摘要:

SummaryIn the colony‐nesting bee‐eater Merops bulocki of the northern savannas of Africa males preponderate in the proportion 1 ‐5 to 1 female, initial breeding occurs at varying ages, and adults of both sexes and all age classes, particularly one‐year‐old males, assist breeding pairs with nest excavation, incubation, and provisioning the pulli and fledglings. Up to three helpers can occur at one nest, and they may be siblings of a previous year's brood. Pair‐bonds are for life, and bonds formed between the breeding pair and their helpers may endure until next season. Some evidence suggests that other gregarious open‐country bee‐eater species are similar in these respects but that forest and solitary‐breeding savanna species have the sex ratio at parity and do not breed co‐operatively. Breeding dispersion of savanna species is related to specific size, the largest (which forage most widely) nesting in the densest aggregates.Other instances of birds with comparable social organisations are briefly reviewed. The 80 species involved comprise broad systematic and ecological spectra and about 60 of them inhabit hot climates in America, Africa and Australia. It is suggested that co‐operative breeding provides a reserve of experienced individuals whose recruitment to breeding permits (1) fine control of stable populations in non‐seasonal habitats (tropical forest) within the capacity of the food resources; (2) crude adjustment of fluctuating populations in habitats with unpredictable rainfall (Australia), enabling them rapidly to recuperate from depression and to achieve the highest population level the improved food resources can sustain; and (3) regulation of populations in intermediate habitats (tropical savannas) by either means according to the dictates of immediate e

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02585.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryThis paper reports on an 11‐year study of the comparative behaviour of the four species of wood‐storks. All species were studied under natural conditions at breeding colonies in the U.S.A., East Africa, India, and Indonesia. In addition, observations were made on hand‐reared young of two species(Mycteria americanaandIbis ibis).Various aspects of signal (display) and non‐signal behaviour are described. The most common ritualised display away from the nest is the Forward Threat. At the neBt, the following displays are seen, mainly during courtship and pair‐formation: Aerial Clattering Threat, Forward Clattering Threat, Snap Display, Anxiety Stretch, Flying Around, Gaping, Balancing Posture, Swaying Twig‐Grasping, Display Preening, Up‐Down, and Copulation Clattering. Each of these patterns is described in the text and many of them are illustrated.The four species treated here are similar to each other in most behaviour patterns. They do show some quantitative differences in courtship displays, particularly in the Up‐Down, a common “greeting” display shown to the mate at the nest.The behavioural and morphological evidence now available does not justify the separation ofM. americanainto a monotypic genus, and I suggest that all four wood‐storks be combined in the genusMycteria.Thus, the wood‐storks include:M. americana, M. cinerea, M. i

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02586.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryThe Fulmar has a long period at the breeding colony prior to egg‐laying. The pattern of annual occupation and build‐up in numbers has been examined in detail at Marsden, Co. Durham, at a colony in which over 100 eggs are laid annually (Order 3 of Fisher's classification).The re‐occupation of the cliff starts in early November with an occasional visit by one or two birds. The main period of activity at the cliff is during the morning and, as the numbers build up, the diurnal period of occupation increases. By mid‐December the first birds to arrive in the colony do so before dawn and the last to leave remain well after dark until near midnight. Almost throughout the pre‐egg stage, the colony is deserted each night and re‐occupied the next day and birds only stay regularly overnight just before egg‐laying. A similar pattern of occupation occurs after breeding but in the reverse order.The numbers of birds at the colony in January and February exceed the breeding population and include many non‐breeders. The non‐breeders progressively decline in numbers until May when only the breeding birds remain with a few non‐breeding birds.The daily variation in the numbers of birds at the cliff is influenced by the wind speed. In general, the birds leave the colony under freshening conditions and the number present at the colony can be interpreted in terms of the wind conditions over the last three days.It is suggested that the synchronised departures are primarily feeding trips, the birds using the strong winds to reach feeding areas, except that the departure just before egg‐laying is linked to egg development and synchronised laying in the colony.Competition between Fulmars and Kittiwakes for nesting sites usually results in the Kittiwakes gaining the site. This is achieved by the Kittiwakes taking over the Fulmar sites during one of th

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02587.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryPalaearctic passerines were observed and trapped over three seasons near Kampala, in southern Uganda. Passage migration and wintering are described.Only 11 species were encountered at all frequently. Three of these were common as passage migrants only, the rest remained in numbers throughout the northern winter. Most migrants reached Kampala during October and November, but the majority ofAcrocephaluswarblers appeared later. Spring departure commenced at the end of March, and continued throughout April. Autumn passage was in progress from late September to December, but appreciable spring movement was confined to a period of a few weeks only.Ringing revealed that most wintering warblers were highly sedentary, and that a high proportion of surviving birds returned to the same site in successive winters. No fewer than 12–5% of the 220Acrocephaluswarblers ringed during 1966/67 were retrapped during the following season.Wing measurements were recorded for most migrants trapped. Plumage details were noted, and representative specimens of several species were subsequently compared with museum series. It was concluded that most migrant passerines which occurred at Kampala were of eastern origin.Migration times were compared with those recorded for some other areas. The spring movement from southern Uganda to the Middle East tends to be more rapid than the return journey. Some species apparently spend weeks or even months of the autumn in northeast Africa before reaching the equato

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02588.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryCiridopspossesses a tubular tongue with a fringed tip and lateral sides. Closure of the tube is by overlap of the lateral fringes.The tongue skeleton possesses an elongated basihyale, parallel paraglossalia with broad, rounded posterior processes and a slight concavity on the dorsolateral surface of the ceratobranchiale.All the tongue muscles could be described, although some had been damaged. The M. hypoglossus anterior is absent. The M. ceratoglossus and the M. hypoglossus obliquus are large, the latter muscle inserts completely on the basihyale. A newly discovered muscle, the M. thyreohyoideus superior, is described.The glottal muscles are described, and their actions in opening and closing the glottis are outlined.Comparison ofCiridops(Drepanidinae) andLoxops(Psittirostrinae) suggests that the Drepanididae are monophyletic. The closest resemblance in morphology of the tongue apparatus is with the cardueline finches, not with the “coerebids

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02589.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

SummaryJapanese Quail were kept in small cages under controlled conditions of temperature and light, and their pterylography and moult are described. There are 10 primaries, 14 secondaries and corresponding numbers of greater upper and lower wing coverts. The alula has four feathers and the tail from five to six pairs of feathers. There is an apterium in the dorso‐pelvic tract similar to that in other quail genera. The arrangement of feathers in the ventral and cervical tracts appears to differ from that described for some North American quail.The chicks hatch with a covering of natal down. Pre‐juvenile moult can be seen when the chicks are three days old. Juvenile body plumage is complete in about 30 days; the sides of the face, around the eyes, are the last places to acquire feathers. The tenth and last juvenile primary to grow is mature when the chicks are 41 days old.The moult in which the juvenile plumage is replaced overlaps the post‐natal moult and in part of the ventral tract natal down is replaced by the first adult feathers. This makes it possible to sex the quail at 14 days old. The first adult moult is complete, in the body tracts, by the time the birds are five to six weeks old. The dropping of juvenile primaries commences at about three weeks old and ceases when about eight weeks old. Only from three to six primaries are replaced; most birds studied replaced five. The significance of this difference from other Galliformes is discussed; it is thought to be associated with the species' migratory behaviour. Quail which remained in the controlled laboratory environment did not undergo any further moult. All birds moulted when both temperature and light period were reduced and most birds moulted when the light period alone was reduced. Adult birds housed in small cages in an unheated, unlit shed underwent a complete moult between August and December in which all primaries were replaced. This moult took 8–14 weeks to c

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02590.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02591.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02592.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02593.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0019-1019    

DOI:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1972.tb02594.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1972

数据来源: WILEY