Table Of Content27October.Theadultbirdinbothcaseswouldfreeze a Ugandan researchertotrytocensus this species in
onthenestandcouldeasilybemissedbecauseofthe Budongo Forest and to collect data on its habitat
speckledpatterningoftheplumagemergingwiththe requirements, possibly by employing radiotracking
leaf-litter. techniques.
It is possible that this species could be censused 1 thank the Uganda ForestDepartmentforallow-
using playbacks of its call as it always seems to re- ing me to work in the Budongo Forest andthe ODA
spondtocalls fromotherindividuals. Itiscommonly ForestryResearchProgrammeandWildlifeConserva-
heard in areas where the understorey is fairly dense tion Societyforfundingthis work. @
between1-4mabovethegroundmakingitdifficultto References
sTeheerteheablisrodsuenelemsstoanboethheirghoenrencaulmlbinegrsattirnacstswiatmoupty. 1. Collar, N.J., Crosby, M.J. and Stattersfield, A.J.
1994. Birdsto watch 2: the worldlistofthreatened
areas butthis is onlya subjective impression. As this birds. Cambridge: BirdLife International.
dense understorey vegetation tends to occur where 2. Keith, S., Urban, E.K. and Fry, C.H. (eds) 1986. The
logging has taken place it is not thought that the Birds of Africa: Volume 2. London: Academic
current logging would be very detrimental to this Press.
species.Itishopedthatfundscanberaisedtoemploy BudongoForestProject.POBox362,Masindi, Uganda.
Note on the field identification of Uluguru
Violet-backed Sunbird Anthreptes neglectus
Tom D. Evans
Following some apparently anomalous observa- neglectusoccurredcommonlyatthesite.However,as
tionsintheEastUsambaras,Tanzania,Iexamined discussed below, it can be virtually impossible to
skins of Anthreptes sunbirds in the Natural History identifysuch individuals with confidence.
MuseumBirdSectionatTring,Hertfordshire,UK.This Thethreespeciesarelargelyallopatric,withtheir
showed that the immature plumage of Uluguru rangesandhabitatrequirementswelldefined,atleast
Violet-backed Sunbird Anthreptes neglectus is mis- in EastAfrica1. Nonetheless itwouldbepreferableto
leadingly described by Moreau and Moreau4 and relyon plumage features, since identifications based
Mackworth-Praed and Grant3 The latter represents solely on range or habitat may lead to the loss of
.
theonlywidelyavailableandotherwisereliableguide interesting extra-limital records andconceal cases of
to identifying this species, which is restricted to the sympatry or unusual habitat choice. They are also
forests ofEastAfrica. considered unacceptable by committees vetting
Immature neglectuscanshowaboldwhitesuper- records ofrarities.
mm
ciliumrunningfromthelorestoatleast5 behind Several features remain for separating those im-
theeye.Thisispresentonboththeimmaturefemales mature neglectusshowingasuperciliumfromfemales
and oneofthe two immature males in thecollection. andimmaturesofthetwoconfusionspecies.Asfaras
Also, the iridescent feathers (which cover the I candetermine, none isreliableforall individuals of
upperparts ofadults ofboth sexes) can be limitedto all species. All are difficult to assess on these small,
the upper tail coverts, tail and bend of the wing of active arboreal birds. Many individualswiththistype
immature birds. These two features would tradition- of plumage will be impossible to identify with cer-
allybeconsideredtoindicateafemaleorimmatureof tainty in the field, and perhaps even in the hand,
either Eastern Violet-backed SunbirdA. orientalisor without considering range. Eliminating the form A.
Violet-backed Sunbird A. longuemarei. longuemareiangolensisis the most difficult aspect.
I twicesaw individualsshowingthese features in The features are given below:
the East Usambaras in 1994. Since they were not
begging for food from the accompanying adult 1. Immature neglectus and immature or female
neglectusanddidnothaveprominentpalegapelines, longuemarei are bright lemon-yellow on the belly
I did not initially suspect that they were immatures. and vent. Female and young orientalisshowat most
The habitat, range and other plumage features sug- a faintyellow orbuffwash. Thisshould make iteasy
gest that they were neglectus as does the fact that to eliminate orientalisgiven goodviews.
,
38 - BullABC Vol3 No 1 Short Notes
2. In neglectus and longuemarei the crown, mantle brown-backed plumages of the other two species.
andwingcoverts are duskybrown, (sometimeswith However, it is quite possible that if more immature
avioletmetallicwash3). On orientalistheseareasare neglectuswere examined, some would be found to
alighter,greyerbrown.Thisfeaturevariedwidelyon lack this featuretoo.
thespecimensexaminedandtherewassomeoverlap, The remaining plumages (male and female
includingparticularlydark orientalisandsome paler neglectus male orientalisandmale longuemarei) all
,
individuals ofthe othertwo ofwhich show wholly iridescent upperparts and no
3. The yellow-green fringes on the flight feathers of supercilium, can still be separated with the help of
neglectusaregenerallylacking in the othertwo spe- Mackworth-PraedandGrant3. Theseiridescentfeath-
cies, although most birds have narrowbuffy fringes. ers are developed gradually and may be found as
This is a useful feature on skins or in the hand, but I patchesonbirdswithpredominantlyimmatureplum-
havefounditimpossibletodetecton neglectusinthe age. The distinguishing features of male neglectus
field. Though I have nofieldexperienceoftheother (yellowy remige fringes, blue ratherthan blue-violet
twospecies, itseemslikelythatviewswouldhaveto gloss above, grey-white rather than creamy white
be very good to be sure that no such fringing was underparts, reaching right to the vent) can be very
present and thus eliminate neglectus. Furthermore, difficult to detect under field conditions. Only the
the south-central African race A. longuemarei female plumage of neglectusis easyto identify, with
angolensisdoesshowextensiveyellow-greenremige its combination of no supercilium, iridescent (blue-
fringesandmaybeallbutimpossibletoseparatefrom violet)upperpartsandextensiveyellowonthelower
immature neglectus even inthe hand. The ranges of belly. Unfortunately, female neglectus is wrongly
A. longuemarei an,golensis and A. neglectus are drawn in the most recent field guide to East African
thoughttobeseparatedbytheShire-NyasaRift(M. P. birds5.Theillustration(Plate79)showsaboldsuper-
S. Irwinperscomm1995). A. 1. nyassae,whoserange cilium andyellowwashbelow, neitherofwhichcan
overlapswidelywithneglectusinthecoastalbeltfrom be seeneitherinthe fieldoronskins.
Dar-es-Salaam into Mozambique, does not have yel- Acknowledgements
lowyfringes. Thanks are due to Peter Colston and Robert Prys-
4. The underparts of longuemareiand orientalisare JonesoftheNaturalHistoryMuseum, GuyAnderson,
reportedtobebrightwhiteorbuffywhite,ratherthan MichaelIrwinandJonFjeldsaforhelpwiththisnote.
the sullied grey-white of neglectus3 (The statement Fieldwork was conducted for Frontier Tanzania, a
.
by Williams6 that neglectusis ‘dusky brownish-grey’ jointventure between the Society forEnvironmental
belowisextraordinarilymisleading.)Thisfeaturevar- Explorationand the FacultyofScience, Universityof
ies widely in the specimens and, although the great Dar-es-Salaam.Themanypeoplewhoassistedmeare
majority of neglectus conform, a few are markedly thanked elsewhere2 but special thanks go to Meyer
whiter (this is particularly a feature of juvenile International, whofunded mytravel toTanzania. ®
neglectus6). The other two species show a range of References
whiteness, overlapping in this feature with typical
neglectus.Thecolourcouldeasilybealteredifthebird 1. Bsrtiatttuosn,anP.dL.di(setdri)bu1t9i8o0n.. BNaiirrdosbio:fEEaassttAAffrriiccaa:Ntahteui-r
is dirty or has old, worn feathers. It should be used ral History Society.
with great caution. 2. Evans, T.D. (in press) Records of birds in the
5.Thecolouroftheiridescenttailandrumpmayalso forests of the East Usambara lowlands, north-east
differ. This is not clearly explained by Mackworth- Tanzania, August 1994 - February 1995. Scopus
ParngaoeldenasnidsGirsanvtio3l,ewt,hobusttatleatde,rfotrhaetxaamnpolteh,erthraatcAe.i1s. 3. METaahscetkewArofnrrtiahcn-adPnrNaoHeradtn,hd-beCao.soWt.ke.rnanSAdefrriiGecrsaa.nIt.V,oTlChu.emH.eBb.i2r.dIsL9o6n0o.-f
‘violet,ratherthantheblue-violetoftheAngolarace’.
don: Longmans.
Ingeneral, neglectusisthoughttobeabluershadeof 4. Moreau, R.E. and Moreau, W.M. 1937. Biological
purplethanmostracesoftheothertwospecies.Great and other notes on some East African birds. Ibis
careisrequiredinthefield,sincethisfeatureisstrongly 14(1): 152-174, 321-345.
affected by the angle of illumination. In the hand a 5. van Perlo, B. 1995. Birds of Eastern Africa.
specimen of any form can be made to switch from London: HarperCollins.
bluetovioletbyrotatingit. 6. Williams,J.G. 1980. AfieldguidetothebirdsofEast
As faras is known, the carpal patch ofimmature Africa. London: Collins.
neglectus is always iridescent (pers obs and3). It is 11a Yeoman Lane, Bearsted, Maidstone. Kent. MEM
oftenplainbrown(thoughoccasionallyiridescent)in 4BX, UK.
Short Notes BullABC Vol3 No 1 -39
