| Malimbus 1 (2) October/octobre 1979 |
Abstracts prepared for Recent Ornithological Literature (ROL)
Chappuls, C., Erard, C. & Morel, G. J. 1979. Données comparatives sur la morphologie et les vocalisations des diverses formes d’Eupodotis ruficrista (Smith). Malimbus 1: 74-89.—Acoustical analysis of three populations ruficrista, gindiana and savilei shows that their voices differ in frequency, rhythm of emission, and phraseology; since these characters are said to be important in species-specific acoustic identification, these three Mrican bustards are best treated as allospecies of one superspecies. E. savilei is particularly distinctive. (French, Eng. summ.)
Newby, J. E. 1979-80. The birds of the Ouadi Rime-Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve: a contribution to the study of the Chadian avifauna. Malimbus 1: 90-109 and 2: 29-50.—A major contribution to the ornithology of a poorly-studied country (and, for that matter, an important addition to the ornithology of the northern tropics of Africa), with distributional and some breeding data on numerous understudied species.
Doutre, M. P. 1979. Botulisme de Type D chez des pélicans Pelecanus rufescens lié à un changement du milieu naturel (Petite Côte, Sénégal). Malimbus 1: 110-113.—The construction of a reservoir with inadequate drainage promoted the growth of Clostridium botulinum and gave rise to the first West African case of botulism. (French, Eng. summ.)
Tréca, B. 1979. Détermination de l'age du Chevalier combattant Philomachus pugnax, au Sénégal. Malimbus 1: 118-126.—Characters for discriminating first-year from full-grown Ruffs alive (moult) and dead (Bursa of Fabricius; pneumatization). (French, Eng. summ.)
Da Camara-smeets, M. Da & Manikowski, S. 1979. Repères visuels utilisés par Quelea quelea et Ploceus cucullatus dans leurs choix alimentaires. Malimbus 1: 127-134.—If, in captivity, various-coloured grain is given to these African granivores, they select those coloured like the grain they eat in nature. Experiments indicated some ability to discriminate taste. (French, Eng. summ.)
Bruggers, R. L. & Bortoli, L. 1979. Notes on breeding parasitism and association with wasps of Heuglin's Masked Weaver nesting on telephone wires in Mali. Malimbus 1: 135-144.—The first breeding record of Ploceus heuglilli for Mali and the first record of it wire-nesting; small colonies were significantly correlated in their telephone-wire distribution with nests of the wasp Polistes fastidiosus, which the bird evidently deliberately seeks.
Parrott, J. 1979. Kaffir Rail Rallus caerulescens in West Africa. Malimbus 1: 145-146.—Records from Cameroun, São Tome and Sierra Leone greatly extend its known range from eastern and southern Africa.