, 1861 (Aves) given precedence ovet Prerodactylus

crassipes von Meyer, 1857.
IN BRIEF
The Bald Ibis or Waldrapp Geronticus eremita in Ethiopia

In view of the present low numbers of the Waldrapp or Bald Ibis Geronticus
eremita, whose world population of breeding pairs was down to about 150 in
1972 (Parslow (1973) Bull. Brit. Orn. C7. 93: 163-166), it is worth recording a
party of six at 9° 32’ N, 39° 29’ E, one km northeast of Chacha, Shoa Province,
Ethiopia, on 22 January 1977. They were feeding on open highland grassland,
with patches of cultivation, at about 2879 m, and permitted approach close
enough to photograph them. They flew off and joined a party of about 15
Wattled Ibis Bostrychia carunculata with which they fed and flew. On being
disturbed by shepherds they rose high into the air and were last seen alone
in a compact flock at a great height soaring in a thermal.

Smith (Bull. Brit. Orn. C7. (1970) 90: 18— 24) summarised the knowledge
of this bird’s distribution in Ethiopia, and refers to his own observations
round Addis Ababa in 1941 and 1952. The latter, a flock of about 100 some
80 km northeast of the capital, must have been very close to the 1977 locality.
There have been no records in the interim, in spite of frequent searches in
recent years, but the species could easily be overlooked amongst the common
B. carunculata in the hundreds of square km of suitable habitat—most of it
only accessible on foot.

5 February 1977

\TISH
ca ue J. S. Ash

2 air 4 “NAMRU 5, APO New York 09319, U.S.A.

sig T. R. HOWELL

Dept. of Biology Rin £ of Califor ia, Los Angeles, California 90024, U.S.A.
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ISSN 0007 - 1595

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Bulletin

British Ornithologists’ Club

Edited by
Dr. J. F. MONK

Volume 97 No. 4 December 1977

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

TUESDAY, 17 JANUARY 1978 at 6.30 p.m. for 7 p.m. at the Senior Common
Room, South Side, Imperial College, South Kensington (entrance on the
south side of Prince’s Gardens, $.W.7, on the E. side of Exhibition Road,
between the Victoria and Albert Museum and Hyde Park). Dr. J. G.
Harrison, O.B.E., on “Indian Interlude’. Those wishing to attend should
send a cheque for £3.80 a person to the Hon. Secretary with their acceptance
on the enclosed slip, to arrive not later than first post on Thursday, 12

January.

TUESDAY, 14 Marcu 1978 at 6.30 for 7 p.m. at the Goat Tavern, 3 Stafford
Street, W.1. (between Old Bond Street and Ablemarle Street, nearest
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lems of Gravel Pits”. Those wishing to attend should send a cheque for
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slip, to arrive not later than first post on Wednesday, 8 March.

Please note this meeting is on the SECOND Tuesday in March.

Details of the meeting in May 1978 will be published in the next number of
the Bulletin. It is hoped that the speaker will be a distinguished American
ornithologist.

COMMITTEE
P. Hogg (Chairman) Dr. G. Beven (Vice-Chairman)
R. E. F. Peal (Hon. Secretary) M. St.J. Sugg (Hon. Treasurer)
Dr. J. F. Monk (Editor) Mrs. J. D. Bradley
C. E. Wheeler B. Gray

V. F. Mann

—— ee mre

105 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

Bulletin of the
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS’ CLUB

Vol.97 No.4 Published: 20 December 1977

The seven hundred and eighth meeting of the Club was held at the Senior Common Room,
South Side, Imperial College, London, S.W.7 at 6.45 p.m. on Thursday, 15 September 1977.

Chairman: Dr. G. Beven, M.D.; present 14 members and 12 guests.

Professor V. C. Wynne-Edwards, C.B.E., F.R.S., F.R.S.E. gave an address of outstand-
ing interest on ‘Social competition controlling population density in birds’.

Professor Wynne-Edwards first discussed the factors suggested by Darwin as being
responsible for limiting animal numbers, namely predation, disease, climate and food
supply, giving examples of circumstances in which they were clearly effective. These
factors did not alone, however, account sufficiently for the remarkably constant sizes of
populations of some animals.

He next considered the function of territorial systems in preventing the carrying capacity
of a habitat being exceeded. Examples of this included beavers (Castor spp.), with the need
to prevent destruction of their habitat by excessive timber felling; and Red Deer (Cervus
elaphus), whete a social hierarchy gave the best feeding territories to hinds in calf. He then
dealt at some length with Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus), pointing out that population size
was not governed by predation or disease. With this bird, size of territory was correlated
with the quantity and quality of its main food, namely heathers (Ca/luna vulgaris and Erica
spp.) and with success in obtaining a territory. Territorial success was related to hormonal
condition, with competition for territories largely governed by strong social conventions.

In conclusion Professor Wynne-Edwards emphasized that animals which limit their
numbers do so for the common good. He explained that he no longer supported the concept
of group selection since clearly genes leading to lowered fertility would be selected against
and eliminated. Nevertheless, he considered epideictic displays (i.e. communal manoeuvres,
especially at dusk and dawn) were of vital importance as part of the system of control of
populations by social mechanisms.

The address gave rise to a highly stimulating discussion.

The Seven hundred and ninth meeting of the Club was held at the Senior Common
Room, South Side, Imperial College, London, S.W.7 at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 15 November
1977.

Chairman: Mr. P. Hogg; present 24 members and 17 guests.
Mrs. Stephanie Tyler, Ph.D., spoke on the “Avifauna of Ethiopia’, illustrating her talk
with slides of the birds and habitats. She provided much recent information on the
distribution of birds there and included observations made during the period she was
held captive in 1976 and 1977, largely in montane country.

Weights of Some Puerto Rican Birds
by Storrs L. Olson and J. Phillip Angle

Received 17 May 1977

For a number of biological and evolutionary studies it has become increasing-
ly important to know the weights of various taxa of birds. Few figures are
available for species in the West Indies, where it is important to have data
from many localities because of the number of species endemic to single
islands and because the races of polytypic species can differ greatly in size
from island to island (e.g. Spindalis). Apart from certain studies of indi-
vidual species, the only figures for the weights of Puerto Rican birds appear
to be those for 20 species given by Oniki (1975).

From 14 to 30 April 1977 we collected 279 specimens of 47 species of birds
in Puerto Rico, mainly for preparation as skeletons to provide comparative
material for identifying a large series of Pleistocene fossils obtained pre-
viously on the island. Each of these was weighed while fresh on an Ohaus

formalin. Most of our specimens were collected in one of four localities: dry
scrub in Guanica Forest Reserve (where, due to drought, few species were
breeding); montane forest in Maricao Forest Reserve; coffee plantations
neat Utuado; and pastureland around Laguna Cartagena.

Since our sample sizes were usually small, we have simply listed the weight of each
individual to the nearest 0:1 gm.

Falco sparverius caribaearum: 3 87-8
Rallus longirostris caribaeus: 2 247°9
Charadrius w. wilsonia: 2 61-2
Columba squamosa: 3 326°2
Zenaida m. macroura: 9 108-0
Columbina passerina portoricensis: 3 32-8, 33°4, 35°3, 39°93 2 30°1, 35°4, 35°85 37°7> 38°5-
Geotrygon m. montana: § 126°2, 140°0;Q2 116-1, 117°2, 122°9, 126°0, 141°4
Saurothera vieilloti: 8 73°55, 74°5, 83°43 2 87°9, 96°9
Crotophaga ani: 2 82-0
Otus n. nudipes: 3 118+0, 132°35,142°7; 2 102°9, 154°0
Caprimulgus noctitherus: 3 34°95, 35°5, 36°6
Chlorostilbon maugaeus: § 2°85, 2°95, 3°1, 3°1, 3°1, 3°55 (fat); Q 2°8, 2°8, 2°85, 2:9, 2°9,
3°O, 3°05, 3°2
Anthracothorax dominicus aurulentus: 3 §+4,5°5,5°9, 6°0, 6:0, 6:1, 6:2, 6°33 9 §-2, 573
Anthracothorax viridis: 38 6-7, 6°9, 6°95, 7°1359 6°5
Todus pais 3 S59 325745 5°59 5.6, 5°, 559. 5795 5.2952, 6° 4,.6°75 2 $74,573 6558ex 2
5°2, 5°8, 6-0
Melanerpes portoricensis: 3 53:9, 56°6, 58°5, 65:8, 67°13; 9 45°7, 49°1, 49°9, 52°6, 55°1,
58-0, 59°4 /
Tyrannus d. dominicensis: 3 47-1
Myiarchus stolidus antillarum: 3 22°8, 23°3, 23°3, 23°8, 25°3;Q 22:0, 22°6, 22°9, 23°3, 24°1
Contopus latirostris blancoi: § 11°0, 11°4, 11°5, 11°73 9 9°25, 9°7, 9°8, 10°0, 10-0
Elaenia martinica riisii: $ 19*1, 19°1532 18°3
ci sale ia G 15°2, 15 °3,116"0, 16°50, 'TG6"1, 16925 "1735S 15-255 1 ee ae or ee
16°85
Mimus polyglottos orpheus: 49°73; 2 60°7
Margarops f. fuscatus: 3 89°7, 89°9, 91°6, 92°3, 106°7; 2 88°35, 96-2
Turdus plumbeus ardosiaceus: 3 70*9, 72°7, 82°95, 83°35; ¢ 60°1, 64°4, 66-2, 67°9
Vireo latimeri:?\$ 10°6, 10°95, 11°4, II°4, 12°53 Q 10°2, Io*3, To°4, Ii, 11°35, 12-7;
Sex) PkOc7, Tie 25,00 e4s 25
Vireo a. altiloquus: 3 20-0, 20°8; 2 20°35, 22°1
Mnhiotilta varia: 2 10-0
Parula americana: 8 7°539.7°0, 6°5
Dendroica petechia cruciana: § 11°7, 13°13 10°4, 10°5, 10°8, 11°4
Dendroica tigrina: 2 10°2
Dendroica caerulescens: 8 10°0 (no fat visible), 13-0 (heavy fat)
Dendroica a. adelaidae: 3 6°8, 7°1, 7°2, 7°3, 8°15 2 6°2, 6°35, 6°6, 6°75, 6°8
Seiurus aurocapillus: 9 18-85 (heavy fat)
Geothlypis t. trichas: 3 9+4, 10°35
Geothlypis trichas ignota: $ 11-6
Setophaga ruticilla: 2 6+5
Coereba flaveola portoricensis: 8 9*0,9°1, 9°2, 9°83 8°2, 9°3, 9°35
Euphonia musica sclateri: 8 12+4, 12°5, 13°1, 13°83 2 13°35, 14°35
Spindalis ena portoricensis :3 29+2, 30°6, 33°232 32°4
Nesospingus speculiferus: 3 32°6, 35°65, 36°4, 36°5, 37°25, 37° 4, 37° 7, 38°15 2 31°0, 31°7,
_ 37°0, 37°2, 37°95, 39°73 SEX P 32°5, 35°6, 35°8, 36°55
Quiscalus niger brachypterus: 3 80+9, 85°8, 86°4, 89°5, 93°1; 2 61°9, 62-2, 66-2, 66-4, 67°2
Icterus dominicensis portoricensis: 3 41°§, 42°1, 42°15, 44°9
Icterus icterus ridgwayi: 3 75+33967°5
Agelaius x. xanthomus: 3 39°%, 41°4
Tiaris olivacea bryanti: 3 8-0, 8°75, 2 8°2;

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 106
triple-beam balance. We were able also to determine the sex of all specimens
except a few of sexually non-dimorphic species that were preserved whole in

107 [Bull, Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

Tiaris bicolor omissa: 3 9°3,9°6, 9°9, 10°03 2 9°1, 9°5, 9°8, 10°4
Loxigilla p. portoricensis: § 31°13, 32°0, 32°8, 34°4, 34°7, 34°7, 34°8, 34°9, 351, 35°8, 38°0,

39°1; 2 23°74, 26°0, 26°5, 27°8, 29°4, 31°5, 32°6, 36°75; Sex ? 27°3, 29°5, 31°3, 34°6
Esstrilda amandava: 3 8-6

Acknowledgements: This study was supported by a grant from the National Geographic
Society and was greatly facilitated through the cooperation of the Department of Natural
Resources of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in which connection the aid of Mr.
Herbert Raffaele was of particular importance. We thank George A. Clark for comments on
the manuscript.

Reference:
Oniki, Y. 1975. Temperatures of some Puerto Rican birds with note of low temperatures
in todies. Condor 77: 344.

Address: Division of Birds, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C. 20560 U.S.A.

Review of the records of three Palaearctic ducks in
Southern Africa

by A. Clark

Received 26 May 1977

Moreau (1972) lists eleven species of Palaearctic duck which can be found
wintering in East Africa. Of these the Garganey Axas querquedula is the most
common, while the only other species consistently wintering south of the
Sahara in large numbers is the Noithern Pintail Anas acuta. The wintering
distribution of the European Shoveler Axas clypeata is similar to that of the
Northern Pintail but the numbers are less. These three species occasionally
penetrate south of latitude 10°S.

As certain authors have been unable to accept the occurrence of the
Ruropean Shoveler in the Cape Province as that of a genuine migrant
(Benson & Grimwood 1959, Winterbottom & Middlemiss 1960) it was felt
that the position could be clarified by bringing together and reviewing all
records for Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Rhodesia, Mozambique, South
West Africa (S.W.A.) and the Republic of South Africa (R.S.A.) of the three
species mentioned above.

GARGANEY <Axas querquedula

The Garganey records are given in Table 1, but excluded are an old record
from Mbara, Zambia (about year 1900) and other records of specimens
collected in December, January and February (year not stated) at Itawa
swamp, Ndola which were originally misidentified by Schauensee as Anas
capensis (Benson ef a/. 1970).

Zambia. Fairly regular since 1972. During the February and March 1974
rains 100 or more were counted at Lochinvar on three occasions.

Malawi. First recorded in 1934 (the record at Loudon was between 1932
and 1938) and then at intervals until 1948, but not again until 1973. Flocks
of ¢ 40 birds wete seen in 1942 and 1944.

Rhodesia. Records include a flight of 150-200 birds, believed to be Gar-
ganey, near Salisbury in December 1945 (Kennedy 1947). Similar numbers
were not seen in Zambia at this time. Woodall (1975) showed there was a
correlation between the presence of Garganey in Rhodesia and low rainfall
in the Sahel region, south of the Sahara.

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

108

The Zambian, Malawian and Rhodesian records were all obtained during
the period November to April at a time when the birds can be expected in
their winter quarters. Most records have been obtained since 1940, with an
unexplained gap in all these countries between 1953 and 1970.

TABLE 1.

Records of Garganey Axas querquedula south of the Sahara in eastern/southern Africa

Date No. ofbirds Type of record Sex Locality Reference
ZAMBIA
2-ii-43 to 2 specimen 362 Monze, Mazabuka White 1943, Irwin pers. comm.

14-1i-43
I 1—xii-43 4 I ¢ specimen 1g 32 Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
12-xli-43 I specimen 3 Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
11-i-44 6 12 specimen 2642 Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
5—ii-44. 4 2 specimens joe} Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
6-i-45 10 I ¢ specimen 3672 Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
21-i-45 I specimen Q Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
24-i-49 I specimen je) Lusaka Irwin pers. comm.
9—iii-49 20 sight Lundazi, East Province Button, E. L. pers. comm.
30-i-50 I specimen Q Lake Lusiwashi Irwin pers. comm.
30-i-53 I specimen re) Kanyunyu Dam, Lundazi _— Irwin pers. comm.
31-xli-71 to 1-7 _— sight both Lochinvar Tucker 1972

21-iv-72
14-i-72 to 2-27 = sight both Luanshya Tucker 1972

11-iv—72
21-ii-72 I sight Kabulonga Dam, Lusaka Tucker 1972
22-xi-72 to 1-5 _— sight Kafue, Kitwe, Lusaka Penty 1975

26-ili-73 Lochinvar, Luanshya and

Mufulira

30-xI-73 to I-100_ sight Kitwe, Lochinvar (100), Penry 1975

3—-iv-74 Mufulira, Blue Lagoon
30-xi-74 to I-15 sight Kitwe, Lochinvar, Luanshya, Penry 1975

15—ili-75 Mufulira
MALAWI
13-i-34 2 specimen bQ Bua River Bannerman 1934
20-ii1-? I sight 3 Loudon Benson 1940
I-xli-39 ¢.30 © sight Lake Nderendere Benson 1942
20-x1-42 40 sight Fort Johnson (now Benson 1942

Mangochi)

Jan. /Feb.-43 2-20 sight Fort Johnson Benson 1944
TI-1-44 3 sight 1g 22 §=©Kota-kota Benson 1947
12—xli-44 ¢.40 sight Kota-kota Benson 1947
P—xii-45 2 specimen Lake Chilwa Benson & Benson 1948
27-x1-48 fe) I specimen Karonga Benson 1949
5—x11—48 7 sight Lake Kasuni Benson 1949
Dec. /Jan.—? 20 sight Mazimba District Button, E. L. pers. comm.
late 1973 2 specimen Domasi Benson & Benson in press
16—xii—76 14 sight Kasunthula, Shire valley Day, D. pets. comm.
BOTSWANA
May-43 I specimen Lobatsi Roberts 1943
RHODESIA
Dec.—45 2 specimen Gwebi flats, Salisbury Kennedy 1947
Dec.—45 150-200 sight Gwebi flats, SBY Kennedy 1947
6-ili-49 I specimen imm.2 Mangwe Smithers 1950
13—-lii-49 2 specimen imm.?2 Bembesi Smithers 1950
29-xi-52 I sight imm. Salisbury Brooke 1974
15—ili-70 2 sight fois) neat Bulawayo Talbot 1970
19—xi-72 I sight 2 Lake McIlwaine, SBY. Tree 1973
11-i-73 I specimen fe) United Farm, SBY. Irwin pers. comm.
11—xi-73 I specimen 1) near Salisbury Woodall 1975
18—xii-73 I sight Q Que Que Vernon 1974
Feb.-74 I or more sight near Bulawayo Irwin 1974
3-xli-75 I sight Qorimm. Nyamagavi, Mashonaland Tree 1976
4/7-1v-76 I sight ce) Rainham Dam, SBY. Tree 1976
15-i-77 I specimen 3} Bonisa, Nyamandhlova Irwin pers. comm.
R.S.A.
I-Viii-7o I sight 3 Benoni, Transvaal Schmitt 1970
3-i-71 I sight ce) Bethal district, Tvl. Pocock, T. N. pers. comm.
23-i-71 to I sight 3 Germiston, Tvl. Clark 1971, Schmitt &

13-iii-71 Brensing 1971
12-ix-72 to I sight 3 Germiston, Tvl. Clark 19724

3—-xi-72
19—-xi-—72 I sight fe) Marievale, Tvl. Madden, S. T. pers. comm.
9-1i-73 I sight Gorimm. Nigel district, Tvl. Clark pers. record
6 and 13-1ii-77 2 sight Marievale, Tvl. Hopcroft 1977

109 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

Botswana. The single record is one of the earliest, a bird collected in 1943
at Lobatsi ¢ 500 km south of the most southerly Rhodesian sighting. May is
late for the species to be in its winter quarters so it was probably a disorien-
tated straggler or an injured bird.

R.S.A. The seven records have all been obtained in the Transvaal since
1970, six being sight records of single birds. (Mackworth-Praed & Grant
(1962) refer to an earlier Transvaal record for which I have been unable
to find details.) All sightings were not much further south than Lobatsi,
Botswana. It is not easy to accept two of the seven records, the 1970
Benoni and the 1972 Germiston records, as those of genuine European
migrants since Garganey are flightless in July and August and the male is
likely to be in eclipse plumage between August and November, and even
until February (Bauer & Glutz von Blotzheim 1968). There are no such out
of season records for Zambia, Malawi or Rhodesia, and the other five records
may also be doubted. During the 1971/72 summer normal rains fell in the
Transvaal, but the 1972/73 summer, during which three of the seven Trans -
vaal records were obtained, was exceptionally dry.

No Garganey have been recorded for Mozambique, possibly due to lack
of competent obsetvers. There is an interesting record (Vinson 1947) from
Rodriguez Island in the Indian Ocean (19° 41’ S, 63° 23’ E) where two were
seen, one of which was shot, on 29 January 1945. Shortly before, a severe
cyclone moving in a southwesterly direction had passed close to the island
and it was assumed that the birds had been swept off their normal course.

TABLE 2.
Records of Northern Pintail anas Acuta south of the Sahara in eastern/southern Africa
Date No. of birds Type of record Sex Locality Reference
ZAMBIA
Jan.-42 2 specimen 3d Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
18-ii-43 I specimen 3 Itawa swamp, Ndola White 1944
14—-xii-—43 ? sight Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
28-ii-73 2 sight Lochinvar Penry 1975
26-xii-73 to I sight Kitwe Dowsett in footnote
3-i-74 to Irwin 1974
8 /13-i-74 I sight Mufulira Dowsett in footnote to Irwin 1974
19-xii-74 I sight Kitwe Penry 1975
2-1-75 I sight Mufulira Penry 1975
RHODESIA
10/13-xi-58 2 sight pair Rainham Dam, SBY. Took 1959
3 /10-ii-74 5-8 sight & 2 29 Turk Mine, Bulawayo Irwin 1974
specimens
R.S.A.
18-i-73 I sight 3 Barberspan, Transvaal Skead &Broekhuysen 1974
12-vii-73 I sight 3 Barberspan, Transvaal Skead, D. M. pers. comm.

NORTHERN PINTAIL Aas acuta

Zambia. Eight records, five of which were single birds, and all during
December to February (Table 2). Since 1973 this species has apparently
occurred more frequently. During the 1973/74 northern winter exceptionally
heavy rains fell over most of south-central Africa and Rhodesia, and as
pointed out by Irwin (1974) “this factor, accompanied by the progressive
series of droughts in the northern semi-arid savannah belt of Africa’? could
have forced many birds south of their normal wintering area (which would
apply to Garganey as well as Northern Pintail).

Malawi. No records prior to 1977 (Benson, in press).

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] IIo

Rhodesia. ‘Two were seen on a dam near Salisbury in November 1958 and
two 99 were taken from a flight of five near Bulawayo in February 1974.

Smithers (1964) recorded none.

R.S.A. ‘Two sight records of single males. It is difficult to accept the July
record, since Northern Pintails are usually flightless in July, the breeding
plumage of males not being complete until October/November or even
later (Bauer & Glutz von Blotzheim 1968). The bird could have escaped
from a waterfowl collection, as also could have the January bird. It is also
possible that it was the same bird that was seen on each occasion.

Botswana.

TABLE 3.
Records of European Shoveler Anas clypeata south of the Sahara in eastern/southern Africa

Date No. of birds Type of record Sex Locality Reference
ZAMBIA
23—xii-37 6 sight 242 Mpika District Button, E. L. pers. comm.
5-i-44 I specimen 3 Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
27-i-44 I specimen fe) Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
8-i-45 I sight Itawa swamp, Ndola Button, E. L. pers. comm.
Noy. & Jan. I sight Lundazi, Eastern Province Benson ef a/. 1971
27-1i-73 I sight Lochinvar Penry 1975
Dec.—73 to 1-4 sight Kitwe Penry 1975

Jan.-74
24/31-xii-74 I sight Kitwe Penry 1975
MALAWI
Dec.—32 I sight Fort Johnson Benson 1949
27-xi-48 I specimen g Karonga Benson 1949
RHODESIA
12-1ii-72 I sight 3é Hampton, SBY. Blencowe 1972
S.W.A.
2-x-62 I sight 3 Andara, Okavango Borsutsky 1964
R.S.A.
14-ix-1893 I specimen rei Riet Vlei, Cape Town Stark & Sclater 1906
6-xi-39 I sight 3 Riet Vlei, Cape Town Broekhuysen & Meiklejohn 1941
19-Vvii-44 3 sight 1g 22 Zeekoe Vlei, Cape Town Benson 1950
19-Vili-44 2 sight 1g 12 Zeekoe Vlei, Cape Town Benson 1950
4-xi-44 to 2 sight pair Benoni, Transvaal Daniels 1952

20-11-45
22-ix—56 I sight Van Wyk’s Rust, Tvl. Patten 1957
13-xii-56 I sight 3 Knysna Lake, C.P. Middlemiss in Benson &
17-Vili-57 I sight 3 Bredasdorp, C.P. Grimwood 1959
4-iX-59 I sight 3} Bredasdorp, C.P. J)
May-? I sight East Griqualand, C.P. Winterbottom & Middlemiss 1960
14-vi-70 I caught & 3 Evander, Tvl. Skead, D. M. pers. comm.

tinged

16/25-vii-71 I sight 3 Buffels River, C.P. Forrester 1972
3-xi-72 to I sight 3 Germiston, Tvl. Clark 1972b

7-xii-72
19—vi-75 to I sight 3 Barberspan, Tvl. Skead, D. M. pers. comm.

4-vii-75

EuROPEAN SHOVELER Aas clypeata

Zambia. All the records (Table 3) fall within the normal wintering period
and in number equal the Northern Pintail records. The four birds sighted in
December 1973 coincided with the local rains and with drought in the Sahel.

Malani and Rhodesia. Single birds obtained between November and March.
Botswana. Smithets (1964) recorded none.

S.W.A. The single bird, identified as a male, on 2 October is unlikely to
have spent the summer in Europe, since eclipse plumage is often not shed
until December (Witherby e¢ a/. 1939).

Mozambique. Hanmer (1976) recorded two Cape Shoveler Anas smithi

4

III [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

from Mopeia on 26 December 1972. Re-checking with Mrs Hanmer details
of the plumage obtained at the time shows that the birds could have been
Ruropean Shoveler in their first winter plumage, in which case this would
be the first record for Mozambique.

R.S.A. In the light of the few Zambian, Malawian and Rhodesian records,
the 13 R.S.A. records, 8 of which come from the Cape Province (the two
Zeekoe Vlei records are taken to be the same birds), immediately become
suspect as not true migrants, particularly also as there are no Garganey
records for the Cape Province. All are sight records except one collected in
1893 and one trapped in 1970. Significantly males predominate, presumably
in full breeding plumage. If we exclude the nine records obtained between
May and September, there are four November/December records which
could possibly be European migrants: two in the Cape Province and two in
the Transvaal.

Benson (1950) and Benson & Grimwood (1959), reviewing the Cape
Province records, inclined to the view that they were Cape Shovelers show-
ing an exceptionally exaggerated dimorphism, but did not exclude the
possibility of birds having escaped from captivity. Winterbottom & Middle-
miss (1960) compared the European and Cape Shovelers and considered the
differences presented were sufficient to support “‘specific distinctiveness”.
They rejected the possibility of exaggerated dimorphism on the basis that
smithi is the more primitive form and that there was no reason to suppose
that it had ever evolved a breeding plumage showing the degree of dimor-
phism found in ¢/ypeata; they also thought it more likely that some of the
birds had escaped from captivity.

Anyone familiar with the two species in the field could not easily fail to
distinguish them. Apart from the distinctive colouring of the c/ypeata male,
the beak is noticeably more spatulate than that of swithi. Consequently I
think the identification of most of the R.S.A. records must be accepted as
correct, whatever the birds’ origins.

DIsCUSSION

Records of all three species in Zambia and of Garganey in Rhodesia have
increased since 1972, either due to increased attention being given to ducks,
or because of a real increase in numbers of these European migrants.

The Garganey is the only species for which African wintering grounds
are of great importance (Moreau 1972) and it is not surprising that single
birds and occasional flocks move south when their normal wintering quarters
suffer drought. However, two of the R.S.A. male birds occurred when
European birds ate in eclipse and it is unlikely that they were migrants, the
only possible alternative being that they had escaped from captivity; and
this could apply to the remaining five records.

Two Zambian and one Rhodesian Northern Pintail records, the latter a
flight of several birds, obtained during the 1973/74 northern winter, coincided
with drought in the Sahel and heavy rainfall in these regions. The two R.S.A.
records wete obtained during a drought period and the male recorded in
July at least is unlikely to have been a migrant.

It is even more difficult to accept 13 R.S.A. European Shoveler records as
those of true migrants. Moreau (1972) states that the European Shoveler is
less common in East Africa than the Northern Pintail so that records of the

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 112

former in R.S.A. are unlikely to exceed those of Garganey or Northern
Pintail, which are themselves rare and suspect.

In recent years other exotic waterfowl have been seen wild in R.S.A.
A European Shelduck Tadorna tadorna was recorded near Port Elizabeth,
Cape Province in June 1974 and considered to be a migrant (Blake 1975),
although the species has not been recorded wintering in East Africa and the
record was obtained during the Eutopean breeding season. This species is
kept in zoological gardens and was present at East London Zoo, Cape
Province at the end of 1972.*

An American Black Duck Azas rubripes was seen in Durban Bay, Natal on
30 March 1975 (Brooke & Sinclair 1976). At the time it was considered to be
an escape, and subsequently guessed to have come from a ship which had
arrived in the Bay a few weeks earlier with a cargo of captive birds (Brooke
in Uitt.). A similar incident in 1916 is considered responsible for the establish-
ment of a feral population of Mute Swans Cygnus olor in the Knysna and
Humansdorp districts of the Cape Province (Palmer 1966).

At a pan in the residential area of Benoni, Transvaal, during June and
July 1976 there was a free-flying duck which I subsequently identified as a
female or immatute Ringed Teal Cal/onetta leucophrys, a South Ametican
species which could only have come from a captive source.

The importation of exotic birds into R.S.A. has increased in tecent
years, and apart from zoological gardens, which keep both foreign and
indigenous waterfowl, there are a number of private collections doing the
same, one of which recently advertised for sale a pair of Ringed Teal.

Prior to 1968 the Transvaal Nature Conservation Ordinance controlled
only the keeping of indigenous birds; there were no testrictions on the
importing or keeping of exotic birds. A new Ordinance came into force
on 1 January 1968 whereby no exotic bird could be imported or released
without a permit. However this has had little effect on the number of importa-
tions, and apparently none on the sale or accidental release of birds kept in
captivity. In the Cape Province as in the Transvaal, there was no control
on the importation or keeping of exotic waterfowl until legislation was
introduced in 1968 involving permits for importation and keeping of birds
in captivity, which had then to be permanently pinioned. In September 1975
exotic waterfowl were classified as protected species, enabling full control
overt the importation and movement within the Cape Province to be main-
tained and restricting the importation to bona fide Zoos and Research Institu-
tions.

There is thus sufficient evidence to cast doubt on the R.S.A. records of
all three species as being those of genuine Palaearctic migrants and this
situation will persist until we can reliably discount the possibility of their
being escaped birds. However, the Zambian, Malawian and Rhodesian
records fit into the general pattern of the wintering areas of these three
species and can be accepted as those of genuine Palaearctic migrants.

Acknowledgements: 1 am indebted to Mr. R. K. Brooke for considerable help with an early
draft of this paper. I also wish to thank Messrs. C. W. Benson, R. K. Brooke and M. P.

Stuart Irwin for invaluable help with references, and Messrs. E. L. Button, D. Day, S. T.
Madden, T. N. Pocock and D. M. Skead for unpublished records.

*Recently confirmed as an escaped bird (Every, B. (1977) The Bee-eater 28(2): 10.)

CE +A eee ae art bt.

4 ~

113 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

References:

Bannerman, D. A. 1934. Minutes of Club meeting. Bu//. Brit. Orn. Cl. 54: 124

Bauer, K. M. & Glutz von Blotzheim, U.N. 1968. Handbuch der Vogel Mitteleuropas, Band 2.
Ak. Verlagsgesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main.

Benson, C. W. 1940. Further notes on Nyasaland Birds. [bis 4: 283.

— 1942. Additional Notes on Nyasaland Birds. Ibis. 6: 202.

— 1944. Notes from Nyasaland. Jbis. 86: 448.

— 1947. Observations from Kota-kota district of Nyasaland. [bis 89: 557.

— 1949. Some new records for Nyasaland. Bul/. Brit. Orn. Cl. 69: 58.

— 1950. The occurrence of the European Shoveler in South Africa. Ostrich 21(2): 56-57.

— & Benson, F. M. 1948. Notes from Northern Nyasaland. [bis 90: 389.

— & Benson, F. M. (in press). The Birds of Malawi. Limbe, Malawi: Montfort Press.

— Brooke, R. K., Dowsett, R. J. & Irwin, M. P. Stuart. 1970. Notes on the birds of
Zambia. Part 5. Arnoldia 4(40): 5-6.

— Brooke, R. K., Dowsett, R. J. & Irwin, M. P. Stuart. 1971. The Birds of Zambia.
London: Collins.

— & Grimwood, I. R. 1959. The occurrence of the European Shoveler Anas c. clypeata
in South Africa. Bokmakierie 11: 39-40.

Blake, E. 1975. The first recorded occurrence of the European Shelduck in Southern
hemisphere. Ostrich. 46: 258.

Blencowe, E. J. 1972. Letter to Editor. Honeyguide 72: 35.

Borsutsky, P. 1964. European Shoveler on the Okavango River. Ostrich 35: 121.

Broekhuysen, G. J. & Meiklejohn, M. F. M. 1941. Observations on Palaearctic waders
and European Swallows in the Cape. Ostrich suppl. 1: 31.

Brooke, R. K. 1974. A Salisbury Garganey. Honeyguide 77: 43.

— & Sinclair, J. C. 1976. An American Black Duck in Durban. Ostrich 47: 67-68.

Clark, A. 1971. Garganey at Rondebult. Witwatersrand Bird Cl. News Sheet 74: 2.

— 1972a. Garganey at Rondebult. Witwatersrand Bird Cl. News Sheet 80: 12.

-= t 972b. European Shoveler Spatula clypeata at Rondebult. Witwatersrand Bird Cl. News

heet 80: 14.

Daniels, T. S. 1952. The European Shoveler in Benoni. Ostrich 23(1): 46-47.

Forrester, A. K. 1972. Some unusual vagrants at Kleinzee, Namaqualand. Ostrich 43:
186-187.

Hanmer, D. B. 1976. Birds of the lower Zambezi. Sth. Birds 2: 18.

Hopcroft, C. 1977. Field card records. Witwatersrand Bird Cl. News Sheet 97-2.

Irwin, M. P. Stuart. 1974. The Pintail Anas acuta in Rhodesia. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 94: 56-57.

Kennedy, J. 1947. Garganey in Southern Rhodesia. [bis 89: 519

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C.H.B. 1962. Birds of the Southern Third of Africa.
Series 2. Vol. 1. London: Longmans.

Moreau, R. E. 1972. The Palaearctic-African Bird Migration Systems. London: Academic
Press.

Patten, G. 1957. European Shoveler at Van Wyk’s Rust. Witwatersrand Bird Cl. News Sheet

6

23 6.

Palmer, E. 1966. The Plains of Camdeboo. London: Collins.

Penry, E. H. 1975. Palaearctic migrant ducks in Zambia. Bull. Zambian Orn. Soc. 7(1): 8-11.

Roberts, A. 1943. Garganey recorded from Lobatsi, Bechuanaland. Ostrich 14(2): 113.

Schmitt, M. 1970. Garganey at Westdene. Witwatersrand Bird Cl. News Sheet 71: 4.

— & Brensing, H. 1971. Garganey at Rondebult. Witwatersrand Bird Cl. News Sheet 73: 6.

Skead, D. M. & Broekhuysen, G. J. 1974. Pintail Anas acuta. Ostrich 45: 134.

Smithers, R. H. N. 1950. Garganey in Southern Rhodesia. bis 92: 146.

— 1964. A Check-list of the Birds of Bechuanaland Protectorate. Trustees Nat. Museum:
Southern Rhodesia.

Stark A. C. & Sclater, W. L. 1906. The Fauna of South Africa. Bitds 4: 145. London: Porter.

Talbot, J. 1970. Letter to Editor. Hloneyguide 63: 33.

Took, J. M. E. 1959. Pintail Anas acuta in Southern Rhodesia. Ostrich 30(2): 84.

Tree, A. J. 1973. Birds on Lake McIlwaine. Honeyguide 76: 32-35.

— 1976. Some recent interesting duck records from Mashonaland. Honeyguide 86: 42.

Tucker, J. J. 1972. Garganey in Zambia. Bull. Zambian Orn. Soc. 4(1): 27-28.

Vernon, C. J. 1974. Garganey at Sable Park. Hloneyguide 77: 43.

Vinson, J. 1947. A record of the Garganey Aas querquedula Linnaeus from Rodriguez
Island. Lbis 89: 361.

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 114

White, C. M. N. 1943. Garganey in Northern Rhodesia. [bis 85: 346.

— 1944. Further notes on Palaearctic migrants in Northern Rhodesia. Ostrich 15: 49-61.

Winterbottom, J. M. & Middlemiss, E. J. H. 1960. Notes on the Cape Shoveler. Bull.
Brit. Orn, Cl. 80(9): 154-162.

Witherby, H. F., Jourdain, F.C. R., Ticehurst, N. F. & Tucker, B. W. 1939. The Handbook
of British Birds. Vol. 3. London: Witherby.

Woodall, P. F. 1975. The Garganey Anas querquedula in Rhodesia. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 95(2):
86-88.

Address: 32 Southy Rd., Farramere, Benoni, 1500 Transvaal, South Africa.

The rediscovery of the Blofeld and the Wilkes
Collections of sub-fossil birds from St. Helena
by C. A. Walker

Received 16 June 1977

Blofeld and Wilkes collected sub-fossil bird bones on St. Helena in the
middle of the nineteenth century. Both collections were presented to the
Geological Society of London (Blofeld 1852), but neither was properly
catalogued; and in 1911 the Society’s overseas collections, presumably zz
toto, were transferred to the Department of Geology (now Palaeontology) of
the British Museum (Natural History). The importance of the extinct birds
of St. Helena became apparent only recently when new collections of their
own were worked on by Ashmole (1963) and Olson (1975), from which
Wetmore (1963) and Olson described a number of new species of Quaternary
age. Ashmole, however, stated that he was unable to trace the specimens in
the British Museum and Olson made no further enquiries. Since then both
the Blofeld and the Wilkes collections have been found with uncatalogued
sub-fossil mammal remains from another locality.

The precise locations of Wilkes’ and Blofeld’s collecting sites remain
unknown. Ashmole and Olson both looked for Wilkes’ “ Turk’s Cap Bay ”
locality: neither, however, found any trace of bones in the atea, and both
share Hutchison’s opinion (1950) that Wilkes’ collecting locality was Prosper-
ous Bay. As for the Longwood deposit, Blofeld stated that the locality was
“about half a mile behind Longwood, at an elevation of about 1,700 ft.
above the level of the sea, on a hill-side which is worn into numerous clefts
or ravines by the heavy rains. The surface of the hill to a depth of 5 to 6 feet
consists of dark mould and under this a stratum of greyish brown friable
earth about 3 to 4 feet thick; in this latter bed the shells occur. This earth
also contains bird bones perfect and fragmentary, in abundance...” . The
description of the substrate is accurate, for there is a sample of the “ earth ”
with the fossil molluscs collected by Blofeld, also in the British Museum.
Ashmole made no search for this deposit; Olson failed to locate the site
from Blofeld’s description, but tentatively suggested that it was Sugarloaf
Hill.

Both original collections were examined by Richard Owen who identified
their contents as “ marine birds, with some of the Wilkes’ belonging to the
sub-genus Puffinus” (in Blofeld 1852: 2). More critical examination today,
however, shows that they also include examples of gruiform, charadriiform
and coraciiform birds.

The majority of the bones from the two collections (B=Blofeld, W=

115 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

Wilkes), all housed in the Dept. of Palaeontology of the British Museum
(Nat. Hist.), have now been identified:

PROCELLARIIFORMES
Pterodroma rupinarum Olson, 1975.

Imperfect left and right coracoids (A 4436-38, 50); proximal ends of left
and right humeri (A 4431-34, 47), distal end of left humerus (A 4444);
proximal end of right ulna (A 4448); imperfect left and right carpometacarpi
(A 4440-42) [all W.].

Pterodroma cf. rupinarum.
Imperfect left carpometacarpus (A 4443) [W.].

Bulweria cf. bifax Olson, 1975.
Imperfect right carpometacatpus (A. 4443) [W.].

Puffinus assimilis|/herminieri [extant spp.].

Imperfect lower mandible (A 4420) [B.]; distal ends of humeri (A 4445-6,
51, 53) [W.].

Ashmole (1963) referred his material to “ P. assimilis|/herminieri”’. Olson,
howevei, was more specific and referred all the known material to
P. lherminieri on the basis of small size differences, /herminieri’s occurrence
on Ascension Island (the nearest land to St. Helena) and the probability that
the warm water conditions of St. Helena probably suited /berminieri better
than assimilis. It is interesting to note that Loveridge (pers comm. C. J. O.
Harrison) states that P. assimilis boydi has now been found alive on St. Helena.

Puffinus sp. indet.
Imperfect left femur (A 4426) [B.].

GRUIFORMES
Atlantisia podarces (Wetmore, 1963).

Imperfect left femur (A 4425); distal end of right tibiotarsus (A 4421) [B.];
proximal end of right tarsometatarsus (A 4461), distal end of right tarso-
metatarsus (A 4460) [W.].

Porzana astrictocarpus Olson, 1973.
Distal ends of left and right tibiotarsi (A 4422-24) [B.], (A 4917) [W.];
imperfect right tarsometatarsus (A 4427) [B.].

CHARA DRIIFORMES
Gygis alba [extant sp.].
Imperfect left carpometacarpus (A 4419) [B.],

CORACIIFORMES
Upupa antaios Olson, 1975.

Complete right humerus (A 4418) [B.], measuring 37-9 mm in length,
somewhat larger than those described by Olson.

References :
Ashmole, N. P. 1963. The extinct avifauna of St. Helena Island. [bis 103b: 390-408.
Blofeld, J. H. 1852. Notes on St. Helena. Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond. 8: 195-6.
Hutchison, G. E. 1950. Survey of contemporary knowledge of biogeochemistry, 3: The
biogeochemistry of vertebrate extinction. Bull. Am. Mus. nat. Hist. 96: xvlli-5 54.
Olson, S. L. 1973. Evolution of the rails of the South Atlantic Islands (Aves: Rallidae).
Smithsonian Contrib. Zoology 152: 1-53.

— 1975. Paleornithology of St. Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean. Svithsonian Contrib.
Paleobiology 23: 1-43.

Wetmore, A. 1963. An extinct rail from the island of St. Helena. [bis 103b: 379-81.

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 116

Address: Dept. of Palaeontology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road,
London, SW7 5BD.

Notes on some uncommon forest birds in Ghana
by M. A. Macdonald and I. R. Taylor

Received 28 June 1977

During a study of the ecology of forest birds in Ghana we have recorded a
number of species (listed below) which ate either new to the area, or which
have proved to be more common in the area than was previously believed,
including some regarded as very rare in Ghana. The observations were made
on regular visits to 18 sites spread from east to west across the forest region
(Table 1, Fig. 1) covering the 4 main types of forest habitat in the region:
primary forest, reserved secondary forest, cocoa farms and ‘mosaic’ forest.

so
ae

BY
/ (IeN
\

| DRY mea
iy wee pent I-DECIDUous “Re,

+ eg al SY
fe SA

MOIST SEMI-DECIDUous

MOIST EVERGREEN ™._ ates

WET natant:
EVERGREEN’; _ e8 HA
Fanaa eta piers

Fig. 1. ‘Map of southern Ghana showing the boundaries of the major forest types (from
Hall & Swaine 1976) and the positions (numbered as in Table 1) of the sites
visited during the study.

117 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

Cocoa farms consist of cocoa trees as understory with a higher canopy of
forest trees retained for shade. ‘Mosaic’ forest consists of small patches of
secondary forest or cocoa farm interspersed with open farmland.

All the identifications were sight-records made with great care under

TABLE 1

Names and brief description of forest sites in Ghana visited during the study (Fig. 1)

Site No.

Io

II
12
13
14
T5
16

7

18

Lat. and

Long.

)

°
°
°
°
°
°
a ry N;
°
°
°
°
°
°

Name

Bia National Park

Subri River Forest
Reserve (F.R.)

Daboase

Hemang

Ejinase-Akutuase
Pra Suhien F.R.
Kakum F.R.
Efutu-Jukwa

Asuansi-Krua

Kade

Akwatia

Esen Apam F.R.
Atewa Range F.R.
Suhum-Tafo Road
Worobong F.R.

Tafo

Odumase F.R.

Amedzofe

Forest type

(Hall c» Swaine 1976)

moist evergreen

39> >>

moist semi-deciduous

dry semi-deciduous

moist semi-deciduous

>? 2?

9? >>

o> 29

upland evergreen
moist semi-deciduous
dry semi-deciduous

moist semi-deciduous

dry semi-deciduous

29 23

Description

primary forest except
on edge

closed secondary
forest

Cocoa, some open
farmland

Cocoa, some open
farmland

Cocoa, some open
farmland

closed secondary
forest

closed secondary
forest

mosaic with cocoa
farms

cocoa, some open
farmland

very mixed, with
primary and
secondary forest;
cocoa, oil palm,
rubber and citrus
farms

mosaic, with cocoa

closed secondary
forest
ptimary forest

cocoa farm

closed secondary
forest

small patches of
secondary forest in
cocoa farming area

closed secondary
forest, but with
considerable active
farming within
reserve

cocoa, transitional
forest (forest-
savanna boundary),
some open farmland,
and grassland

Note: Pra Suhien and Kakum F.R. are on the boundary between the moist evergreen and
moist semi-deciduous zones. The bird fauna is more typical of the former type.

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 118

excellent conditions for observation. English nomenclature follows Banner-
man (1953) and the scientific names and sequence follow Mackworth-Praed
& Grant (1970, 1973). Unless otherwise stated, information on previously
known distribution and status is ‘taken from these works.

Casstn’s Hawxk-EaGLe Cassinaetus africanus. Previously considered
rate, this little-known eagle was seen regularly between August and December
1976 and in April and June 1977 at sites 2, 4, 6, 7, 13 and 18. At one site 2
birds were displaying together in the air, at another a single adult was calling
petsistently from a perch, and on 16 December 1976 a nest containing one
well-grown chick was found in the Pra Suhien Forest Reserve. The bulky
nest was ¢ 20m above the ground, and the single adult in attendance was
silent and unobtrusive. On 4 June 1977 a freshly fledged youngster was
calling loudly from a perch only 1-5m from the same nest, strongly suggest-
ing double-brooding. Recently the species was discovered in Ivory Coast
(Brunel & Thiollay 1969) and Liberia (Serle et a/. 1977) but previously was
not known from west of about 0° 30’ E.

BLACK-COLLARED LOVEBIRD Agapornis swinderniana. ‘Two birds were
seen at the Pra Suhien F.R. (site 6) on 12 June 1977. Up to 10 together were
seen at Bia (site 1) on 4 occasions between 7 and 10 April 1977, and at least
7 at Kakum F.R. (site 7) were watched feeding on strangler figs on 12 June
1977. Apart from one overlooked record from 1902 (Snow 1976) these are
the only records of the species between Liberia and Cameroun.

LAUGHING HornsILL Bycanistes fistulator. Over most of the area birds
resembled B. f. fistulator (Piping Hornbill). At the Atewa Range F.R. (site 13)
3 birds on 1 and 9 August 1976, and at Worobong F.R. (site 15) 2 birds on
15 October 1976 showed the more swollen bill and greater amount of white
in the wing and (especially) the tail characteristic of B. f. sharpiz. We have
once recorded B. f. fistulator at Atewa. The Afram River (now much altered
by the Volta Dam) was considered the boundary between the two forms,
so these records represent a 60 km westward extension to the known range
of sharpii.

Picuter Verreauxia africana. ‘Two birds, one fitting exactly the descrip-
tion of an adult female Piculet and the other (rather duller and lacking the
bright 1ed eye-patch) possibly a young bird, were seen together near Akutuase
(site 5) on 27 January 1977. This appears to be the first record from anywhere
in Upper Guinea, although a doubtful report from Nigetia was quoted by
Bannerman (1953). Sub-specific differences between Upper and Lower
Guinea fo1ms of this and other species new to Upper Guinea may be expected
if specimens are ever obtained.

Bates’ Swirt Apus batesi. A small black swift with strikingly rapid
fluttering flight was seen at close range in Subri R.F.R. (site 2) on 26 August
(at least 1), 4 September (at least 4) and 25 December (1). We feel this can
only be Bates’ Swift, a species known from Lower Guinea and of which
there are also unconfirmed reports from Sierra Leone and Guinea-Conakry
and another sight-record from Liberia (Serle e¢ a/. 1977).

CHAPIN’S SPINE-TAILED Swirt Te/acanthura melanopygia. As recently as
1966 this species was considered endemic to the Lower Guinea forest

119 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

(Moreau 1966). In 1972 it was found near Tafo (site 16) (L. Grimes pers.
comm.) and in 1975 in Nigeria (Elgood 1975). We have found it widely
distributed (sites 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14 and 16) and in places common in
forest reserves, cocoa farms and mosaic forest. Whether the species has been
overlooked or has recently colonized Upper Guinea remains unknown.

NEHRKORN’S YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER Hylota violacea. Bitds
with the characteristics of H. v. nehrkorni (no white wing-bar) were found at
sites I-9, 12, 16, 17 and 18. Its preferred habitat appears to be cocoa farm
and open secondary growth. This little-known race was originally described
from Ghana and is now known to occur as far west as Liberia, as well as
being much commoner in Ghana than was previously thought.

BLACK-CROWNED FLYCATCHER Tvochocercus nigromitratus. One bird was
seen well at Kakum F.R. (site 7) on 5 January 1977 ina “bird army’. We found
it on 3 occasions at Bia (site 1) (1, 1 and 4 birds) between 5 and 8 April 1977;
at Kakum again on 12 June 1977 (1) and at Atewa (site 13) on 19 June 1977
(several). It is known in Upper Guinea from Liberia, but we know of no
other records between there and Nigeria.

SHARPE’s Apauis Apalis sharpei. Three individuals were seen in the
Atewa Range F.R. (site 13) on 1 August 1976, 3—4m up, in a mixed flock.
At Bia (site 1) on 7 April 1977 a pair was seen feeding two fledged young at
a height of ¢ 4-5m and on 8 April a single male was seen feeding at ¢ 25m up
in a flowering tree in which a single female was also seen on 10 April. On
zo April 1977 at Worobong F.R. (site 15) a pair was watched feeding low
down in a mixed flock. At Subri R.F.R. (site 2), on 2 June 1977, 2 females
were with a mixed flock, and at Kakum F.R. (site 7) a single female and a
pair were foraging alone. The plumage of the young seen on 7 April was
quite different from that of the adults and appears not to have been described.
They were dark grey above, pale yellow below washed grey on the upper
breast, bill dark above and pale below, the gape pink. The young emitted
a continuous rapid nasal twitter. This species is known from a few specimens
taken between Ghana and Sierra Leone, and has rarely been seen. Close
relatives (sometimes regarded as conspecific) occur in Lower Guinea and
East Africa (Hall & Moreau 1962).

Dusxy Tir Parus funereus. Two adults were seen feeding a fledged
youngster at Worobong (site 15) on 20 April 1977, and 1 adult with 1 imma-
ture bird begging for food were seen at Atewa (site 13) on 21 May 1977.
Bannerman (1953) recorded only 1 specimen from Upper Guinea (from
Elmina in south Ghana), but it has since been recorded from Liberia (Hall
& Moreau 1970).

CassIn’s WEAVER Malimbus cassini. At least 3 males were seen with
Red-headed Weavers M. rubricollis, Red-vented Weavers M. scutatus and
other species at Tafo (site 16) on 25 July 1976. They were feeding on fruit.
Two groups of Malimbus weavers at Subri R.F.R. (site 2) on 25 December
1976 and 6 February 1977 were probably also Cassin’s Weavers. We have
seen 7 nests taken at Tafo which are probably of Cassin’s Weavers; the length
of the entrance tube of 5 of them was 60-88cm (mean 73cm), which contrasts
with corresponding measurements of 4 nests of Red-vented Weavers (typical
of about 20 which we have seen in Ghana) of 30-46cm (mean 39cm). This

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 120

Lower Guinea species was previously not known to occur west of Nigeria,
which was included in its range on the basis of sight records (Moreau
1958) by Bannerman and Mackworth-Praed & Grant, but excluded by El-
good (1964, 1975). Moreau (1958) discussed and rejected Chapin’s (1954)
inference that M. cassini and M. scutatus are conspecific, a decision given
some support by our observations.

RED-FRONTED ANT-PECKER Parmoptila rubrifrons. A pait was seen
together at Kakum F.R. (site 7) on 5 January 1977 feeding close together at
c¢ 4m in Raphia and behaving much as the Tiny Tit-Weaver Pholidornis
rushiae. Bannerman described the species as ‘extremely rare’ when it was
known only from Ghana. It has now been found as far west as Liberia and
is represented also in Lower Guinea.

We are grateful to the Ghana Department of Game and Wildlife for allowing us to visit
Bia National Park and especially to Dr. Claude Martin, the Warden, for arranging accom-
modation and for his helpful advice. Dr. D. W. Snow drew our attention to his paper on
Agapornis.

References:

Bannerman, D. A. 1953. The Birds of West and Equatorial Africa, Oliver and Boyd, Edin-
burgh and London.

Brunel, J. & Thiollay, J. M. 1969. Liste preliminaire des oiseaux de Cote-d’Ivoire. Alauda

7(3): 230-254.

Chapin, J.P. 1954. The birds of the Belgian Congo, Part 4. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 75B.

Elgood, J. H. 1965. Provisional check-list of the birds of Nigeria. Bull. Nigerian Orn. Soc. 1:
13-25.

— peas The new Nigerian check-list. Bull, Nigerian Orn. Soc. 11: 68-73

Hall, B. P. & Moreau, R. E. 1962. A study of the rare birds of Africa. Bul Brit. Mus. Nat.
"Hist. 8: 316-378.

— — 1970. An Aftlas of Speciation in African Passerine Birds. Trustees of the British
Museum (Nat. Hist.). London.

Hall, J. B. & Swaine, M. D. 1976. Classification and ecology of closed-canopy forest in
Ghana. J. Ecol. 64: 913-951.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1970, 1973. Birds of West and Central Africa,
vols. 1 and 2. Longman, London.

Moreau, R. E. 1958. The Malimbus spp. as an evolutionary problem. Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr.
57: 241-255

— 1966. The Bird Faunas of Africa and its Islands. Academic Press, New York and London.

Serle, W., Morel, G. J. & Hartwig, W. 1977. A Field Guide to ‘the Birds of West Africa,
Collins, London.

Snow, D. W. 1976. Agapornis swinderniana in Ghana. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 96: 106.

Addresses: M. A. Macdonald, Dept. of Zoology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
I, R. Taylor, Dept. of Zoology, University of Ghana, Legon. (Present address: Dept. of
Forestry and Natural Resourses, University of Edinburgh, Scotland).

Willow Warbler Phy/oscopus trochilus on
Frigate Island, Seychelles

by E. H. Penry
Received 22 July 1977

On 12 November 1976 whilst visiting Frigate Island, Seychelles, a Phyllosco-
pus warbler was found foraging in typical manner in the canopy of a ttee.
My immediate impression was that it was a Willow Warbler PhyHoscopus
trochilus, a species with which I am familiar in Zambia and from Britain, but
as it was some 30m distant I walked rapidly towards the tree and viewed the

121 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

bird from about 20m for only about 10 seconds before it was chased out of
the tree by a territorial male Madagascar Fody Foudia madagascariensis.
However before it flew, it called with the characteristic call of a Willow
Warbler “see wit’’, ““seewit, seewit”. The following features were noted—
phylloscopine warbler shape, small thin black bill, upperside plain olive-
grey-green, slightly greyer on rump and tail, superciliary pale yellow;
underside, very pale yellow wash on throat and upper chest merging to
brown wash on sides of chest; remainder of underside white. The leg colour
was not noted. There were no other species on Frigate with which the bird
could have been confused and no other passerine migrants were seen there
that day.

I am not familiar with Chiffchaff P. co//ybita in Afiica, but know it in Bri-
tain. Its occurrence on Frigate is far less likely than that of the Willow
Warbler cf Moreau (1972: 306), Benson (1972), Frith (1974: 16-17). Wood
Warbler P. sbi/atrix has once been recorded from Aldabra, on 12 December
1972 (Frith 1974). I had seen this species with Willow Warblers on the edge
of Kakamega Forest, Kenya, a week previously. The west-east variation in
Willow Warblers is noticeable in Zambia, where probably most forms of the
cline are represented (Benson é¢ a/. 1971: 243). The bird seen on Frigate was
much less yellow below than many Willow Warblers seen in Zambia and
was not confusable with Wood Warbler.

Penny (1974: 152) gives but two records, both from the Amirantes, and
they may indeed be based on one and the same bird, from African Banks,
5 S, 53° E (Church 1971, Benson 1972). Benson (pers. comm.) assures me
that Tony Beamish (quoted by Church) and H. H. Beamish (quoted by him-
self) are one and the same person. Dr. G. E. Watson had drawn Benson’s
attention (pers. comm. to Benson 13 April 1973) to Church’s note, having
been with Beamish on the same cruise of the Lindblad Explorer under the
direction of Dr. Lyall Watson, and he too identified the bird as a P. trochilus,
not a “new variety” of the “Brush Warbler” as suggested by Church.
References:

Benson, C. W. 1972. Some land bird migrants in the western Indian Ocean. A/ol] Res.
Bull. 162: 10-11.

— “ay R. K., Dowsett, R. J. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1971. The Birds of Zambia. London:

Ollins.

Church, C. 1971. Discovery on ‘African Bank’. Africana 4(5): 23, 41.

Frith, C. B. 1974. New observations of migrants and vagrants from Aldabra, Farquhar
and Astove Atolls, Indian Ocean. Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 94: 12-19.

Moreau, R. E. 1972. The Palaearctic-African Bird Migration Systems. London and New York:

Academic Press.
Penny, M. 1974. The Birds of Seychelles and the outlying islands. London: Collins.

Address: P.O. Box 1900, Kitwe, Zambia.

Field notes on the nests of the Green-fronted
Lancebill Doryfera /udoviciae and the
Blue-fronted Lancebill Doryfera johannae
by Barbara K. Snow ¢» M. Gochfeld

Received 25 July 1977
The phylogenetic relationship of the two species of Lancebill Doryfera to
the hermit group of hummingbirds and to other hummingbirds has been

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 122

uncertain. Placed by Peters (1945) at the beginning of the Trochilidae,
Wetmore (1968) moved them to a position at the end of the hermits near
where Ridgway (1911) had originally placed them. Wetmore’s move was in
accordance with the arrangement of A. Ruschi (1965) based on the form of
the nest.

The lancebills most striking morphological character is their long, straight
and very fine pointed bill. The plumage is mainly dull for a hummingbird
except that both species have a patch of iridescent feathers on the forehead
which is found in both sexes in the Green-fronted Lancebill D. /udoviciae but
only in the male in the sexually dimorphic Blue-fronted Lancebill D.
johannae. Both species are confined to mountainous areas, D. jobannae in
southeast Venezuela and the adjacent area of Brazil and Guyana and along
the eastern base of the eastern Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and N. E. Peru;
D. ludoviciae, more widely in the upper tropical and sub-tropical zones of the
central highlands of Costa Rica, western Panama and the Andes of Venezuela,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and N.W. Bolivia, occurring in both the western
and eastern Andes of Colombia and Ecuador.

Except for an account of a single nest of the Green-fronted Lancebill
found by A. Ruschi (1961) there are no published field observations on the
nesting or any other activities of the lancebills. The following separate
observations on both species have been amalgamated for convenience of
future reference.

A nest of D. /udoviciae was found on 13 September 1972 by M. Gochfeld
and G. S. Keith at Pan de Azucar, 25km west of San Ramon, in the Chancho-
mayo Valley, Department of Junin, Peru. The nest was in subtropical forest
(elevation 1500m), placed on a 4cm wide rock ledge ¢ 3m above the stream
bed. It was an open cup constructed of tendrils, fine threads of plant material
and dried moss measuring 5 x 3cm and 2cm deep. The cup itself was about
2 <X 2 xX Icm. The entire structure was overhung by a rock shelf extending
more than 15cm beyond the nest. The two white eggs measured 15-7 X
11-r and 15:6 X 11-:1mm. While the nest was examined, the female remained
closeby, hovering at eye level, ¢ 2-3m from the observers, darting briskly
back and forth. No male was observed near the nest, but ¢ 1oom downstream
one was seen perched on a small branch overhanging a one metre high water-
fall. It frequently left its perch to hover just over the spray where it captuted
small insects with rapid darts from side to side. It fed for pe1iods of 15 to
20 seconds, then remained on its perch for to 2 to 3 minutes.

The nest of D. /udoviciae found on 26 August 1958 by Ruschi (1961) was at
Nanegal, Ecuador. It was built on a branch ¢ 2m above the ground, the
photograph showing that the branch passed through the nest mass, which was
an open cup partly balanced on and partly suspended from the limb. The
nest contained two eggs measuring 16 X I1mm.

Observations on D. johannae were made by B. K. Snow in July and early
August 1976 near the Los Tayos caves at 600m in the forested foothills of
the eastern Andes in the Morana—Santiago province of Ecuador (3° 5’ S,
78° 10’ W). This large cave system has three different entrances, two of them
vertical shafts 55 and 75m deep. On 15 July a nest containing a typical white
elliptical hummingbird egg measuring 15 1omm was collected by J. K.
Campbell at the bottom of the 75m shaft. The nest (Fig. 1), of completely
different construction from all other hummingbird nests, was made entirely

123 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

of moss bound with a little cobweb, and was attached by a thick tab of cobweb
to a slight rocky overhang 14m up from the bottom of the shaft. The internal
cup, which was unlined, had a diameter at the rim of 30mm and a depth of

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Figure 1. Pendent nest of the Blue-fronted Lancebill Doryfera johannae.

29mm. The length of the whole structure was 110mm. The egg, which un-
fortunately got broken latet, was unincubated. The nest is deposited in the
British Museum.

On 25 July, 10 days later, it was noticed that a male and female D. johannae
were very active at the mouth of this same cave shaft. On 6 of the following
8 days, observations totalling 84 hours were made on these two individuals.
Until midday on 1 August both male and female were persistently present
at the shaft mouth. The male spent his time either perching on the uppermost
twigs of a small dead tree overhanging the mouth of the shaft or flying
round the shaft mouth ¢ 15m above it. Every few minutes, both while perched
and while flying, he uttered a high-pitched chittering call. During the morn-
ing obsetvations on 26, 27 and 30 July the female was largely engaged in
collecting nest material and diving into the shaft with it. She was twice
watched pulling moss off a tree, each time the same one, near the mouth of
the shaft, uttering a quiet ‘click-clack’ between each unsuccessful pull before
eventually pulling off a piece and speeding into the cave with it. She was also
watched collecting cobweb and taking it into the cave, but mostly she was
lost to view while collecting material and only her exits and entrances to the
cave wete recorded. The most sustained bout of building observed was
between 0935 and 1015 hours on 30 July when she made 7 visits into the
shaft; the time spent in the cave varied from 1 to 6 minutes, averaging 2:8
minutes.

When hovering up out of the shaft the female often uttered a quiet clicking
call, reminiscent of echo-locating clicks; she sometimes rested at the rim of
the shaft. She flew down into the shaft at tremendous speed, the only features
then visible against the dark mouth of the shaft being the pale tips to the
outer tail feathers and the pale bluish-grey bars on the tail coverts. When
flying down from the forest 25m above she did not reduce speed in any way
as she entered the dark of the shaft. When not engaged in nest building the
female often perched in the same dead tree as the male, sometimes only
4ocm away from him. From there she frequently flew beside or just in front

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 124

of him on his flights round the mouth of the shatt. During both activities
she also uttered the chittering call. At times the male flew down and met the
female as she emerged from the shaft, and twice he displayed his bright
yellow gape while hovering at the shaft rim near her.

During a watch from 1000 to 1130 hrs on 1 August the female only entered
the shaft once, but was frequently present at the mouth either perched near
the male or flying round with him uttering the chittering call. Once when
she was flying just in front of him, she landed briefly on the flat wide blade
of a Heliconia leaf while he hovered just above her. It looked as if copulation
was about to occur but she flew on and out of view. Probably copulation
did take place that morning as the female was absent that afternoon and the
following moining. During the same period the male was only rarely present
and was mostly silent.

For a few minutes while the female was collecting nest material on 30 July
a third D. johannae was in the vicinity of the shaft. The male chased the intru-
der and once made a steep U-shaped dive at it while it was perched at the
rim of the shaft. The sex of this third bird was not determined. The other
shaft in the Los Tayos cave system was 65m away and used by members of
the expedition entering the caves. An expedition member reported seeing a
small dark hummingbird, most probably a lancebill, half way down this
shaft. A female D. johannae was collected by L. Albuja ¢ 400m further up the
valley.

The evidence relating to the unknown hummingbird’s nest collected on
15 July to the building and courtship activities of the lancebills is strong but
remains a supposition. The 10 day interval between the removal of the nest
and the female building, presumably to replace it, is similar to the intervals
recorded between loss and replacement of eggs in the Rufous-breasted (Hairy)
Hermit Glaucis hirsuta (Snow & Snow 1973).

The fact that D. johannae is confined to mountainous country accords with
a need for a specialized nest-site in a rocky habitat. Nests sited only in caves
would seem too restrictive a requirement and it is probable that nests are
also fixed under deep overhangs in rocky gorges. The only other humming-
bird known to suspend its nest in the same way as D. johannae is the Andean
Hillstar Oreotrochilus estella; it nests both in caves and under overhanging
rocky ledges (Carpenter 1976).

Throughout observations the male D. johannae made frequent fly-catching
sallies from his perch at the mouth of the shaft, and the female was once
seen feeding in this way. No nectar feeding was observed. The same insect
catching technique was used by D. /udoviciae. Observations on the insect
catching of hermit hummingbirds (Snow & Snow 1972) showed them hover-
ing to glean resting invertebrates, so in this respect the group differs from
the lancebills.

Even such brief observations as these suggest that both species of Lance-
bill have some specialized aspects of their life histories, and possibly both
require a rocky habitat for nesting. As one species has a pendent nest and
the other a cup-shaped one supported from below, nest-type is probably not
a useful criteria for classification.

Acknowledgement: The observations of B. K. Snow were made while a member of the joint
Ecuadorean-British Expedition and I should like to thank the Los Tayos Expedition 1976
Trust Limited for their logistic and financial support.

125 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

References :

Carpenter, F. L. 1976. Ecology and evolution of an Andean hummingbird, Oreotrochilus
estella. Univ. of Calif. Publ. in Zoology 106: 1-74.

Peters, J. L. 1945. Check-list of Birds of the World. V. Cambridge, Mass.: Mus. Comp. Zool.

Ridgway, R. 1911. The birds of North and Middle America Pt. V. U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 50.

Ruschi, A. 1961. Algumas observacgoes sobre: Phaethornis yaruqui yarqui (Bourcier), Colibri
coruscans coruscans (Gould), etc. Bolm. Mus. Biol. Prof. Mello-Leitao 27: 1-21.

— 1965. A posicao mantida no ninho pelas femeas de beija-flores durante a incubagao,
e durante o aquecimento da prdéle. Bolm Mus. Biol. Prof. Mello-Leitao 48: 1-3.

Snow B. K. & D. W. Snow 1972. The feeding ecology of hummingbirds in a Trinidad
valley. J. Anim. Ecol., 41: 471-485.

Snow D. W. & Snow B. K. 1973. The breeding of the Hairy Hermit Glaucis hirsuta in
Trinidad. Ardea 61: 106-122.

Wetmore, A. 1968. The Birds of the Republic of Panama. Smithsonian Misc. Coll. part 2.

Addresses: Barbara K. Snow, Old Forge, Wingrave, Aylesbury, Bucks, England.
M. Gochfeld, 147-54 Village Road, Jamaica, New York 11435, U.S.A.

New faunistic records from Gabon
by A. Brosset C& C. Erard

Received 8 August 1977

In compiling a list of birds from the northeast of Gabon for restricted labora-
tory use, we have found it desirable to publish details of the occurrence of
certain species not previously recorded at all or only on the basis of a few
specimens. The following records were obtained during annual or biannual
expeditions by A. B. during 1963-77 and by C. E. during 1972-77 to the
Laboratoire de Primatologie et d’Ecologie Equatoriale (Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique, Paris) at Makokou (0° 38’ N, 12° 47’ E). Investiga-
tions extended as far as Booué (0° 03’ S, 11° 58’ E), Bélinga (1° 10’ N,
13° 10’ EK) and Mékambo (1° 03’ N, 13° 50’ B), in the province of Ogooué-
Ivindo. 401 species were identified, including 343 in the 2 km* which include
the clearing around the station of M’Passa, where the laboratory and ecologi-
cal quadrats bordering primary forest are established. M’Passa is only 10 km
southwest of Makokou, and both are in the vicinity of the Ivindo River.

A first list has already been published by Brosset & Dragesco (1967), and
information on the distribution of certain species has been provided in other
non-faunistic papers (Brosset 1966, 1968, 1969, 1971a, 1971b, 1974, Brosset
& Erard 1974, 1976). In the present paper we have only included informa-
tion which modifies materially the known distribution of the species inclu-
ded, for passerines with particular reference to the maps of Hall & Moreau

(1970).

Gyps AFRICANUS White-backed Vulture

A brown-backed immature observed at length at M’Passa, 18 August
1976, circling at low altitudes above the laboratory campus eventually
disappearing to the northeast following the Ivindo River after gaining height.
No previous record.

SAROTHRURA ELEGANS Buff-spotted Flufftail

Not previously recorded from Gabon (cf. Keith e¢ a/. 1970: 30). In fact it
occurs throughout the northeast of the country, although apparently less
abundantly than S. pulchra, rufa and boehmi. Only recognition of its striking
song permitted discovery, heard Nov—Apr, especially at night. Normally

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 126

the ‘“‘wail” lasts 3-4 seconds; but in January 1977 one bird was heard tegu-
larly for hours emitting ‘“‘wails” lasting 6 seconds followed by silences of 5
seconds.

Inhabits primary forest and old secondary growth, preferring areas of
dense undergrowth, fallen logs, heavy marantaceous growth, and also the
edges of streamlets, where it is found with S. pulchra, which, as well known,
is addicted to the vicinity of water or at least muddy terrain and even marshy
places. S. rufa and boehmi occur in clearings, not in forest: rufa in stretches of
rank herbaceous growth in more or less marshy areas, where boehmi also
occuts but less commonly. S. boehmi prefers and is quite common on the
edges of similar herbage on dry ground, where the growth is shorter, with
scattered low shrubs such as Tremum and Solanum. In the same habitat as
boehmi and also in dense herbaceous growth (Aphramomum), on several
occasions we have heard songs and calls corresponding to the descriptions
of the voice of /ugens by Keith e¢ al. (1970: 49) and to the recordings by
Chappuis (1975: 438). However, having neither collected nor even seen a
specimen, we hesitate to admit /ugens to the Gabon list. Incidentally, Keith
et al. (1970: 47) associate its habitat with that of rufa rather than boehmi, but
their data were scanty.

CERCOCOCCYxX MECHOWI Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo

CERCOCOCCYX OLIVINUS Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo

Not recorded previously from Gabon, although their presence has been
suspected by reason of their occurrence in southern Cameroons (Malbrant &
Maclatchy 1949: 202, Bouet 1961: 473); but indeed both occur in north-
eastern Gabon, o/ivinus being very common. Like many forest birds, recogni-
tion of their songs (Chappuis 1974: 215-217) is the only means of estimating
their abundance. Both inhabit the upper strata of primary forest, to be seen
from time to time in foraging parties of mixed insectivorous species. In
contrast to olivinus, mechoni seems to prefer the edges of rivers and streams
almost exclusively.

CHRYSOCOCCYX FLAVIGULARIS Yellow-throated Green Cuckoo

Very common in northeastern Gabon, in primary and old secondary
forest. Only knowledge of the song (cf. Chappuis 1974: 218) permits appreci-
ation of its abundance, for it is rarely seen near the ground, and is virtually
a permanent inhabitant of the forest canopy.

LopHOsTRIX (=JUBULA) LETTII Maned Owl

Known from Rio Muni and southern Cameroons (Malbrant & Maclatchy
1949: 245, Bouet: 617), its occurrence in Gabon could have been suspected.
We have seen and collected it on various occasions around Makokou.
Without doubt less rare than it seems to be, probably because nothing is
known about its voice. It inhabits primary forest. We have found it near
rivers or streams, but this does not necessarily indicate that it is attached
thereto as are the fishing owls Scotopelia peli and bowvieri.

It seems useful to stress, in the light of our views of live birds in the field,
how deficient is the guidance in most identification manuals. The defect in
illustrations is not so much in colour as in shape. In nature, one is reminded
of a small eagle owl Bubo, coloured in general a warm rufous-maroon with
coarse, irregular cream spots on the wing-coverts, the abdomen rufous

127 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

fawn broadly striated with blackish brown, face rufous broadly encircled
with black but with the cheeks underlined with white and the forehead creamy
white. The shape is very rounded, as much the body as the head, recalling
that of Scotopelia peli as figured in plate 35 in Mackworth-Praed & Grant
(1970: 485). However, the most striking and determinate character is not the
“mane” as many illustrations represent but the very long “‘ears’’ standing up
at 45 degrees, these tufts being much larger than those of the Long-eared
Owl Aso otus. The plate in Burton (1973: 114) is good so far as the drawing
and general coloration are concerned. However, the facial disc and chest
should have been a much darker rufous, and the “ears” as prominent as in
the plate of Bubo sumatrana (op. cit.: 90). The sexual dimorphism in size is
very pronounced, the male being a good one-third smaller than the female.
Also, the male has the chest more brown-grey, less rufous, and the abdominal
striations clearly narrower than in the female.

Reproduction is probably in the short dry season, since on 27 March 1974
we obtained a juvenile (conserved in the Museum in Paris), of which the
whole head and upper part of the mantle and chest are still in white down;
while on the nape the tips are barred with rufous fawn, blackish brown and
white. The general tone of the plumage is also lighter than in the adult, more
uniformly cinnamon-rufous, especially on the secondaries, which lack any
greyish brown to blackish brown vermiculations.

CALANDRELLA CINEREA Red-capped Lark

On several occasions, in large clearings containing very open, grassy
areas (e.g. the Makokou airfield), we observed in the short dry season (Dec-
Feb) Ca/andrella larks. One collected was C. cinerea saturatior, a form suspected
of transequatorial movements (White 1961: 40). Nevertheless, on 12/14
October 1973, in small enclosed savannas at Booué, several individuals were
in song. Does the species nest in Gabon?

PsEUDOCHELIDON EURYSTOMINA African River Martin

The population of this species nesting in Zaire spends the off-season on
the coast of Gabon, from late May at least until the end of October (Berlioz
1953: 136, and especially Chapin 1953: 732). The sojourn in Gabon is doubt-
less longer, since the birds do not reappear in numbers on their breeding
grounds until the lowering of water-levels in the second half of January.
In northeastern Gabon the local people did not know it and we had never
seen it until its occurrence was verified in 1977 at Makokou. The first indivi-
duals (11 in all) were identified by their call and peculiar shape, circling
among some Fiirundo rustica around the laboratory buildings at M’Passa
on 22 January. From 6 to 11 February it was seen daily: up to 50 individuals
at M’Passa, several hundreds at the old airfield at Makokou (600 on 6/7,
1,000 On 8, 200 on 9, 300 on Io and 250 on 11 Feb). On 15 February, only
two were noted at M’Passa, on 24th 100 at Makokou, on 28th 30 at M’Passa
and double the number next day and over 120 by 5 March. Subsequently,
c. 50 were still at Makokou on 7, 13 and 14 Match; ¢. 60, on 15th and ¢. 200
on 16 March. At M’Passa 6 were seen on 11th, 20 on 14th and 7 on 24
March, on the eve of our departure from Gabon.

Thus this martin was present around Makokou at a time corresponding
to the breeding season. Excluding the observations of 24 February, 5 and
16 March, the largest numbers were seen 6-11 February, which suggests a

(Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 128

passage movement, with the subsequent persistence of smaller, erratic
numbers. We were unable to explore local rivers to locate a possible breeding
site on exposed sand-banks, and inquiries of fishermen were negative. The
waters of the Ivindo and its tributaries were still high at that time in 1977,
levels being not as low as normal for the short dry season, and there were no
entirely bare sand-banks around Makokou. However, large areas of seasonal-
ly bare sand scarcely exist locally, but there may be more extensive ones
upstream, in areas which it was impossible to visit.

At M’Passa, the birds were usually seen between 0700 and ogoo hrs
around buildings. Later in the day they hunted above the river and adjacent
forest. At Makokou they were grouped together in the early morning, and
especially so also in the late afternoon above the airfield, which they left at
nightfall, apparently to resort to a roosting site on the river. At the evening
gatherings the birds circled high up with much calling, not closely grouped
but somewhat scattered. Aerial displays were also evident, individuals in
pairs or trios pursuing one another, and hovering against the wind, with
intermittent little jingling songs. At low altitudes they would concentrate
into a packed group whose evolutions recalled those of the European
Starling Sturnus vulgaris. Often all would rest on the large earth track of the
airfield, or sometimes on the electric wires. At M’Passa, individuals were
often noticed on the metallic roofs of houses or the slender branches of
bushes. On the river, we also saw them perched on bare branches at the tops
of tall trees. On the ground, the species resembles more a small pratincole
than a hirundine, while some of its calls are like those of a tern. Displays
were also witnessed on the ground, always between two individuals or a
pair: body horizontal, tips of the wings drooping, “shoulders” part opened,
head horizontal but neck much stretched vertically, they would run parallel
to one another, then face each other and perform a kind of pivoted dance,
with a lateral displacement away from one another, emitting jingling calls.
On other occasions, one individual would approach another, in a vertically
stretched posture, and nervously dig the ground (or even attempt it on the
iron of a roof!) with the beak. These varied postures surely indicate that the
birds were about to breed: suitable banks of sand must have been available
not far away.

Macronyx croceus Yellow-throated Longclaw

This savanna-dweller is more widespread than is suggested by the map
in Hall & Moreau (1970: 45). Apart from the specimens from Fernan Vaz
and Mouila mentioned by Rand ef a/. (1959: 363), there exist others in the
Museum in Paris from Franceville, Port Gentil and Nyanga. We found it
well represented in meadows, in enclosed savanna, at Booué.

MoracILLA ALBA White Wagtail
An example of this Palaearctic migrant was well seen at Makokou, 22
December 1972; apparently the first record from Gabon.

ALETHE POLIOCEPHALA Brown-chested Alethe

With reference to the observations on A. poliocephala by Brosset & Erard
(1976: 224-230), C. W. Benson has drawn our attention to the evident
similarity of a nest (especially its site in a cleft some 4 m above the ground)
and eggs of Alethe choloensis (Benson & Benson 1947: 284), which is in the
same superspecies as poliocephala (Hall & Moreau 1970: 120).

129 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

TURDUS CAMARONENSIS Black-eared Ground-thrush

Up to the present only 7. princei was known from Gabon (Brosset &
Erard 1976: 220). However, at M’Passa on 30 June 1976 we caught in a
mistnet an immature ground-thrush which caused us to suspect initially, but
wrongly (cf. Chapin 1953: 576), that 7. camaronensis was merely the young of
princei. In January and February 1977 we caught two pairs, certainly adult.
One of the birds was unfortunately killed in the nets by a predator on 1
January, and is now in the Museum in Paris. It proved to be a male with
testes much developed, evidently ready to breed. It has been compared by
C. W. Benson and C. H. Fry with specimens in the British Museum, and
agrees with specimens from southern Cameroons of the nominate race.

The difference in size between the two species is clear not only from meas-
urements (cf. Prigogine 1965) but also from weights. Two princez captured
weighed 59 and 61 g, whereas 5 camaronensis had a mean of 44 (42-47) g.
Ecological separation between the two species is not yet evident: they have
both been found in the under storey of primary forest or at the lowest levels.
I. princei was observed on the ground searching for food, turning over dead
leaves, and excavating the earth accumulated on dead stumps, branches and
decomposed trunks in dense areas of fallen wood. 7. camaronensis was like-
wise caught in such dense areas or their edges. Perhaps there is no difference
in habitat, perhaps only in diet, in the kinds and sizes of food taken. It is
rematkable that between 15 December 1976 and 25 March 1977 no nest of
camaronensis was found, though 4 adults were captured, including (as above)
one in breeding condition. On the other hand, three clutches of eggs of
princei (c/1, c/2, c/3) were discovered, but none was caught. It is also surpris-
ing that no song was ever heard, but merely some contact calls between a
pair of prince/ (a “‘tsssrrr” drawn out at the end, rolling, very reminiscent of
the calls of Fraseria cinerascens ot Muscicapa caerulescens).

PICATHARTES OREAS' Red-headed Rockfow]
The map in Hall & Moreau (1970: 149) does not show any Gabonese
locality. This cave-lover nests at Bélinga from March to May (Brosset 1965).

ACROCEPHALUS BAETICATUS African Reed Warbler

A male collected on 18 April 1965 at Makokou, in a dense growth of
sugar-cane near habitations, is the first record. The specimen (now in the
Museum in Paris) has been compared by C. W. Benson with the material
in the British Museum of A. b. cinnamomeus (6 specimens from Darfur and
9 from Zambia and Malawi), A. b. nyong (only known by the type, from
Cameroons) and the type of A. b. minor. It is referable to cinnamomeus, which
is confirmed by C. H. Fry, who examined it independently.

SYLVIA COMMUNIS Whitethroat

During January 1973 one was observed daily in the ornamental bushes of
a garden at M’Passa. It occupied a very small territory (¢. 40 = 40 m), and
fed under the verandah of a house on insects attracted to a lamp left alight
through the night. This warbler, the only individual we have ever seen in
Gabon, is unusual in a forested region (cf. Moreau 1972: 109).

APALIS NIGRICEPS Black-capped Apalis
Not previously recorded. C. Chappuis believes he heard it in the Makokou
area, but without proof. In March 1977 we saw it at Bélinga, but could not

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 130

obtain a specimen. It inhabits the top of the canopy of primary forest,
where it is very difficult to detect except on the edges of clearings. It was
impossible to estimate its abundance since at the time it was not singing.

APALIS GOSLINGI Gosling’s Apalis

Fairly common in primary forest on the edges of large water-courses and
on islets in the Ivindo River, in pairs, exploring the middle and upper strata
of the vegetation. Hall & Moreau (1970: 186) and White (1962: 705) regard
it as a race of A. sharpii, but the voice of gos/ingi is quite different from that
of sharpii, as shown by a comparison of tape recordings made in Gabon and
the Ivory Coast. On the other hand, the voices of sharpit and rufogularis are
very similar (C. Chappuis, pers. comm.).

MuscicaPipaE Flycatchers

An etho-ecological study and taxonomic revision of all 30 species of
flycatchers occurring in northeastern Gabon is in preparation (C. E.). In
this note it is only necessary to bear in mind the salient faunistic data in Hall
& Moreau. Muscicapa infuscata (= Artomyias fuliginosa), M. epulata and
M. (= Pedilorhynchus) comitata are widespread in clearings and plantations
as well as in secondary forest. M. o/ivascens is strictly confined to the canopy
of primary forest, while MZ. cassini frequents only the banks of rivers and
lightly inundated forest. Myioparus plumbeus and griseigularis replace one
another: the former in secondary growth, the latter in primary forest. The
two Fraseria spp. ate equally plentiful: ocreata as much in secondary as in the
canopy of primary forest, cinerascens in inundated forest and on the edges of
watercourses. Megabyas flammulatus occuts, uncommonly, in secondary and
in the top of the canopy of primary forest. Hylota violacea (if not a sylviid,
thus cf. Traylor 1970: 396) has been noted in primary forest but seems rare.
Batis minima inhabits the tops of tall trees in secondary growth (Erard 1975:
239). The genus P/atysteira (including Dzaphorophyia) is represented by 5
species, relatively common: cyanea in stabilised ecotones near villages,
concreta in the undergrowth of primary forest, blissetti chalybea in the lower
strata of abandoned plantations and secondary forest, castanea in the mid-
strata of primary and old secondary forest, tonsa in the high canopy of pri-
mary forest. Erythrocercus mccallii is widespread in the top of primary forest,
also near small streams in secondary growth. Trochocercus nigromitratus
inhabits the undergrowth of primary forest. A male of Terpsiphone viridis
plumbeiceps, now in the Museum in Paris, was collected in the long dry season
on 14 June 1963, in a party of insectivores in primary forest: evidently an
occasional visitor. Phenotypes of 7. rufocinerea occur around Makokou,
their behaviour and ecology indicating them to be merely morphs of 7.
viridis, a species inhabiting secondary growth. In primary forest, abutting
into old secondary, 7. batesi occurs, apparently a good species. 7. rufiventer
tricolor is occasional in primary growth.

PARUS FUNEREUS Dusky Tit

Described from Gabon, without a precise locality (J. & E. Verreaux
1855), and never recorded since until we saw a pair on 24 June 1976 near
Mékambo in an area of old abandoned cultivation, foraging in the top of
the vegetation. In March 1977 we found it very widespread at Bélinga, in

131 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

the top of the canopy of primary forest, in groups of 8-15, each group mov-
ing through areas of 12-15 ha. Their calls are far-carrying, reminiscent of
those of Dicrurus or the whistling notes of Fraseria ocreata.

ANTHOSCOPUS FLAVIFRONS Yellow-fronted Penduline Tit

Commoner than might be supposed from rare sightings. Our Gabonese
assistants brought us empty nests from time to time. Inhabits the top of the
canopy of primary forest, where it lives in family groups circulating through
considerable areas. Difficult to detect from the ground except by a trained
ear.

PHOLIDORNIS RUSHIAE Tit-Hylia

Found only once, on 14 January 1975, near the laboratory at M’Passa:
4 individuals were in a mixed species party of insectivores in shrubs on the
edge of a clearing, but quickly gained height into the tops of tall trees, to
disappear into bordering primary forest. Their appearance and foraging
method (they moved rapidly through the foliage, inspecting the petioles and
stems of leaves) were reminiscent of warblers or sunbirds. Here is another
example of a small species inhabiting the upper strata of the forest, passing
as rarer than it really is.

PLOCEUS SUPERCILIOSUS Compact Weaver

Only previously recorded from Gabon at Mouila (Rand ef a/. 1959: 321),
a male, now in the Museum in Paris, was collected on 5 March 1963 at Mako-
kou, in plantations bordering the Ivindo River.

Pioceus prEussI Golden-backed Weaver

PLOCEUs DORSOMACULATUS Yellow-capped Weaver

P. preussi was collected by Rougeot (Berlioz & Rougeot 1951: 75) at
Oyem, not at Libreville as Malbrant & Maclatchy (1949: 401) indicate,
and copied by Hall & Moreau (1970: 292). It exists in small numbers
around Makokou and Mékambo. P. dorsomaculatus had not previously been
recorded from Gabon, although its occurrence was suspected, until we
found it at Mékambo. The two species inhabit secondary growth, notably
old plantations. They live in pairs or family groups, and are found on
occasion in mixed species parties of insectivores. A very clear ecological
segregation was established at Mékambo: preussi exploits the trunks and
large branches of trees, systematically excavating the bark in the manner of
a nuthatch or woodpecker, whereas dorsomaculatus exploits the foliage.

PLOCEUS TRICOLOR Yellow-mantled Weaver

Only previously recorded by Rougeot, who obtained a specimen near
Libreville (in the Museum in Paris), this weaver is actually widespread in
northeastern Gabon in secondary forest, nowhere abundant, living in pairs,
often in mixed species parties of insectivores. It favours the highest strata
of the vegetation, where it feeds and nests: facts which make it appear even
less common than it is in reality.

GRAFISIA TORQUATA White-collared Starling

Not previously recorded from Gabon. A pair was observed on 4 March
1975 at 2okm from Makokou towards Mékambo, and 3 individuals (of
which a male was well seen) on 9 March at M’Passa. All were in clearings,
and were evidently vagrants.

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 132

Acknowledgements: We ate indebted to C. Chappuis for information on the voice of various
species; and to C. W. Benson for having examined certain specimens, and having commen-
ted on and translated our manuscript.

References:

Benson, C. W. & Benson, F. M. 1947. Some breeding and other records from Nyasaland.
Ibis 89: 279-290.

Berlioz, J. 1953. Etude d’une collection d’oiseaux du Gabon. Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat.
25: 130-138.

Berlioz, J. & Rougeot, P. C. 1951. Etude d’une collection d’oiseaux du Gabon. Bul/. Mus.
Nat. Hist. Nat. 23: 66-76.

Bouet, G. 1961. Oiseaux del’ Afrique tropicale, 2eme partie. Paris: O.R.S.T.O.M.

Brosset, A. 1965. La biologie de Picathartes oreas. Biol. Gabonica 1: 101-115.

— 1966. Recherches sur la composition qualitative et quantitative des populations de
vertébrés dans la foret primaire du Gabon. Biol. Gabonica 2: 163-177.

— 1968. Localisation écologique des migrateurs paléarctiques dans la foret équatoriale
du Gabon. Biol. Gabonica 4: 211-226.

— 1969. La vie sociale des oiseaux dans une foret équatoriale du Gabon. Biol. Gabonica 5:

29-69.

— 1971 a. Recherches sur la biologie des Pycnonotidés du Gabon. Biol. Gabonica 7:
425-460.

— 1971 b. Premiéres observations sur la reproduction de six oiseaux africains. Alauda 39:
112-126.

— 1974. La nidification des oiseaux en foret gabonaise: architecture, situation des nids et
prédation. Terre et Vie 28: 479-510.

Brosset, A. & Dragesco, J. 1967. Oiseaux collectés et observés dans le haut Ivindo. Bio/.
Gabonica 3: 59-88.

Brosset, A. & Erard, C. 1974. Note sur la reproduction des [//adopsis de la foret gabonaise.
Alauda 42: 385-395.

— — 1976. Premiére description de la nidification de quatre espéces en foret
gabonaise. Alauda 44: 205-235.

Burton, J. A. (ed.) 1973. Ow/s of the World. Baltes: Peter Lowe.

Chapin, J. P. 1953. The birds of the Belgian Congo, vol. 3. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist.
75 A.

Chappuis, C. 1974-75. Illustration sonore de problémes bioacoustiques posés par les oiseaux
de la zone éthiopienne. Alauda 42: 197-222; 43: 427-474.

Erard, C. 1975. Affinités de Batis minima (J. et E. Verreaux) et de B. ituriensis Chapin.
L’Oiseau et R.F.O. 45: 235-240.

Hall, B. P. & Moreau, R. E. 1970. An Atlas of Speciation in African Passerine Birds. London:
Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.).

Keith, S., Benson, C. W. & Irwin, M. P. S. 1970. The genus Sarothrura (Aves, Rallidae).
Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 143 (1): 1-84.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B. 1970. Birds of West Central and Western Africa,
vol. 1. London: Longman.

Malbrant, R. & Maclatchy, A. 1949. Faune de I’ Equateur Africain Francais. I. Oiseaux.
Paris: Lechevalier.

Moreau, R. E. 1972. The Palaearctic- African Bird Migration Systems. London & New York:
Academic Press.

Prigogine, A. 1965. Notes sur quelques Geokichla de la République du Congo. Rev. Zool.
Bot. Afr. 71: 230-244.

Rand, A. L., Friedmann, H. & Traylor, M. A. 1959. Birds from Gabon and Moyen Congo.
Fieldiana: Zoology 41: 219-411.

Traylor, M. A. 1970. Notes on African Muscicapidae. [bis 112: 395-397.

Verreaux, J. & E. 1855. Oiseaux nouveaux du Gabon. J. Orn. 3: 101-106.

White, C. M. N. 1961. A Revised Check List of African Broadbills, Pittas, Larks ¢ C. Lusaka:
Dept. of Game & Fisheries.

— 1962. A check list of the Ethiopian Muscicapidae (Sylviinae). Part III. Occ. Papers Nat.
Mus. South. Rhod. 24 B: 695-738.

Addresses: A. Brosset, Laboratoire d’Ecologie Générale, Muséum Nationale d’Histoire
Naturelle, 4 Avenue du Petit-Chateau, 91800 Brunoy, France.

C. Erard, Laboratoire de Zoologie, Mammiféres et Oiseaux, Muséum National
d’Histoire Naturelle, 55 Rue de Buffon, 75005 Paris, France.

133 [Bull, Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

Cervical Neossoptiles in a Neotropical Passerine
by Charles T. Collins and Kristen E. Bender

Received 11 August 1977

The natal pterylosis of passerine birds has been shown at times to provide
limited information on taxonomic relationships (Markus 1972, Collins &
Kemp 1976 and references therein). The tracts bearing neossoptiles have
been outlined by Wetherbee (1957) and Markus (1970). In the cervical region
they recorded neossoptiles only from the ventral surface and then only in a
few species and from rare individuals of other species. In a study of the natal
pterylosis of Neotropical passerines we have found the presence of downs in
the dorsal cervical region of the Red-capped Cardinal Paroaria gularis, which
constitutes a new neossoptile pteryla for passerines. (Dorsal cervical downs
have also been recently found for one altricial non-passerine species, the
Rufous-breasted Hermit Hummingbird G/aucis hirsuta (Collins in press).

The two specimens used in this study were collected by C.T.C. on 24
July 1976 from a nest found ¢ 50km south of Calaboso, Est. Guarico, Vene-
zuela. One specimen was newly hatched and the second was removed from

TABLE 1.
Natal downs of Paroaria gularis
Tracts Number of Neossoptiles
Specimen 1(a) Specimen 2(b)

Coronal 13/12(c) 12/14
Occipital 4/4 4/4
Cervical (dorsal) 3/3 4/3
Mid-dorsal 8/8 6/5
Pelvic (lateral) 3/4 8/7
Pelvic (medial) (d) 12 14
Scapular 8/10 10/10
Femoral 10/10 12/t3
Abdominal 14/13 11/13
Crural CIét2 11/10
Upper rectrix covert 6/6 5/5
Primary 5/6 o/o
Secondary 2/2 3/2
Greater secondary covert 10/10 9/10
Middle secondary covert 8/8 = i,
Lesser secondary covert 2/3 o/o
Carpel remex covert 1/1 1/1
Patagial covert 1/o o/o
Total number of downs 233 221

Notes: a. older specimen: collected as newly hatched chick
b. younger specimen: collected from unhatched egg
¢. umber of neossoptiles in tract: right/left
d. single tract on midline (all other tracts paired).

an egg which we would have expected to hatch within 24 hours. The distribu-
tion of the neossoptiles and the number occurring in each tract are presented
in Table 1. The total number of neossoptiles for each bird was quite similar
and there was little variation within the tracts with the exception of some of
the tracts of the alar region. In specimen 1 the dorsal cervical downs were

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 134

present in two closely paired antero-postero rows of three straddling the
midline; in specimen 2 there were 4 on the left side and three on the right

(Fig. 1).

0, eect

e : r
2 BS e068. é ry oeteese? ©
Seece 2 @ essee?
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Figure 1. Distribution of neossoptiles in Paroaria gularis specimens 1 and 2 (see Table 1):
each dot represents a single feather.

In ossine passerines the lateral pelvic downs, if present, are usually con-
fined to rows of only 1-3 downs flanking the posterior portion of a single
medial pelvic row. The downs on the pelvic region of Paroaria were some-
what unusually prominent. This was particularly true in the unhatched
specimen where the downs, in groups of 2, 2, and 4, formed a discontinuous
row on the left side, while groups of 2 and 5 formed the row on the right
side; in the hatched specimen the downs wete in continuous groups of 3
and 4 downs on the two sides. The lateral pelvic rows of both specimens
were exactly aligned with the anterior paired rows of neossoptiles in the
mid-dorsal region. In fact, the separation of these into pelvic and mid-dorsal
regions of the spinal tract was nearly arbitrary in the younger specimen.

135 [Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)]

Well developed rows of lateral pelvic downs have recently also been noted

in the House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus (Collins & Bender in press). The

pattern of distribution of pelvic region neossoptiles deserves further atten-

tion and may prove to be of some assistance in determining taxonomic

relationships in these perplexing groups of passerines.

References:

Collins, C. T. (in press). Natal pterylosis of hummingbirds. Bu//. So. Calif. Acad. Sci.

— &K.E. Bender (in press). Natal pterylosis of the House Finch. Bull. So. Calif. Acad.
Sci.

— &M.H. Kemp. 1976. Natal pterylosis of Sporophila finches. Wilson Bull. 88: 154-157.

Markus, M. B. 1970. A preliminary survey of the occurrence of neossoptiles in South
African passeriform bitds, with special reference to natal pterylosis. M.S. Thesis,
Univ. of Pretoria. (University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich. No. M-2297).

— 1972. Notes on the natal plumage of South African passeriform birds. Ostrich

3: 17-22.

Wetherbee, D. K. 1957. Natal plumages and downy pteryloses of passerine birds of North

America. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 113: 339-436.

Address: Department of Biology, California State University, Long Beach, California
90840, U.S.A.

Charadrius semipalmatus in the Azores
by Robert Fludson

Received 10 August 1977

In analyses of Canadian shorebird ringing studies, McNeil & Burton
(1975, Emu 74, suppl.: 316 and 1977, Welson Bull. 89: 167-171) made
incidental references to a Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus
recovered in the Azores. Since this is the only record of this species (or semi-
species) for the western Palaearctic (a 1916 British record stands rejected
as one of the ‘Hastings Rarities’) it merits proper documentation.

At the end of September 1972 the British Trust for Ornithology received
notification from Senhor Dalberto T. Pombo, an Azores resident, that a
Charadrius sp. carrying a ring (Washington 104184883) had been captured
on the 25 September 1972 on the island of Santa Maria. These details were
forwarded to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who advised that it was a
C. semipalmatus, tinged as a two-year old bird four weeks previously, on
24 July 1972, on Grindstone, one of the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of
St. Lawrence (Quebec Province, Canada).

The Semipalmated Plover breeds in Alaska and northern Canada, and
winters coastally from the U.S.A. to Patagonia. It is the New World counter-
part of the Eurasian Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula, which also breeds,
marginally, in arctic Canada (Ellesmere, Bylot and Baffin Islands), though
wintering exclusively in the Old World.

Sa ee British Trust for Ornithology, Beech Grove, Tring, Hertfordshire, HP23 5NR,
ngland.

IN BRIEF

Telacanthura ussheri benguellensis in Zambia

Benson & Winterbottom (Bw//. Brit. Orn. Cl. 97, 1977: 46-48) made no
reference to any record of this spinetail in Bu//. Zambian Orn. Soc. 1(1)—8(2),
1969-76. A perusal of the plethora of data in that journal from Zambia as a

[Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 1977: 97(4)] 136

whole reveals observations of it only from the Middle Zambezi Valley and
the ecologically similar lower Luangwa Valley (Aspinwall, 4(1), 1972: 7;
7(2), 1975: 49). This accords with Benson & Winterbottom’s suggestion
that in the south of its range 7. 4. benguellensis may be confined to dry decid-
uous woodland whete baobabs occut.

18 July 1977 C. W. Benson
Address: Dept. of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge, CBz 3EJ, England.

Nesting of the Jabiru Stork Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis
in West Africa

On 4 December 1975, whilst flying along the Comoe River in the Comoe
National Park, northern Ivory Coast in a Bell 206B “‘Jet Ranger” helicopter,
piloted by Captain A. Arney, I noticed an adult Jabiru Stork Ephippiorhynchus
senegalensis standing on a nest in the canopy of a large white silk cotton tree
Ceiba pentandra, growing in the riverine forest at 08° 56’ N, 03° 54’ W. With-
out going too close, we circled the nest tree and were able to see that the nest
contained three well grown chicks, still apparently in white down. Their
beaks appeared to be black.

Although Jabiru’s are widely recorded in West Africa, they seem to be
uncommon. Nesting was not reported by Bannerman (1953) and Mackworth-
Praed & Grant (1970) report nest building in January in Senegal as the only
evidence of breeding in West Africa. Thus, this Ivory Coast observation
appears to be the first definite breeding record for West Africa. Thanks are
due to Dr. L. G. Grimes for checking the literature.

19 July 1977 J. Frank Walsh

References :

Bannerman, D. A., 1953. The Birds of West Equatorial Africa, Vol. I, Edinburgh:
Oliver and Boyd.

Mackworth-Praed, C. W. & Grant, C. H. B., 1970. Birds of West Central and Western
Africa, Vol. I. London: Longmans.

Address: B.P. 549, Ouagadougou, Republic of Upper Volta, West Africa

BOOKS RECEIVED
SIMON, HILDA. 1977. Lhe Courtship of Birds. Pp. 1-190. Profusely illustrated by the author in
colour. Cassell: London. £5.50.

The author has illustrated her own choice of birds in courtship display, from the simple
songster to the exotic paradise birds, acrobatic manakins and hard-labouring Adelie
Penguins. There is a good deal of artistic licence in the pleasant pastel shade painted
drawings in both their content and colour. The text includes little that is original.
MARGOSCHIS, R. 1977. Recording Natural History Sounds. Pp. 1-109. 34 photographs, dia-

grams. Print and Press Services Ltd: Barnet, London. £4.00 hardback; £2.75 paperback.

Detailed and experienced advice and explanation for the beginner in the field of outdoor
recording, with a commendable absence of jargon.

GLASIER, P. 1977. As the Falcon her Bells. Pp. 1-223. Many photographs. White Lion

Publishers Ltd: London. £5.95.

Originally published in 1963, now te-printed with a new preface by the author, in which
he emphasises that the book was never intended to be technical and is indeed a light auto-
biographical account of episodes in the authort’s considerable experiences in falconry,
including those in the company of his well-known uncle, the late Captain Charles Knight.
LANCASTER, D. A. 1976. The Living Bird. Fifteenth Annual (1976) of the Cornell Laboratory

of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Pp. 1-254. No price. (Dated 1976, publication date

15 June 1977.)

A most sumptuous production, with many beautiful pai :
white by leading American artists and two British, ma hotographs ahd diagrams, to
illustrate the nine well presented papers of more than avgragejinterest and seientific content.

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NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS

Papers, whether by Club Members or by non-members, should be sent to the
Editor, Dr. J. F. Monk, The Glebe Cottage, Goring, Reading RG8 9AP, and
are accepted on the understanding that they are offered solely for publication
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evidence under the headings “Description”, “Distribution”, ““Type’’,
“Measurements of Type” and “Material examined”, plus any others needed.

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