bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
THE FOOD OF THE HERON ARDEA CINEREA IN THE BREEDING SEASON.
Authors: Owen D. F. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.

Food samples were collected from nestlings at three heronries by forcing them to regurgitate recent meals.
Young Herons are fed about 3–4 times in 24 hours when one parent is feeding and about twice as often when both are feeding. Feeding is most frequent just after dawn and in the evening. It is estimated that a brood of Herons receives on the average 230 pounds of food during the nestling period.
Herons select food between certain size limits, avoiding both very small and very large prey.
The proportion of each species of prey was different at different heronries, correlated with the available feeding grounds. There were also some differences between years.
The proportion of the various prey‐species varied with the season because some species changed their habits and were thus not always equally available to the Herons. At the peak of the breeding season food was more plentiful than either earlier or later.
Certain Herons tended to specialize on certain species of prey, apparently because they often returned to the same feeding area.
Many nestling Herons died of starvation and it is concluded that food is often short in the breeding season. The importance of asynchronous hatching is discussed.
The breeding season of the Heron appears to be timed so that the young are in the nest when the chief species of prey are most available.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE AUTUMN MIGRATION IN THE AREA BETWEEN THE SEA OF AZOV AND THE CASPIAN
Authors: Bub H. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.Bird‐migration was observed 5 October‐14 November 1942 along 150 km. of railway line between Salsk and Stalingrad (between the Sea of Azov and the Lower Volga). The typical steppe‐birds of South Russia were recorded—larks, harriers, bustards etc.—and also astonishing numbers of crows, starlings, finches, thrushes, pigeons and others. Magpies, Yellow Buntings (many), sparrows, Crested Larks, Great Tits and Partridges also appeared as migrants.Most birds were travelling southwest or south but the geese were going west (except for one flock), as were Redwings and part of the Great Bustards and Yellow Buntings. Eastward movement was rare.The immediate destination of the birds observed can only be presumed, but those flying west would reach the coasts of the Sea of Azov and very likely continue further. Birds flying southwest and south were headed for the eastern half of the Black Sea, or the Caucasus. This range, which forms a very pronounced barrier, is well known to be crossed by migrants.After the autumn sojourn another period of observation followed, 1–18 January 1943 (mostly between Proletarskaja and Salsk).In all, 45 species were observed alive, and under telegraph wires birds of 25 species were found dead, including 10 not otherwise recorded.
A REVISION OF TRICHOGLOSSUS HAEMATODUS AND OF THE AUSTRALIAN PLATYCERCINE PARROTS
Authors: Cain A. J. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY.

A complete taxonomic revision of the loriine parrots of the Trichoglossus haematodus superspecics and of the Australian platycercine parrots with distribution maps and checklist is given.
Two new subspecies, Trichoglossus haematodus berauensis and Platycercus adscitus mackaiesis, are described. The invalidity of twenty‐one others is established or confirmed.
A type locality for Platycercus icterotis xanthogenys is designated.
The chain of forms Platycercus e. elegant, fleurjeuensis, adelaidae + subadelaidae, and flaveolus is a ring‐species, flaveolus overlapping with e. elegans without interbreeding but hybridizing with adelaidae.
Where Barnardius zonarius and B. barnardi meet (in the Flinders Ranges) there appears to be a belt of hybridization.
The nearest relative of Purpureicephalus spurius (southwestern Australia), already recognized as a relict species, is suggested to be “Eunymphicus”cornutus of New Caledonia, also a relict, which is made congeneric with it.
The validity of the genus Barnardius is confirmed, of Northiella denied. Neophema is retained in the platycercines.
SOME OBSERVATIONS AT A ROOST OF EUROPEAN SWALLOWS AND OTHER BIRDS IN THE SOUTH‐EASTERN TRANSVAAL
Authors: Rudebeck Gustaf 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY.

A roosting place for European Swallows Hirundo nistica near Lake Chrissie in the Transvaal, South Africa, is described. The number spending the night in this place was about one million, a figure calculated in several different ways. 2. The behaviour of the Swallows, both morning and evening, is described, with some remarks on other species roosting in the same place (Bubulcus ibis, Spreo bicolor, Quelea quelea, Euplectes taha, Diatropura progne).
The Swallow—the only migrant from the palaéarctic region present on this occasion—alighted later in the evening and resumed activity earlier in the morning than the others.
Practically all Swallows came from W.S.W. In the morning they and almost alt other birds left towards W.S.W. Perhaps they were utilizing some local but abundant food supply. Some observations in support of this explanation are quoted.
TERRITORY IN THE GENUS PARUS
Authors: Gibb John 
Published: April 2008

Summary.

This paper deals with the Great Tit, Blue Tit, Marsh Tit, Willow Tit, Black‐capped Chickadee and Plain Tit. All species are territorial in the breeding season, but show a wide variety of territorial behaviour in winter, correlated with their food supply.
The territorial behaviour of each species is described briefly. Sizes of territories are given and differences between and within the species are discussed.
The reproductive rate of Great Tits varies inversely with their density. If this is general among tits it could give sufficient selective advantage for the persistence of territory.
By limiting density, territory could reduce intra‐specinc competition for mates, nest‐sites and food, or check disease and predation. There is probably no single, outstandingly important function of territory common to all tits.
Great Tits, and perhaps other species, looking for a place to breed prefer certain habitats, but avoid crowding.
The value of the distinction between territory limiting density and merely spacing out the pairs is questioned. There is some evidence that territory may limit density.
TERRITORY IN THE BLACKBIRD TURDUS MERULA.
Authors: Snow D. W. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.

The territorial behaviour of the Blackbird has been studied in a garden habitat holding 11–17 pairs. The average size of territories has been from 0.4 to 0.6 acres.
Old males maintain their territories all the year round, and their mates usually stay with them. Young males begin to take up territories in their first autumn, but most do not become well established until February or March. Young females show preferences for particular areas, which they defend against other females, and may associate with the owning males, but the definitive pairs for the breeding season are not usually formed until early spring.
There are frequent minor changes in territories during the breeding season, and in addition territorial activity fluctuates with each nest‐cycle, defence being strictest when a new nest is being started.
It appears to be essential for a male to have a territory in order to obtain a mate. Spring song is nearly all from young males which are claiming a territory; it has no essential function in pair‐formation. Once a mate is acquired, defence of a territory is to some extent modified so as to include defence of the mate.
Territory is not used principally as a source of food, for either adults or young. Its possible functions are discussed.
THE TERRITORY OF THE WHEATEAR OENANTHE OENANTHE.
Authors: Conder P. J. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.Migrant Wheatears held small territories while resting on Skokholm. Resident males usually arrived before the females and occupied territories in which they were joined by their mates. Wheatears pair for life and usually occupy the same territory. Territories averaged about four acres, but less in years of high population. Territory may act as a limiting factor to population size although it never did so in the years of this study. The territories supplied sufficient, if not more than sufficient, food for adults and nestlings.Territory taken up in spring was thought to be of first importance in forming the pair, in maintaining the bond between the pair and in establishing a breeding area. That it also comprised a feeding area was thought to be of secondary importance.
FOOD, FEEDING HABITS AND TERRITORY OF THE ROCK PIPIT ANTHUS SPINOLETTA.
Authors: Gibb John 
Published: April 2008

Summary.

This paper describes the food and ecology of a few Rock Pipits, mainly in Cornwall in winter.
Rock Pipits prefer exposed to sheltered coasts. Their average density in favourable habitats was ca. 8 pairs per mile of coast.
Rock Pipits fed chiefly on the shore in winter and just inland in summer.
Rock Pipits fed more intently in mid‐winter than in spring and autumn; and, at any one season, most intently when food was scarce. Also, they fed more intently in the afternoon than in the morning in mid‐winter (correlated with the long winter nights), and vice versa in spring and autumn. Whenever food was scarce they fed hard all day.
There were four common littoral foods in winter:the periwinkle Littorina neritoides, chironomid midge larvae, dipteran larvae (Coelopa spp.), and isopods (Idotea spp.). Amphipod hoppers (Talitridae) were sometimes an important food in late summer. The availability of these foods and the predation of the Rock Pipit upon them are described; rates of feeding and defaecation were measured.
The total food consumption of one Rock Pipit was estimated for a number of days in December, 1950 and 1951. The dry weight of food eaten daily averaged ca. 26 gms. when periwinkles, and ca. 12‐5 gms. when chironomid larvae were the main food. The dry weights of organic material consumed daily were ca. 6 gms. (calorific value 30 Calories) in December 1950 and ca. 4 gms. in December 1951. When periwinkles were the main food the bird digested only 40% of the organic intake; hence its energy intake was ca. 12 Cals. daily. These results are compared with similar data for three other bird species.
No other bird species seriously competed with the Rock Pipit for food.
Intra‐ and inter‐specific fighting (chiefly for food), and the Rock Pipit's response to predators are described.
Rock Pipits are intensely territorial; they defend individual territories in winter. The possible functions of territory are discussed:winter territories are primarily concerned with food.
Conclusions: (i) since winter territories were just, but only just, big enough to provide sufficient food, their size was probably determined by their food resources; (ii) since Rock Pipits were sometimes apparently short of food and competed for it in winter, food shortage could limit their density.
NEW OR UNUSUAL RECORDS FROM NORTHERN RHODESIA.
Authors: Benson C. W. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.A number of forms are added to the Northern Rhodesian list. Others are also mentioned, of which there have been few previous records from the territory, or which represent extensions of range therein. Detailed notes are given on certain Sarothrura spp. The nesting of Neocichla gutturalis is described for the first time.
THE SPECIES OF APUS.
Authors: Lack David 
Published: April 2008

Summary.

The correct determination of the species of Apus is difficult. Their extreme adaptation to aerial life allows for few trivial or incidental differences. Some species look much alike and some conspecific races look very unlike. In several instances two conspecific races look more different from each other than one of them does from another species.
Forms of the same species tend to be darker in areas of higher rainfall and smaller at lower latitudes, the differences in some cases being so striking that true affinities were not previously recognized.
The instances of strong resemblance between races of different species are due partly to all the species of Apus possessing a similar basic colour pattern and partly to convergent adaptation.
The relative length of the first and second primaries provides a useful taxonomic character, the second primary being longer in the forms with strongly forked tails.
The winter ranges of the European species are reviewed.
The following changes in specific status from the list by Peters (1940) are advocated. The more tentative proposals are indicated by (t).
THE BREEDING OF THE GREAT‐WINGED PETREL PTERODROMA MACROPTERA
Authors: Warham John 
Published: April 2008

Summary.Observations on the behaviour of the winter‐breedingPterodroma macropterawere made during two visits to Eclipse Island, Western Australia, in 1954.Calls, flight, courtship behaviour and feeding of the young are described.Burrowing and pairing up takes place in March, egg laying towards the end of May, hatching in July and the young fly in November.One incubation period was about 53 days and two fledging periods 128 and 134 days.Although the breeding ground appears to be deserted from September onwards this is due to the disappearance of unemployed birds. The chicks are fed about once weekly and there is no starvation period.The young birds have few enemies apart from skinks and they do not normally spit oil.
THE VOICE OF THE CHAFFINCH AND ITS FUNCTION AS A LANGUAGE
Authors: Marler P. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.The voice of the Chaffinch has been studied by making recordings and analysing them on a sonograph. The contexts in which each call is given are described.The 14 basic calls are flight, social, aggressive and injury calls, three alarm calls, subsong and song, three courtship calls and the begging calls of nestlings and fledglings. With their variations they give 21 different signals.The ontogeny of certain calls and the occurrence of intermediate forms suggest how voice may have evolved in the Chaffinch. A hypothetical ancestral type agrees with certain Cardueline finches, implying a closer relationship than recent anatomical studies suggest.Unlike many displays, calls often occur without an obvious conflict in motivation.The voice of Chaffinches reared in isolation is usually normal, but song is usually abnormal and in nature is perfected by learning from other birds. The social call is sometimes abnormal and may sometimes be modified by learning under natural conditions.The communicatory function of voice has been assessed by studying the responses of other Chaffinches to it. By comparison with other contexts in which the same response occurs, a list of “information received” is constructed. The recipient respondsas thoughthis has been received.Four general types of information are involved, social and environmental, identifying and locating.Inter‐specific communication occurs with other woodland Passerines, especially through alarm calls. The alarm calls are of a type difficult for predators to locate. Different families have independently evolved the same type of call for this purpose. Other alarm calls of many species, used to draw attention to the position of a predator, are adapted to be easy to locate.The general structure of many calls can be understood in terms of the need to facilitate or hinder location of the calling bird.There are other factors governing the form of voice, especially the need to differ from the calls of other sympatric species. This only applies to calls communicating certain types of information. Some of those exempt from this need for divergence may be especially useful in phylogenetic study.The two main types of response to voice are related to the different types of information conveyed by the calls. Mechanisms of response are discussed, and the differences between the languages of the Chaffinch and of man.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE CALLS OF EMBERIZA SPP. (BUNTINGS).
Authors: Andrew R. J. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.

Bunting calls in general express the tendencies to fly, to behave sexually, to behave aggressively, or to give fear responses. (Close begging‐calls probably express a tendency to feed.)
Bunting social calls express weak fear aroused by being alone, and as a result are often given by solitary males before they sing.
A primitive “seeoo” call expressing fear has probably evolved into (a) a call easy to locate that expresses weak fear and serves as a social call, and (A) a call difficult to locate that expresses strong fear and serves as an alarm‐call.
The “tit”‐type flight‐call, which both in its normal form and in its probable variant, the distant begging‐call, shares with social calls the function of keeping birds in touch with each other, is also easily located.
When there are simultaneous tendencies to give two different calls, the form of one may be imposed on the other (e.g. a normally repeated flight‐call may be given singly, or an alarm‐call be rapidly repeated in the form of a soliciting call).
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF THE TRISTAN DA CUNHA GROUP.
Authors: Elliott H. F. I. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.Based on work during residence from January 1950 to October 1952, a revised check‐list is presented for the Tristan Group, together with field and taxonomic notes on the individual species. Only two subspecies of birds, other forms of which survive elsewhere in the group, are known to have become extinct during the century and a half of human settlement.
NOTES ON AUTUMN MIGRATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Authors: Bourne W. R. P. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.Notes were made on autumn migrants in Jordan and Iraq in the late autumn of 1956. Three movements were distinguished, a trans‐desert passage of passerines and water birds, local movements of larks and sand‐grouse, and incursions of northerly winter visitors. Some factors affecting the movements are discussed.
HYBRIDIZATION IN SOME INDIAN BULBULS PYCNONOTUS CAFER X P. LEUCOGENYS
Authors: Sibley Charles G. , Short Lester L. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.

Hybrids between the two bulbuls, Pycnonotus cafer and P. leucogenys, are described and analysed.
Significant correlations between colour pattern and size in the hybrids are demonstrated.
The two parental species are widely sympatric. Hybrids rarely occur except where one species is uncommon.
It is probable that the incidence of hybridization is decreasing and that the isolating mechanisms between the two species are being reinforced.
ANTING MOVEMENTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO CERTAIN OTHER BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS
Authors: Simmons K. E. L. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.The anting movements of nine passerine species were studied in captivity and in the wild. The birds applied acid‐spraying Formicine ants (genera Lasius and Formica) to the plumage with the bill, with one wing extended and the tail brought round and often pressed against the wing.Only the Magpie deliberately applied the ants both to the tail and wing. In the Song Thrush, Blackbird, Starling, Western White‐eye and Blue Tit, application was to the wing‐tip alone, while the Pekin Robin, Black‐chinned Yuhina and old‐world Robin treated the wing‐tip and also, incidentally, that part of the tail held close to it. The direct result of this behaviour is the anointing of the wing‐tip with formic acid, the posturing of the tail facilitating this by making the wing‐tip rigid.Anting is, apparently, one of the “feather maintenance” activities (preening, oiling, bathing, dusting, sunning) and, in the Pekin Robin and Song Thrush at least, the movements used in applying preen‐oil to the wing‐tip are very similar to, and probably homologous with the anting movements.Formic‐acid possibly supplements the natural preen‐oil but the exact function of the anointing remains to be discovered.
THE BURROW‐EXCAVATION PHASE IN THE BREEDING CYCLE OF THE SAND MARTIN RIPARIA RIPARIA
Authors: Hickling R. A. O. 
Published: April 2008

Summary.Observations were carried out at a Sand Martin colony in a working sand‐pit, where fresh burrows have to be dug each year. Sand Martins arrive at the breeding pit from migration unpaired, and their social organization is then at its lowest. Burrow excavation occurs only as the climax to a form of group display. Digging is communal in character, and the number of holes dug is roughly equal to the number of individual birds present. The mounting excitement and mutual stimulation of the display period induces a climax at which the birds begin to build nests and lay. This period of display produces close synchronization which seems to be a necessary condition for the communal behaviour of the birds during the rest of the breeding cycle.
THE BIRDS OF THE PITCAIRN ISLANDS, CENTRAL SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN
Authors: WILLIAMS G. R. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYA first species list is presented for the Pitcairn Islands group in the Central South Pacific Ocean. Field notes on species were made during a visit in late 1956. Of the 28 forms listed, Henderson Island has 17, Oeno 13, Ducie 10 and Pitcairn 6. The avifauna is predominantly oceanic and migrant, the few lar d‐birds having Polynesian affinities, most closely allied to those of the Austral Islands and the Tuamotu group. Two species have been introduced–both to Pitcairn Island– and one of these is now extinct. No extinction of native species has ever been recorded.
THE BREEDING OF SOME S.W. ECUADORIAN BIRDS
Authors: MARCHANT S. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYThe breeding of about 40 species of birds in the Ancon district of the Guayas Province of S.W. Ecuador is described. The information is based on the records of about 2000 nests observed during 1955–1958. About half the species are birds which range over much of Central and South America and whose breeding has been previously described, though usually casually. For these my own remarks are confined to new information, doubtful points and confirmatory details. The rest are species more or less confined to the west coast of South America between Ecuador and Chile, and for which there is either little or no breeding information in the literature. These are treated under headings of nest site, nest, eggs, clutch‐size, laying, incubation, nestling period, breeding success and season, with general remarks where appropriate. For most species, closely determined incubation and nestling periods arc given, and for some, quantitative data on clutch‐size and breeding success are available. In some species differences have been found for annual mean clutch‐size, mean clutch‐size laid before and after rain, annual breeding success and fledging success, doubtless due to pronounced climatic variation from year to year which either has a direct effect or influences predation.These matters are discussed generally in the introduction, with particular mention of 10‐day incubation periods, the rapid nesting cycle of several finches, precociousness of their young, and comparison of breeding success with that of European species, as well as the peculiar ecological variations of the district and changes in predators.In the sequel the statistical aspect of my data is analysed by Dr. Monte Lloyd and I have followed this with somea posterioriremarks.