Table Of Content160 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol 94 (1997)
.
heuglini which seemed to me as large and dark on winters eastwards to China (Bourne 1994).
,
theback as aGreat Blackback, andhas a wing-length The curious feature ofthisrecord is surely not
mm mm
of 405-469 compared to 447-523 (and an that Meinertzhagen misidentified a difficult gull in
overall length of64-78 cm, just as large as a goose) his youth, but that he failed to correct the
in the latter (Cramp and Simmons 1983). While identification when hebecame older and supposedly
heuglini normally winters further west, there is a wiser. Possibly he forgot about it, or thought that
subadult from the Whistler Collection in the British other people had done so, but he had a curiously
Museum (Natural History) taken on the Ganges at dismissive attitude to mistakes. Thus, when I wrote
Patna, Bihar, on 11th March 1939, so that to him in the early 1950s asking what else he saw
Meinertzhagen’s bird could well have belonged to when he made field notes on the feeding behaviour
this form instead. of the rare Raza Lark Calendrella razae
Heuglin’s Gull is usually treated as a race of (Meintertzhagen 1952), he replied “he had nothing
either the Herring GullL. argentatus, or much more to add to what he had already written”, when it later
appropriately the more marineLesserBlack-backed became notorious that he had never set foot on the
Gull L. fuscus but the breeding distribution of all only island where this lark occurs (Crocker 1989).
,
these birds may overlap around the White Sea, with But while in this case he may also have been
some intergradation along the River Volga, and L. unwilling to admit an error, it seems unnecessary to
heuglini is now regarded by some Russian dismiss the record as a fraud while there is a natural
ornithologists as a distinct species (Stepanyan 1990, explanation for misidentification available.
Filchagov 1994). Most nominate heuglini appear to
BOURNE
winter on the west side ofthe Indian Ocean, and the August 26, 1995 W.R.P.
Patna bird may be the most easterly record, whereas Department ofZoology,
most similar gulls wintering around the coasts ofthe Aberdeen University,
Indian subcontinent appear to belong to its paler- TdlydroneAvenue,
backed eastern ally orraceL. (h?) taimyrensis which AberdeenAB9 2TN, Scotland.
,
References
Ali, S. & S.D. Ripley (1981): HandbookoftheBirds ofIndia examined. Ibis 135: 320-325.
and Pakistan. 2nd edition, Vol. 3, Oxford University Meinertzhagen, R. (1900): Reputed occurrence of Great
Press, New Delhi. Black-backed Gull Larusmarinus) whileshootingin
(
Bourne, W.R.P. (1994): Theneedtodistinguish between the Rajputana. J. Bombay not. Hist. Soc. 13: 374.
Lesser Black-backed and Heuglin’s Gulls in the Meinertzhagen,R. (1935): TheracesofLamsargentatusand
Pacific. Pacific Seabirds 21(2): 7. Larus fuscus: with special reference to Herr B.
Crocker, M. (1989): RichardMeinertzhagensoldier, scientist Stegmann’srecentpaperonthesubject.Ibis. (5)2: 762-
and spy. London. 773.
Cramp, S. & K.E.L. Simmons (eds.) (1983): The Birds ofthe Meinertzhagen, R. (1952): Review of the Alaudidae. Proc.
Western Palearctic Vol. 3 Waders to Gulls. Oxford. Zool. Soc. Lond. 121: 81-132.
Filchagov, A.V. (1994): Contactzones ofLarusargentatus- Roberts,T.J. (1991): TheBirdsofPakistan,OxfordUniversity
cachinnans-fuscus Gull Complex in Eastern Europe Press, Karachi.
and Northern Asia. J. Om. 135 (suppl): 44. Stepanyan, L.S. (1990): Conspectus of the ornithological
Knox, A. (1993): Richard Meinertzhagen a case of fraud fanua ofthe USSR. Moscow. (In Russian).
20. NOTES ON GROWTH AND MATURITY IN THE INDIAN ROOFED TURTLE
KACHUGA TECTA)
(.
Sayaji Baug Zoo, Vadodara, Gujarat, Indiahas (.Kachuga tecta) since 1991. The firstbatch ofseven
been successfully breeding the Indian roofed turtle hatchlings were maintained in an enclosure
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 161
Table l The following measurements were taken once
LIST OFPLANT SPECIES CONSUMED BY KACHUGA ayear: Straightcarapace length (CL), carapace width
TECTA IN CAPTIVITY* (CW), plastron length (PL), shell height (H), and
Coriandrum sativum. body weight (W) (Table 2). Four hatchlings died
1.
2. Hydrilla verticillata. during the first year, possibly due to some fungal
3. Lemnagibba. and parasite (Ascaris sp.) infections.
.
4. L. perpusilla. Sexual-dimorphic featuresbecame apparent in
5. Vallisneria sp.
the third year. Males had comparatively longer and
6. V. spiralis.
thicker tails than the females. Body shape of male
7. Sagittaria sagittifolia
8. S. guayanensis. became oblong and female became oval during the
same period.
* Listed as per preference ofterrapin.
At theend offifth year the terrapin CLreached
measuring 2.0 x 2.5 m. three times and the weight was twenty times more
The enclosure has ahalf-metrehigh periphery than the size at birth.
wall and the centre with 80 x 80 x 60 cu cm water About the aspect of reproductive maturity in
with necessary slopes. The top of the enclosure is turtles, there are two divergent views among turtle
covered with wire-mesh for protection against workers. One is that it is related to the age of the
predators. turtle (Risley, 1938) and the other view regards the
The turtle hatchlings were daily fed with attainment of maturity to be primarily size related
various species of plants (Table 1) in adlibitum and not age related (Hidebrand, 1932; Cagle, 1948).
quantity. Cockroaches, crickets and earthworms were The present study shows that male turtles attain
also offered once a week, up to the age of one year. maturity earlier than females, at the age of three,
Turtles were less interested in insects and worms. when average ofCLwas6.5 cm. According to Verma
Table2
MEASUREMENTS OF CAPTIVE HATCHLINGS OF INDIAN ROOFED TURTLE AT SAYAJI BAUG ZOO,
VADODARA, GUJARAT. MEASUREMENT IN CM, WEIGHT IN GM
Sample Date of carapace carapace Plastron Shell Body Remarks
size measurement length width length length Weight
7 Birth 3.52 3.08 3.06 2.33 9.14 Allhatchlings
May 91 (3.37-3.67) (2.95-3.17) (2.96-3.14) (1.96-2.20) brightlycoloured
3 5.73 4.86 5.06 3.25 36.6 Four hatchlings
May 92 (5.59-5.90) (4.78-4.97) (4.85-5.20) (3.20-3.30) (35-40) died
3 6.50 5.43 5.93 3.53 51.60
Jun 93 (6.20-6.80) (5.20-5.70) (5.55-6.30) (3.50-3.55) (45-60)
2 7.44 6.03 6.80 3.90 71.6 Sexual-dimorphic
May 94 (7.20-7.93) (5.80-6.45) (6.40-7.40) (3.83-4.05) (65-85) features
2 8.43 6.70 7.87 4.32 103.0
May 95 (8.42-8.45) (6.70-6.70) (7.85-7.90) (4.20-4.45) (100-105)
2 10.45 7.86 10.06 5.19 182.5
May 96 (10.0-10.9) (720-8.52) (9.70-10.42) (5.00-5.38) (60-205)
Numbers in parenthesis arerange
162 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol 94 (1997)
.
and Sahi (1996) the male attains maturity at the Zoo, Vadodaraforthe supportand facilitiesextended.
size of CL > 6.0 cm, which supports the present
study. October 3, 1996 RAJU VYAS
The maturity in turtles is related either to age Sayaji Baug Zoo,
or size, and requires more study. Vadodara-390 018,
I thank V.A. Jadeja, Curator ofthe Sayaji Baug Gujarat, India.
R EFE ENCES
Cagle, F.R. (1948): Sexual maturity in the male turtle musk turtle Stemotherus odoratus. J. Morphol. 63: 307-
Pseudemys scripta troostii. Copeia 108-111. 317.
:
HidebIUnd, S.F. (1932): Growth ofdiamondback terrapins, Verma, A.K. & D.N. Sahi (1996): On the size at maturityin
size attained, sex-ratio and longevity. Zool. 9: 557-563. the male freshwater turtles, Kachuga tecta and K. smithi
Risley, P.L. (1938): Seasonal changes in the tests of in Jammu. Zoos Print. 11(7): 3 & 5.
RECORDS OF THE GHARIAL GAVIALIS GANGETICUS (GMELIN) FROM THE
21.
BARAK RIVER SYSTEM OF NORTH-EASTERN INDIA
(With one text-figure)
The Barak river and its tributaries drain the plentiful’ in the upper reaches of the Barak,
southern areas of north-eastern India, notably parts especially near its confluence with the Tipai. The
of Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and the site ofconfluence is know'n as Tipaimukh. Theriver
entire southern Assam (Fig. 1). The main tributaries Tipai marks theboundary ofthepresentdayManipur
of the Barak are the Irang, Makru, Tipai (Tuivai), and Mizoram states.
Jiri, Chiri, Madhura, Jatinga, Sonai, Dhaleswari Although Singh (1991) mentioned the
(Tlawng) with its distributary, theKatakhal, Shingla reference ofCooper(1951a, b), hemistook theBarak
and the Longai. Near Badarpur, the river bifurcates river system to be that ofthe Brahmaputra and also
into two - the Surma and the Kushiyara and then did not mark it on the map.
flows through Bangladesh. During field survey in different parts of the
Occurrence of the gharial in the Barak river riverbasin over the pastdecade, I came across a few
system was not reported in any of the recent authentic reports on the species, and also visited all
publications on the species (Whitakerand Basu 1982; the recorded localities. These reports are presented
Singh, Kar and Choudhury 1984; Singh 1991). Smith chronologically.
(1931) also did not mention specifically. However, 1934-35: One gharial seen in broad daylight
Choudhury (1989, 1992) mentioned itsrecentreports in Katakhal river, a tributary ofthe Barakriver, near
from a tributary of the Barak river. Matijuri in Hailakandi district, Assam. It was alarge
An excellent account ofthepast abundance of specimen, 4-5 m long (A. Mazid Choudhury, pers.
the gharial in the Barak river system is found in comm.).
Cooper (1951a, b). His Tepi’, Macrup and Irung are 1948: One recorded in the Kushiyara river,
now known as Tipai (Tuivai), Makru and Irang Karimganj district, Assam. The Kushiyarariver also
respectively, all tributaries ofthe Barakriver. Heand marks the Indo-Bangladesh international border.
his companions shot a few of these reptiles in the 1950: One killed in the Dhaleswari river near
upper reaches of the Barak and in the Tipai rivers. Hartaki, about 32 km downstream of Sairang in
The first one was shot in 1906 up the Tipai river. In Mizoram. The river is locally called by the Mizos
the twenties, he found the gharial to be “fairly as Tlawng.
