bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A SURVEY OF BLOOD PARASITES OF BIRDS IN THE MASCARENE ISLANDS, INDIAN OCEAN: WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW SPECIES AND TAXONOMIC DISCUSSION
Authors: Peirce M. A. , Cheke A. S. , Cheke R. A. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryA survey was carried out on the prevalence of blood parasites in birds in the Mascarene Islands. Smears from 357 birds of 25 species in 12 families were examined, of which 150 (42%) were found to harbour blood parasites. The most common parasites were Leucocytozoon; a new species, L. zosteropis, is described from the Grey White‐eye Zosterops borbonica mauritiana. This parasite was observed in smears from 68 birds of three species: Z. borbonica, Z. chloronothos and Z. olivacea. Other species of Leucocytozoon identified were L. fringillinarum from fodies, sparrows and a bulbul and L. marchouxi from two doves. Haemoproteus was found only in domestic pigeons Columba livia and identified as H. columbae. Plasmodium relictum, P. vaughani and an unidentified species with elongate gametocytes were found in Zosterops, and Plasmodium sp. of low infection observed in other hosts. Trypanosoma mayae is redescribed from the House Sparrow Passer domesticus and the Mauritius Fody Foudia rubra, and considered to be a valid species. A new species of trypanosome, Trypanosoma phedinae, is described from the Malagasy Swallow Phedina b. borbonica. Other birds were found to harbour low infections of unidentified species of trypanosomes. A small number of birds were infected with Atoxoplasma, haemogregarines and Rickettsia‐like organisms. An unidentified organism with a predilection for eosinophils was observed in several Mascarene Swiftlets Collocalia francica.The results are discussed in relation to the possible effects of the parasites on the birds of the Mascarene Islands and comparisons made with the results of similar surveys on other Indian Ocean Islands.
DIFFERENTIAL GROWTH AND BODY COMPOSITION IN ALTRICIAL PASSERINES
Authors: O'Connor Raymond J. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYThe differential development of various body organs and of fat, water, and other constituents was studied in three species with altricial nestlings—Blue Tit, House Martin and House Sparrow.In all species resources available at each stage of the nestling period were allocated to those components of most use to the nestlings at the time, although due regard was paid to future needs. Components associated with the ingestion and assimilation of food, such as the mouth, gizzard, intestine and liver, developed early in the nestling period whilst locomotory components, such as wings and pectoral muscles, developed late. Similarly, body plumage needed for insulation developed ahead of the locomotory remiges and rectrices, but only after much of the nestlings' growth in size had been completed.The water index (water content/lean dry weight) provided a consistent index of tissue and nestling maturity amongst young of different nutritional status. This index was very similar for all three species when age was expressed as a fraction of the nestling period.Both absolute fat content and the fat index (fat content/lean dry weight) increased with age. The adaptive value of these trends and of interspecific differences in fat index is discussed.The results are seen as consistent with both the physiological bottleneck models of avian growth rates. It is suggested that the growth patterns of birds may be dominated more by ecological considerations affecting all aspects of the development mode than by internal physiological constraints affecting growth rates alone.
SOME DISPLAY POSTURES OF AUSTRALIAN PIGEONS
Authors: Frith H. J. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYThe bowing display and other postures commonly seen in sexual display, of Australian and some New Guinea pigeons are described. These behavioural data are examined to determine how they support phylogenetic groupings based on the birds' morphology.The inclusion ofLeucotreronandMegaloprepiainPtilinopusis supported. Among the bronzewing pigeonsPhaps, Ocyphaps, GeophapsandPetrophassaare very similar behaviourally, as well as morphologically;Petrophassais the most divergent. The display postures do not assist the classification ofLopholaimus, ChalcophapsorLeucosarciabut, rather, emphasize the separation of these from other groups of pigeon species. The bowing displays ofGeopeliaandStreptopeliado not support the suggestion thatG. humeralisshould be moved from the former genus to the latter.
KLEPTOPARASITISM OF SANDWICH TERNS STERNA SANDVICENSIS BY BLACK‐HEADED GULLS LARUS RIDIBUNDUS
Authors: Fuchs Eduard 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYThe parasitic behaviour of Black‐headed Gulls in a mixed colony of terns and gulls at the Sands of Forvie on the northeast coast of Scotland is described in some detail. Food‐stealing occurred with varying frequency throughout the breeding season. Less than 6% of the terns were attacked during incubation and when their chicks were a few days old, but up to 29% were attacked thereafter. At the same time the percentage of successful attacks rose from 1% or less to 6.5%.Food items brought back to the ternery were predominantly sandeels, clupeids and gadoids. Only a small proportion of terns carrying fish shorter than 7 cm were attacked whether they were sandeels, clupeids or gadoids.Robbing success was higher with clupeids and gadoids than with sandeels.The effect of the Black‐headed Gulls' kleptoparasitism on the Sandwich Terns' breeding success is thought to have been negligible during incubation and early chick‐life, but might have influenced fledging weight and ultimately post‐fledging survival.
NEST BUILDING AND NESTING BEHAVIOUR OF THE SOCIABLE WEAVER PHILETAIRUS SOCIUS
Authors: COLLIAS ELSIE C. , COLLIAS NICHOLAS E. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYThe behaviour of the Sociable Weaver Philetairus socius was studied briefly in South Africa in 1969, and more extensively in aviaries in southern California for over three years (1972‐75). The species was bred successfully in captivity, apparently for the first time.Building of the compound nest in nature is reviewed in the light of preceding accounts, both by ourselves and by others. The optimal preference for nest materials was experimentally determined. Male and female appear identical and there seems to have been no previous detailed account of the behaviour of Sociable Weavers based on distinctively colour‐ringed individuals of known sex. Among the sex differences in behaviour are the amount and nature of building, dominance, malespecific song, and sex differences in relative share of incubation and in the care of nestlings and fledglings. In addition, we describe in detail for the first time certain rarely observed behavioural acts including precopulatory courtship and copulation. Allopreening and water bathing are very rare in this species, and the birds do not take dust baths.
DIFFERENTIATION OF FORAGING NICHE AMONG TITS, PARUS SPP., IN NORWAY DURING WINTER
Authors: HOGSTAD OLAV 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYThe winter foraging behaviour of Willow Tit Parus montanuss, Coal Tit P. ater and Crested Tit P. cristatus was studied in several spruce‐dominated, coniferous forest areas in which either Willow Tit alone, Willow Tit and Coal Tit, or all three species together were present. In the areas where Crested Tits were absent, Willow Tits foraged significantly more often in the outermost parts of spruce branches and less frequently on the parts of branches closer to the trunk, than in the area in which Crested Tits were present. In the area in which all three species were present, the same change in foraging pattern of Willow Tits was found in mixed flocks in which Crested Tits were lacking. The foraging pattern of Coal Tits was unaffected by the presence of members of either or both the other two tit species. It is suggested that the expansion of the feeding niche of Willow Tit in the absence of Crested Tit is a result of ecological release, due to a reduction in the degree of interspecific competition.
DIURNAL ACTIVITY OF ADELIE PENGUINS PYGOSCELIS ADELIAE AT CAPE BIRD
Authors: SPURR E. B. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYActivity cycles of non‐breeding Adelie Penguins were investigated at Cape Bird, Antarctica. There was continuous light during the observation period, but none the less regular fluctuations of light intensity and temperature were maintained. The penguins had no single period of rest, but were active throughout the 24 hours. However, there were statistically significant diurnal variations in the levels of certain activities among non‐breeders, with an overall reduction in activity‐levels in the middle of the day, especially on warm midsummer afternoons. It is suggested that this cyclic activity minimum may be associated with the low heat tolerance of Adelie Penguins.
HEAD‐SCRATCHING AMONG NORTH AMERICAN WOOD‐WARBLERS (PARULIDAE)
Authors: BURTT EDWARD H. , HAILMAN JACK P. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYA survey of 40 species of 14 genera of North American wood‐warblers (Parulidae) reveals that the head‐scratching method employed is surprisingly stable within species. The experiments by Nice & Schantz (1959a, b) induced some normally overwing head‐scratchers to scratch the head under the wing. It is suggested that this was because their leg rings became caught in secondaries, making normal overwing head‐scratching impossible. A few exceptional head‐scratching patterns under different conditions invariably involved normally overwing head‐scratchers employing the underwing method, and a few species head‐scratch under the wing as nestlings but change to overwing before fledging. In all, 31 species appear to be normally overwing head‐scratchers, seven are underwing head‐scratchers, one species uses both methods and one remains uncertain. There is no evidence for lateral preference in either head‐scratching method, and head‐scratching is only loosely linked sequentially to preening. The functional significance of head‐scratching may be related to blockage of the eustachian tube, or to cleaning and oiling the feathers. Avian head‐scratching is more difficult to homologize with mammalian head‐scratching than others have considered it to be, but all evidence suggests that within birds underwing head‐scratching is phylogenetically primitive. In wood‐warblers, the head‐scratching method does not correlate with taxonomy. However, ground‐dwelling wood‐warblers tend to scratch the head under the wing and arboreal wood‐warblers over the wing. This correlation provides the first strong clue to the functional significance of the difference between methods in passerine birds.
COMMUNAL ACTIVITIES AMONG WHITE‐WINGED CHOUGHS CORCORAX MELANORHAMPHUS
Authors: ROWLEY IAN 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYWhite‐winged Choughs Corcorax melanorhamphus live in groups of 2–20 birds that nest communally. Most of the study population (82%) was composed of groups of 4–8 individuals. The oldest male in each group appears to perform a ‘linchpin’ role in group cohesion, and groups tend to disintegrate if he dies or leaves. Polygyny is shown to occur, and it is thought that some 15% of clutches are due to two females laying in the same nest. Progeny tend to stay in their natal group rather than dispersing. They help to rear subsequent offspring. All group members may help to build the nest and to incubate, brood, guard, clean and feed the young (both in and out of the nest). No correlation was found between group size and the rate of feeding young in the nest. From 186 nesting attempts, the average production was 1–4 birds of which only 16% survived to adulthood (= 4 y. o.).Besides their nesting activities, White‐winged Choughs have a form of communal defence; they, also, roost, forage, drink, bathe, dust, and roost together. It is concluded that the association into groups provides the adaptive advantage of a buffer against periodic fluctuations in available food– the youngest (= smallest investment) dying first.
SEASONALITY OF MARABOU STORKS LEPTOPTILOS CRUMENIFERUS IN EASTERN AFRICA
Authors: POMEROY D. E. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYNesting by Marabou Storks in eastern Africa is seasonal, and so are assemblages of non‐breeding birds at places with a regular supply of food. In Uganda, where temperatures and day‐length are almost constant, Marabous have nested at about the same time each year, despite considerable variations in rainfall from year to year. However, rainfall can have a modifying effect, delaying egg‐laying by up to a few weeks. The timing of egg‐laying varied regionally throughout eastern Africa, but in general nesting began during a dry season and continued into the next wet season. In drier areas the timing of nesting was more complex.Regional variations in the nesting season, and in the sizes of feeding assemblages, are consistent with north‐south movements of individual Marabous to or across the equator, enabling them to avoid the late wet season and early dry season. These are times when the supply of natural foods is likely to be least. Figure 6 summarizes the data and indicates probable movements. In the wetter areas the main northwards movement is in October‐November, returning four to six months later. In driet areas the timing is almost reversed.
TONGUE MORPHOLOGY AND AFFINITIES OF THE HAWAIIAN HONEYCREEPER MELAMPROSOPS PHAEOSOMA
Authors: BOCK WALTER J. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY Melamprosops phaeosoma has a thick straight tongue with an anterior spoon‐like trough, but without any indication of a tube. Its hyoid skeleton has an elongated, flattened basihyale, stout parallel paraglossalia and a concavity along the dorsal surface of the ceratobranchiale. All the tongue muscles could be dissected but the superficial M. mylohyoideus and M. serpihyoideus were too damaged to figure and describe. The M. ceratoglossus and the M. hypoglossus obliquus are large; the latter muscle inserts mainly on the basihyale and ceratobranchiale, but a small number of fibres pass beneath the basihylale. The M. hypoglossus anterior is absent. The morphology of the tongue apparatus of Melamprosops is very similar to that of Ciridops and of Loxops and supports placement of Melamprosops in the Drepanididae. Further it suggests that Melamprosops evolved from an ancestor with a tubular tongue, supporting the suggestion that it evolved from Loxops.
DISPERSION, BREEDING AND PREY OF THE HEN HARRIER CIRCUS CYANEUS IN GLEN DYE, KINCARDINESHIRE
Authors: PICOZZI N. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYHen Harriers were studied on a grouse moor in northeastern Scotland from 1970‐74. Numbers in spring were fairly stable, and the 24 nesting territories occupied in 1974 were regularly dispersed with a mean nearest neighbour distance of 1.52 ± s. e. 0.09 km. Many pairs apparently failed to breed and left the area. The mean clutch size of those remaining was 4.70 ± s. e. 0.24 (n= 27) and the mean number of young fledged per successful nest was 3.11 ± s. e. 0.26 (n= 19). Young males were more likely to disperse far from the study area than young females.The variety of prey species observed from hides at five nests was very limited, and comprised mainly pipits, grouse chicks and lagomorphs. Estimates by weight suggest that grouse and lagomorphs accounted for 89% of all prey. Males brought more small items and fewer large items to nests than females, and on average provided 72% of all prey items seen during watches from the hides.On the basis of studies of prey at three nests in 1974, and counts of grouse in spring and late summer, harrier predation was estimated to have reduced the number of grouse which might otherwise have survived to late July that year by a maximum of 7.4%.
POPULATION DYNAMICS OF THE FLIGHTLESS CORMORANT NANNOPTERUM HARRISI
Authors: HARRIS M. P. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYA small population of Flightless Cormorants was followed from 1970 to 1975 inclusive. The birds were extremely sedentary, most never moving more than 2 km from where hatched. Many birds bred several times within a year, almost always with different mates. After successful breeding the mean interval to the next attempt among females was significantly shorter than among males, probably because the male continued to attend the juvenile for longer than did the female.There was an annual peak of nesting in April to November, when sea temperatures were lowest; some nesting occurred in other months but these nests were less successful. About 73% of juveniles survived at least three months after going to sea. Adult females had a significantly higher rate of annual survival (91%) than did males (82%). The mean annual survival of both sexes combined over a 13 year period was 87%. The mean age of first breeding was about 30 months for both males and females.In 1972 breeding success (0·14 young fledged per pair) was much lower than in other years (0·60 young per pair), a lower proportion of juveniles survived, no birds bred for the first time and probably many fewer pairs nested. Adult survival was not affected. This reduced breeding output was associated with an influx of anomalously warm sea water to the area (El Niño). The availability of food is probably both the ultimate and the proximate factor controlling the timing of breeding.
A NEW SPECIES OF SERIN FROM ETHIOPIA
Authors: ASH J. S. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYFrom Ethiopia, a new species of streaked seedeater (Serin), the Ankober Serin Serinus ankoberensis. is described. It is closely related to S. menachensis of the Arabian peninsula, and like it, is a highland species living at around 3030 m along the top of the steep escarpment of the central highland massif. It is a terrestrial species. A nest found in March contained three white eggs in a vertical hole in an overhanging bank.
AGONISTIC AND SPACING BEHAVIOUR OF THE NOISY MINER MANORINA MELANOCEPHALA, A COMMUNALLY BREEDING HONEYEATER
Authors: DOW DOUGLAS D. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYThe Noisy Miner is a communally breeding Australian honeyeater in which several males feed the offspring of a single female. They reside year‐round in colonies, which may number several hundred birds. Miners within colonies unite to mob predators and are successful in defending their colony area against all other species of birds. The species is also highly aggressive intraspecifically. Individuals in a colony in southeastern Queensland were present most of the time in small activity spaces. Most resident males showed extensive overlap of activity space from one season to the next. Males did not defend their activity spaces, so that coalitions of birds occurred whose membership changed with place and time. Certain assemblages of males, termed coteries, were of a more permanent nature. Coterie members showed aggression towards outsiders at border regions.Females' activity spaces were much smaller and less variable than those of males. They showed almost no overlap and were probably maintained by mutual avoidance. Females tended to nest within the activity space they occupied shortly before the breeding period. Thus the spacing of males and females within a colony was quite different.Interactions, often agonistic, were frequent between individuals, between an individual and a group, and between groups. Encounters involving two males in which participants normally lived farther apart were more often agonistic than when participants lived more closely, and more aggression was seen within coteries than between them. When larger groups of birds had agonistic encounters, they more frequently involved birds from different coteries. Very little male‐female aggression was seen. Interactions between males and females of different coteries were usually sexual, sometimes involving attempted copulation.Colony sizes are probably too large to permit individual recognition of fellow members, but this could be more likely in coteries. Many males in coteries are doubtless closely related, but outsiders frequently infiltrate them. Coteries are not reproductive units.
THE IMITATIVE RANGE OF THE SONG OF THE MARSH WARBLERACROCEPHALUS PALUSTRIS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO IMITATIONS OF AFRICAN BIRDS
Authors: DOWSETT‐LEMAIRE FRANÇOISE 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYThis paper presents the first extensive evidence of vocal imitations of African birds by a Palaearctic migrant, the Marsh WarblerAcrocephalus palustris. Nearly 30 individual tape recorded repertoires have been analysed, most of them from Belgium; imitations of each identified species were compared to models by spectrographic analysis. A list of 113 African species (33 non‐passerines, 80 passerines) was thus established (Appendix), which, added to the list of 99 European species, gives a total imitative range of 212 species. The low‐pitched voices of many non‐passerines exclude them from imitation.Vocal imitations of some rather local species in East Africa provide information on the localization of the autumn and winter quarters ofA. palustris. In particular, the frequency of imitations of such species as Vinaceous DoveStreptopelia vinacea, Boran CisticolaCisticola bodessaand Red‐pate CisticolaC. ruficepslends support to the idea of the existence of autumn quarters in northeastern Africa.Individual repertoires contain an average of 76.2 different imitated species (extremes 63–84), the number of African species (average 45.0) exceeding that of European species (average 31.2). About a fifth of the complete song remains unidentified and probably corresponds to imitations of African birds whose voices have not yet been recorded. The most recurrent imitations are those of noticeably noisy species, widespread in Africa.A. palustrisappears not to be selective in its repertoire. Imitations of different species can, to some extent, be combined and alternated into original motifs.Circumstantial evidence indicates that the youngA. palustrisare still learning song motifs when on their way to their winter quarters and probably stop learning soon after their arrival there, most of them in January, at the age of 6–7 months. There is a temporal separation between the sensitive phase and the motor phase of song learning.No conclusion as to the possible functions of the imitative element of the song can be drawn at present.
THE KLEPTOPARASITIC BEHAVIOUR OF THE ARCTIC SKUA STERCORARIUS PARASITICUS WITH THREE SPECIES OF TERN
Authors: TAYLOR I. R. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARYThe behaviour of Arctic Skuas when stealing fish from three species of tern was studied at the estuary of the River Ythan, Aberdeenshire. The skuas' attacks were made by flying low over the water at high speed and by approaching the terns from behind and below. The adaptiveness of this flight path is discussed. The skuas attacked singly and in groups of up to five. Group attacks were more successful than single bird attacks, but the return per bird was greatest when the skuas attacked in pairs. The success of attacks also depended upon the species of tern being attacked. The duration of attacks varied with the number of skuas in the attack, the species of tern being attacked and the outcome of the attack. Attacks were directed more frequently against Sandwich Terns than against Common Terns, correlating with the success of the attacks against these two species.