Table Of ContentLetters to the Editor
On Rufous-naped Lark Mirafra with wings up-raised and legs out- Reserve, Guinea: a preliminary
africana‘flappeting’display stretched’.Theheightoftheflapping survey. Bull.ABC 126-138.
&
Intheirmostinterestingpaperonthe wing display described byVincent is Dowsett-Lemaire, F. Dowsett, R.
birds of Pic de Fon in Guinea, much higher than in our experience J. 1978. Vocal mimicry in the
Demey & Rainey (2004) describeda ofthe species: in April 1996, on the larkMirafrahypermetraas apos-
displaying male of Rufous-naped Teke Plateau of Congo-Brazzaville, sible species-isolating mecha-
Lark Mirafra africana (race henrici) FD-L saw at least one lark of the nism. Bull. Br. Ornithol. Cl. 98:
‘jumpingupverticallyc.80cmoffthe same race malbrantidisplaywith the 140-144.
ground with rattling wings’. They usualshortverticaljump. Keith, S., Urban, E. K. & Fry, C. H.
believe this behaviour had not been Of southern African birds, (eds.) 1992. The Birds ofAfrica.
described previously in the species, Maclean (1993: 427) wrote: Vol. 4. London, UK: Academic
citing in support (among others) ‘....between every 3-5 phrases, birds Press.
Keithetal. (1992). raises [sic] body on straight legs (or Maclean, G. L. (ed.) 1993. Roberts’
We have come across this wing- even lifts slightly offperch) as wings Birds of Southern Africa. Sixth
noise display in several races ofthis rattled, phrrrp...’. Skead (1995: edn. London, UK: New
lark, most notably in the race nyikae 464-467) detailedmanyinstances of Holland.
on the Nyika Plateau, Malawi- similar ‘clappering’ in the Eastern Skead, C. J. 1995. Life-history notes
Zambia, where birds perform such Cape ofSouth Africa, although it is on East Cape bird species
displays quite regularly in the breed- clear that the song was usually not [1940-1990). Vol. 1. Port
ingseason (observationsoveroursev- accompanied by wing-snapping. Elizabeth: Algoa Regional
eral years of residence there in the ‘Clappering’ was usually on the ServicesCouncil.
1980s, and also on a shorter visit in groundorupto3mhigh,butonone F.Dowsett-LemaireandR.J. Dowsett,
November-December 1977). On 5 occasionthebirdflewupintheairto LePouget, 30440Sumene, France.
December 1977,FD-Ltape-recorded some 15 m‘onslowbeatingbutclap- E-mail:[email protected].
the noiseproducedbythewings ofa ping wings’. Birds at times returned
jumpingbird, a‘shortburstofsound totheground‘holdingthefeethang- On SaoTome Grosbeak Neospiza
much like that made by the lark ingbelowthebody’. concolor
Mirafra rufocinnamomea (Dowsett- To be fair, Keith etal. (1992) had In 2001, while working for the Bird
Lemaire & Dowsett 1978: 142). We referred to this on p.23: ‘wings often Group of the Natural History
also mentioned in the same paper flapped during song, producing rat- MuseuminTring, I circulatedapho-
that similar ‘flappeting’ behaviour tledphrrrp’.Demey&Rainey(2004) tographofwhatwasthenbelievedby
was noticed occasionally by D. R. did not associate this description to me (and others) to be a specimen of
Aspinwall in individuals of other whattheysawin Guineabecause the Sao Tome GrosbeakNeospiza concol-
races on the southern Zambian verticaljumpwas notmentioned (R. or. My comments concerning this
plateau. In addition RJD (unpubl.) Demey pers. comm.). Nevertheless, apparently second known specimen
noted it in the montane race with or without a noticeable vertical have since entered the literature (Fry
&
nigrescens on the Kitulo Plateau of jump,thistypeofdisplayseemsquite Keith 2004, The Birds ofAfrica.
southernTanzania.Theheightofthe widespreadinthespecies,althoughit Vol. 7: 530). However, furtherinves-
jumpsisusuallyquiteshort,afewcm had notpreviouslybeen reported for tigationsinto this data-less, mounted
toperhapsjustunder 1 m. WestAfrican henrici. specimen of rather poor condition,
Of M. africana malbranti in the which is housed in the Naturkunde-
Kasai (Congo-Kinshasa), Chapin References Museum Bamberg (Germany),
(1953: 47) wrote: ‘...Vincent Chapin, J. R 1953. The birds ofthe revealed that those colleagues com-
observed the courting flight of a Belgian Congo. Part 3. Bull. menting on the photo, and myself,
male, shooting up repeatedly from Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 75A: were mistaken. The specimen has
thegroundtoabout30 feet,whereit 1-821. nowbeenidentifiedasbeingaBlack-
“burred”withitswings,gaveatri-syl- Demey, R. & Rainey, H. J. 2004. throated Grosbeak Saltator (Pitylus)
labicwhistle, andcameglidingdown The birds of Pic de Fon Forest fuliginosusfrom Brazil (cf. Dickinson
76-BullABCVol12No 1 (2005) LetterstotheEditor
2003, CompleteChecklistoftheBirdsof 238). NeospizaconcolorandSaltator Fringillidae / 824: Cardinalidae). I
the World'. 824). Therefore, still only (Pitylus)fiiliginosushave, in fact, very apologise for any confusion that my
one specimen ofNeospiza concolor is similar bill shapes (though theydiffer earliercomments mighthavecaused.
extant, housedintheNatural History in colour in live birds) and agree in
BMNH
Museum, Tring, registered most body proportions. Currently, FrankD. Steinheimer, SylterStrasse
1891.8.20.14 (cf. Knox & Walters they are treated within two different 18, D-90425Niirnberg, Germany. E-
1994, Br. Omithol. Cl. Occ. Buhl. 1: families (Dickinson 2003: 749: [email protected]
ABC
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Lettersto theEditor BullABCVol12No1(2005)-77
