{"title":"Audubon's diary transcripts were doctored to support his false claim of personally discovering Lincoln's Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii (Audubon, 1834)","authors":"Matthew R. Halley","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i3.2022.a6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i3.2022.a6","url":null,"abstract":"Summary. John James Audubon (1785–1851) claimed to have personally discovered Lincoln's Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii (Audubon, 1834) in his published account of that species. However, his narrative is contradicted by his wife Lucy's transcript of his diary. A second diary transcript, published by his granddaughter Maria, fully complies with Audubon's published account. The unpublished diary of Thomas Lincoln (1812–83), for whom the sparrow was named, relocated after nearly a century, provides support for Lucy's version. The most parsimonious explanation for the evidence presented here is that Audubon (1834) fabricated his story about discovering Lincoln's Sparrow; then Maria doctored her published transcript of his diary to bring the primary record into alignment with his false narrative. This study sheds light on the ‘primary source problem’ which pervades Audubon scholarship, and highlights the need for a systematic review of his contributions. ‘Drawing all day.’—Audubon in Buchanan (1868: 268)","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"73 1","pages":"329 - 342"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85637518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The taxonomic status of Crimson-crested Turaco Menelikornis (leucotis) donaldsoni","authors":"K. Gedeon, O. Jahn, T. Töpfer","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i3.2022.a7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i3.2022.a7","url":null,"abstract":"Summary. White-cheeked Turaco Menelikornis (leucotis) leucotis and Crimson-crested Turaco M. (l.) donaldsoni have long been treated as conspecific. Because of the lack of data concerning their distribution and areas of potential geographical overlap, they have been considered to be parapatric at most. In 2019 and 2021, we conducted a field study that produced nearly 40 records of the two taxa. In the study area, which stretched 120 km north to south from the upper Shabelle Valley via the Oda and Bale Mts. to Harenna Forest, both leucotis and donaldsoni occurred. The presence of both taxa was recorded across c.50 km west to east, which indicates an area of range overlap of about 6,000 km2. Sympatry between leucotis and donaldsoni, together with clear differences in morphology (mainly crest colour) as well as molecular evidence, strongly support treating them as different species.","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"42 1","pages":"343 - 353"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86399407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The status and distribution of three species of Sternula terns on the eastern coast of Africa and in the western Indian Ocean, with two species new for Mozambique","authors":"Gary Allport, David J. Gilroy, Christine Read","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a4","url":null,"abstract":"Summary. The status of three Sternula terns in southern and eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean is updated based on observations in Mozambique during October 2009–August 2021. Damara Tern S. balaenarum and Saunders's Tern S. saundersi, both new to Mozambique, were found at the San Sebastian Peninsula in August 2018 and have been recorded regularly since. Damara Tern arrived in May, numbers were lower June–July, with a peak of 100+ in August–October. Breeding plumage was assumed by late October and all departed in early November; those aged were all adults. Observations of ringed birds suggested they originated from colonies in South Africa. Numbers of Damara Tern reached the Key Biodiversity Area designation threshold population for the site in 2020. These are the first records of large numbers of Damara Tern in the Indian Ocean, whilst timings suggest the species is partly transient at the site and may also occur further north. Saunders's Tern was recorded at San Sebastian in all months except March and April, with 5–80 regularly present, and peak numbers perhaps in October–December. Birds were observed in a range of plumages in all months, from non-breeding, transitional to full breeding. Courtship feeding was observed in September–November suggesting at least some attempt to breed locally, although disturbance is high. Birds in non-breeding plumage may stem from Northern Hemisphere breeding localities. Little Tern S. albifrons was a numerous migrant in southern Mozambique in October–May, peaking in April when large numbers were observed during pelagic trips to the continental shelf edge, and at onshore roost sites including San Sebastian. Smaller numbers fed in coastal lagoons and freshwater lakes. Three Little Terns had been colour-ringed in Israel.","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"11 1","pages":"190 - 208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74612666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Taxonomic status of the Western Hemispingus Sphenopsis ochracea (Thraupidae) and a review of species limits in the genus Sphenopsis P. L. Sclater, 1861","authors":"Matthew R. Halley","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a5","url":null,"abstract":"Summary. The genus Sphenopsis P. L. Sclater, 1861, has recently been restored to recognise the genetic monophyly of four Neotropical tanager species, formerly placed in the genus Hemispingus Cabanis, 1851, which are little known and poorly represented in museum collections: Oleaginous Hemispingus Sphenopsis frontalis (von Tschudi, 1844), Black-eared Hemispingus S. melanotis (P. L. Sclater, 1855), Western Hemispingus S. ochracea (von Berlepsch & Taczanowski, 1884) and Piura Hemispingus S. piurae (Chapman, 1923). Only ten study skins of S. ochracea are known in collections; prior to this study, just seven were known and no collection had adults of both sexes. The paucity of specimens has caused a considerable amount of confusion about the morphology of S. ochracea, both in published literature and private discussions among ornithologists. To review species limits, I assembled and photographed a comprehensive sample of study skins of Sphenopsis species, including S. ochracea study skins of both sexes, under a single light source, and compared plumage characters to published colour standards. I also quantified and analysed morphometric variation. These data expose multiple errors in published literature and scientific illustrations, and support recognition of S. ochracea and S. piurae at species rank.","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"1 1","pages":"209 - 223"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85203937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Rheindt, M. Wu, Nyanasengeran Movin, K. Jønsson
{"title":"Cryptic species-level diversity in Dark-throated Oriole Oriolus xanthonotus","authors":"F. Rheindt, M. Wu, Nyanasengeran Movin, K. Jønsson","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a10","url":null,"abstract":"Summary. Borneo is part of the Sundaland biodiversity hotspot, yet this large tropical island still harbours much unrecognised biodiversity. In this integrative study, we combine the results from phylogenomic, bioacoustic, biometric and morphological analyses, and show that the Sundaic species Dark-throated Oriole Oriolus xanthonotus comprises two species-level taxa, both of which occur on Borneo. The eastern species, here re-named Ventriloquial Oriole O. consobrinus, is characterised by plumage distinctions, most notably a more male-like coloration in females, and a characteristic ventriloquial song unique among the region's orioles. The precise contact zone of the two species on Borneo is incompletely mapped. Their populations on Borneo show pronounced character displacement whereby individuals of O. xanthonotus on other landmasses are significantly larger than Bornean individuals, presumably to prevent non-adaptive hybridisation with the larger Ventriloquial Oriole along their Bornean contact zone.","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"18 1","pages":"254 - 267"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75667084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The type specimens of Urospizias dampieri Gurney Sr., 1882","authors":"R. Prŷs-Jones, Clive A. Slater","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a12","url":null,"abstract":"John Henry Gurney Sr. (1819‒90) examined a series of raptors collected by Lieutenant (later Rear-Admiral) George Edward Richards (1852‒1927) in New Britain that had been passed to him for examination by Canon H. B. Tristram (Gurney 1882a). Among them were three adult females, all taken at Blanche Bay in June 1879, of a species that he considered with some reservations to be Urospizias etorques Salvadori, 1875, from New Guinea, which is now treated as a junior synonym of Accipiter hiogaster leucosomus (Sharpe, 1874). Gurney (1882a) in fact based this assessment on four New Britain specimens, the three received via Tristram plus an adult male, collector unstated, preserved in the then British Museum (now Natural History Museum, NHMUK). His reservations were largely the result of not having to hand an adult U. etorques from New Guinea with which to compare the New Britain specimens. Shortly thereafter, Gurney (1882b) revisited the issue, the Norwich Museum (later Castle Museum, Norwich) having now obtained an adult female U. etorques from the Astrolabe Mountains, New Guinea, collected by Andrew Goldie. This persuaded him that the New Britain specimens indeed formed a new species, which he named Urospizias dampieri, now Accipiter hiogaster dampieri, after the famous navigator William Dampier (1651‒1715), who in 1699 had been the first European to discover the New Britain archipelago. As evidence, Gurney noted the smaller size of the New Britain females, as well as reiterating subtle plumage distinctions that he had previously mentioned (Gurney 1882a), derived from Salvadori’s (1880) discussion of U. etorques. Although presenting mensural details for the New Guinea bird newly to hand, Gurney (1882b) did not repeat them for the New Britain birds, but instead referred to those already presented in Gurney (1882a). Possibly due to this lack of precise mention of the relevant New Britain specimens in the species description by Gurney (1882b), the syntypes on which this taxon was based appear to have been overlooked subsequently. Checking the published catalogue of Tristram (1889: 59) reveals that he retained two of Richards’s specimens (a and b under Astur etorques), which subsequently passed with much of his bird collection to what is now National Museums Liverpool (NML); these specimens are now registered as NML-VZ","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"11 1","pages":"273 - 274"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80590888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Breeding distribution and status of Great Frigatebird Fregata minor in Chile","authors":"M. Marín, R. Gonzalez","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a6","url":null,"abstract":"Summary. We clarify the breeding status of Great Frigatebird Fregata minor in Chile, and describe the discovery of a new breeding colony at the Islas Desventuradas, which becomes the species' south-easternmost outpost in the Pacific. However, recent suggestions that it breeds on Rapa Nui appear to be unconfirmed, and there are no records at all for the Juan Fernández archipelago. Based on currently available data, in Chile the species breeds in August–September and December–January, with some minor fluctuations in egg laying. Based on published and unpublished accounts, we estimate c.200–300 breeding pairs in Chile, with the largest population and main breeding site at Isla Salas y Gómez, and a small population far to the east on Islote González in the Islas Desventuradas.","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"25 1","pages":"224 - 230"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78736216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tomaz Nascimento de Melo, Priscilla de Jesus Diniz, G. A. Leite
{"title":"First observations of parental care in Screaming Piha Lipaugus vociferans","authors":"Tomaz Nascimento de Melo, Priscilla de Jesus Diniz, G. A. Leite","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a11","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"15 1","pages":"268 - 272"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76767559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the wrong side of the Atlantic: first record of wild Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus in Brazil and in the Americas?","authors":"H. C. Delfino, C. J. Carlos","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a7","url":null,"abstract":"Summary. We present the first report of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus in Brazil, an individual at Araruama, Rio de Janeiro state, in late November 2021 until at least early April 2022, and discuss hypotheses to explain its appearance so far from the species' normal distribution. We believe that it was either an escapee from a captivity or a genuine vagrant that reached Brazil due to bad weather. We also reviewed earlier reports of this species in the Americas on citizen science databases, all of which pertained either to misidentifications, a single escaped individual, or taxonomic misclassification. Given the species' ability to make long-distance movements, including over-water dispersal, we contend that the P. roseus in Brazil was the first record for South America and the first wild bird in the Americas.","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"76 1","pages":"231 - 238"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83849145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS","authors":"","doi":"10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25226/bboc.v142i2.2022.a1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38973,"journal":{"name":"Bulletin of the British Ornithologists'' Club","volume":"29 1","pages":"153 - 154"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89165574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}