Browsing by Author "Moreau, R.E."
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Item 1. The Half-Collared Kingfisher (Alcedo Semitorquata) At the Nest(1944) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Institute, AmaniThis is a widely distributed kingfisher, from the Eastern Cape Province to Angola and Abyssinia. about which little has been written. Everywhere it is a bird of streams rather than rivers and. at any rate in tropical Africa. only those of which the banks are thickly wooded. Exceptionally it occurs as low as 1.000 ft. above; sea-level even close to the Equator-I have seen i· ton a side branch of the lower Pangani River-but from 3,000'ft. upwards in the neighbouring Usambara Mountains it is resident on the small streams in the forest. These waters are remarkably deficient in native fish and. since these kingfishers, unlike Halcyon albiventris and lepidine picte, do not feed on dry land. they probably as a rule depend in part on the abundant crab and amphibian fauna for their food. One at Amani was seen to catch and eat a white butterfly, as others have remarked. the general habits of the Half-collared Kingfisher closely resemble those of the European bird: it has a similar swift direct: flight, high-pitched uninflected squeak and preference for nesting in holes close to water. In appearance it is an even more attractive bird. for the black bill accord! delightfully with the large silvery-white ear-patches and the exquisite blue of the upper parts. The alarm note is a loud. spip-ip-ip-ip-peep".Item Amani Memoirs.(1940) Moreau, R.E.; Winifred, M.M.; East African Agricultural Research Station, AmaniRecently we have undertaken the hand-rearing of young Lophoceros melanoleucos and young Bycanistes cristatus. In nature these species form an interesting contrast: the former is omnivorous and something of a predator; the latter is frugivorous. The female Lophoceros breaks her way out of the nest-hole when the young are barely half fledged and thereafter helps her mate to feed them; the female Bycanistes remains in the nest with her offspring (usually only one) until it is ready to fly.Item Aspects of Evolution in the Parrot Genus Agapornis(1948) Moreau, R.E.Agapornis, an African genus of parrots allied to Loriculus of Asia, has usually been classified in nine species. Their geographical, altitudinal and ecological ranges are described and their temperature relations are worked out. There is a general agreement with Bergmann's rule. Only two of the Agapornids appear to be in any respect ecologically specialized: to A. swinderniana, the only one confined to tropical evergreen forest, the seeds of figs may be an essential food; and A. pullaria is more or less completely dependent on the nests of arboreal insects for nesting‐sites. The other seven Agapornids are birds of dry country with a wide range of food and are indiscriminate hole‐nesters. All nine birds are practically allopatric. The four closely allied birds in East Africa, which produce fertile hybrids very freely in captivity, seem nowhere actually to meet in nature. Certain vegetation types, especially Brachystegia‐Isoberlinia woodland, appear to be an effective barrier, for reasons not clear.Item Aspects of Evolution in the Parrot Genus Agapornis(1948) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Institute AmaniAgapornis, an African genus of parrots allied to Loriculus of Asia, has usually been classified in nine species. Their geographical, attitudinal and ecological ranges are described and their temperature relations are worked out. There is a general agreement with Bergmann's rule. Only two of the Agapornids appear to be in any respect ecologically specialized: to A. swinderniana, the only one confined to tropical evergreen forest, the seeds of figs may be an essential food; and A. pullaria is more or less completely dependent on the nests of arboreal insects for nesting-sites. The other seven Agapornids are birds of dry country with a wide range of food and are indiscriminate hole-nesters. All nine birds are practically allopatric. The four closely allied birds in East Africa, which produce fertile hybrids very freely in captvity, seem nowhere actually to meet in nature. Certain vegetation types, especially Brachysregia-Isoberlinia woodland, appear to be an effective barrier, for reasons not clear.Item Aspects of Evolution in the Parrot Genus Agapornis.(1948) Amani; Moreau, R.E.Agapornis, an African genus of parrots allied to Loriculus of Asia, has usually been classified in nine species. Their geographical, altitudinal and ecological ranges are described and their temperature relations are worked out. There is a general agreement with Bergmann's rule. Only two of the Agapornids appear to be in any respect ecologically specialized: to A. swinderniana, the only one confined to tropical evergreen forest, the seeds of figs may be an essential food; and A. pullaria is more or less completely dependent on the nests of arboreal insects for nesting‐sites. The other seven Agapornids are birds of dry country with a wide range of food and are indiscriminate hole‐nesters. All nine birds are practically allopatric. The four closely allied birds in East Africa, which produce fertile hybrids very freely in captivity, seem nowhere actually to meet in nature. Certain vegetation types, especially Brachystegia‐Isoberlinia woodland, appear to be an effective barrier, for reasons not clear.Item The Avifauna of the Mountains Along the Rift Valley in North Central Tanganyika Territory (Mbulu District). -Parts I. and II(1936) Moreau, R.E.; Sclater, W.L.A large area of northern Tanganyika lying mid-way between the Indian Ocean and Victoria Nyanza is still very imperfectly known to biological science. This paper deals with a section, c ntred about 150 miles west of Kilimanjaro, that is traversed by the Rift Valley and is physiographic ally one of the most remarkable in the African continent.Item Biological and Other Notes on Some East African Birds.(1937) Moreau, R.E.; Moreau W.M.; East African Agricultural research Station, AmaniANYONE who has put together a paper of this nature will realize that it may become prolix, repetitive, and trivial only too easily. We have done our best to maintain a selection, and have confined these notes to what we believe to be littleknown birds, new facts, or new points of view. Most of the notes have been obtained in Usambara (see map in 'The Ibis,' 1932, facing p. 522); including migrants, we have a recordItem The Bird Population of a Settled Valley in the West Usambaras, Tanganyika Territory(1931) Moreau, R.E.; Moreau, W.M.; East African Agricultural Research Station, Amani.We are aware that the most satisfactory season at which to determine the number of birds" carried" by any given area is when breeding is at its height, and the birds are in consequence more definitely localised than at any other time. We were not3 free agents in our choice of the date to visit Kongei, but it is doubtful if in any case we could have chosen a much better period of the year. Field work of any description is next to impossible in the" rains." Of East Africa as a whole, it has been stated that breeding seasons generally are dependent on the" rains," but they are much less defined than in the Temperate Zones. In the Usambaras the greater part of the annual rainfall is recorded in two periods, between the end of March and the beginning of June, and between the end of October and the end of November. At Kongei in September an appreciable proportion of the birds were engaged in some phase of breeding activity. The loud song and pugnacity connected in the Temperate Zone with territory holding were little in evidence however, and we have yet to gain a clear idea of what part this element of bird-behaviour plays among tropical birds.Item Bird-Names used in Coastal North-Eastern Tanganyika Territory(1940) Moreau, R.E.When one is trying to get the names of natural objects out of an African, however successfully, he is almost sure to make some remark to the effect that of course the old people knew far more about these things than we do nowadays. Sometimes be adds rather unctuously that they had nothing else to bother about but nyama and majani. Both remarks probably contain much truth, and this provides one good reason for trying to record native names without waiting any longer. A second good reason, if one were needed, is that some knowledge of them is an important adjunct to the teaching of biology in schools.Item The Breeding Biology of Certain East African Horn Bills (Bucerotidae).(1932-1936) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Institute AmaniAlthough the habits of hornbills have long been recognised as exceptionally interesting, little in the way of connected observations on their behaviour at the nest has been published for any species. The first concern of anyone finding a nest has nearly always been to cut down the tree or at least break open the hole. Chapin's notes on Bycanistes albotibialis (1931) and Hoesch's on Lophoceros fiavirostris lcucomelas (1934) are exceptional; but there still appear to be no records through all the stages of a hornbill's nesting without interference, conclusive if not fatal, by man. Of the three species for which I am able to put forward original observations in this paper, two of them, Bycanistes cristatus and Lophoceros deckeni, have,' so far as I can discover, not had their nesting described in any way before.Item The Breeding Biology of Certain East African Horn Bills (Bucerotidae).(1936) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research StationAlthough the habits of hornbills have long been recognized as e) exceptionally interesting, little in the way of connected observations on their behavior at the nest has been published for any species. The first concern of anyone finding a nest has nearly always been to cut down the tree or at least break open the hole. Chapin's notes on Bycanistes albotibialis (1931) and Hoesch's on Lophoceros fiavirostris lcucomelas (1934) are exceptional; but there still appear to be no records through all the stages of a pornbill's nesting without interference, conclusive if not fatal, by man. of the three species for which I am able to put forward original observations in this paper, two of them, Bycanistes cristatus and Lophoceros deckeni, have,' so far as I can discover, not had their nesting described in any way before.Item The Breeding Biology of Micropus Caffer Streubelii Hartlaub(1942) Moreau, R.E.Information on the breeding habits of the Micropodidro is comparatively scanty and unsatisfactory, doubtless because so many of their nests are in inaccessible places or are hidden in crevices. Moreover, for the family as a whole the indications are that the events at the nest follow each other at long intervals-; so that, on the one hand, the behavior at the nest is wearisome to observe, and, on the other hand, long series and long spells of observations are needed before the rhythm and behavior of a species can be worked out.Item The Climatic Background to the Problem of Potato Varieties for East Africa(1944) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research InstituteA general impression has recently been stated in somewhat exaggerated form Driver (1941): "It has always been difficult, if Not impossible to grow potatoes in tropical counties . It IS true that at low latitude potato-growing is local arid there is general dis satisfaction with yields. Especially because the potential value of the potato as a native food-crop, there is a movement to try to extend the areas in which potatoes are grown in East Africa and to improve yields by importing, Selecting and breeding varieties that are better adapted. It seems, therefore, appropriate to: examine the present production and the prospects of improvement in relation to certain climatic factors that are regarded as of cardinal importance to potato yields. So far as possible this inquiry is concerned with the direct physiological effects of climate on the potato. No one can afford to neglect the disease problems; but they tend to be world-wide, rather than peculiarly tropical, and to that extent do not demand special attention from us here.Item Clutch-size: A Comparative Study, with Special Reference to African Birds.(1944) Moreau, R.E.Most interesting problems of ecology and of evolution are raised by the differences in clutch-size (a) between different populations of a species and (b) between different species of a genus or family. Differences of the first type have received some notice, differences of the second type very little, though the basic facts are doubters much more generally realized.Item The Comparative Breeding Biology of the African Hornbills (Bucerotidre). East African Agricultural Research Station, Amani.(1937) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research StationBannerman (2) recently summarized the nesting habits of the African hornbills as follows :-" The female lays her eggs in a hollow in a tree, the male (apparently) closing up the entrance with a hard substance and leaving only a small slit through which the female can pass her bill to receive the fruits he brings her. .. While incubating the eggs the female goes through a complete moult, shedding the feathers of the wings and tail. .. Probably all the species have similar breeding habits with the possible exception of Bucorvus (the Ground Hornbill), but we require much more information before we can write with authority of their individual characteristics." Bannerman was indeed able to add nothing to the particulars given some years previously by Chapin (6), who collated more information on the subject than any other worker, but himself described it as " fragmentary."Item The Comparative Breeding Ecology of Two Species of Euplectes (Bishop Birds) in Usambara(1938) Moreau, R.E.; Moreau, W.M.; East African Agricultural Research Station, AmaniEUPLECTES NIGROVENTRIS CASSIN, the Zanzibar red bishop, and Eh hordeacea (Linn.), the crimson-crowned bishop, are weavers of the subfamily Ploceinae. On the biology of the former species nothing appears to have been recorded hitherto except the notes reproduced by Reichenow (1904) and those of Vaughan (1929), who (rightly) suspected it to be polygamous. For Euplectes hordeacea we take the work of Lack (1935) as basis and amplify only certain points. Our study is more incomplete than we should have wished because we could not make continuous observations and because of an unexpected technical difficulty. The males of both these bishop birds have a highly conspicuous red breeding dress and are at other times practically indistinguishable in the field from females and young. Both are territory-holding species dependent on grasses for their food and their nesting materials. The architecture of their nests, which are similar except in size, demands close upright vegetation. The rather restricted geographical range of E. nigroventris is wholly contained in that of E. hordeacea. The two species may often be found side by side, but in our experience there is little ecological overlap; the smaller E. nigroventrisItem The Comparative Breeding Ecology of Two Species of Euplectes (Bishop Birds) In Usambara(1938) Moreau, R.E.; Moreau, W.M.; AMANIEuplectes Nigroventris Cassin, the Zanzibar red bishop, and E.h. hordeacea (Linn.), the crimson-crowned bishop, are weavers of the subfamily Ploceinae. On the biology of the former species nothing appears to have been recorded hitherto except the notes reproduced by Reichenow (1904) and those of Vaughan (1929), who (rightly) suspected it to be polygamous. For Euplectes hordeacea we take the work of Lack (1935) as basis and amplify only certain points. Our study is more incomplete than we should have wished because we could not make continuous observations and because of an unexpected technical difficulty.Item A Contribution to the Biology of the Musophagiformes, the so-called Plantain-Eaters.(1938) Moreau, R.E.; East African Agricultural Research Station, AmaniThis paper originated in a few personal observations on Turacus fischeri. In seeking to relate them to published information on allied species, I have realized that the biology of the group, a very striking one confined to the AfricanItem A Contribution to the Biology of the Musophagiformes, the So-Called Plantain-Eaters.(1938) Moreau, R.E.; AMANI(1) The various names indicating plantain (banana) eating, by which these birds have been called, have no foundation whatever in their habits in nature. As the English name, " Turacos " is preferred for the Order as a whole. (2) The growth and habits of T. fischeri and T. persa are described from the age of about one month onwards. Young specimens of Crinifer and Corythmola are described. (3) It is a character of the Order that the young are completely clothed with (neossoptile) down; it is probable, but not proved, that they are all born with it. At the age of about four or five weeks this has been replaced as bodycovering by a dense growth of down-feathers (semi-plumes), but on the head and neck it is more or less completely shed (at the age of about two months) before any other covering is ready to take its place. The ear is, however, specially protected at this stage. The coloured contour feathers only begin to appear about the tenth week. The pre-adult wing and tail are complete about the ninth and twelfth week respectively. Evidence (from captive birds) on the date adult plumage is assumed is hopelessly divergent.Item A Contribution to The Breeding Biology of The Palm-Swift, Cypselus Parvus.(1941) Moreau, R.E.The subspecies of Cypselus parvus show differences in nestshape, nest-material and clutch size. At Amani nests of C.p. myochrous are mainly of feathers, with plant floss of several species, all stuck together with saliva. Among the feathers those from the breast of species of the pigeon family are prominent but a number of other birds have been identified as contributing. At Amani the eggs are always stuck to the nest directly they are laid (process described), a safety device entirely necessary because the nest is a vertical pad with a mere flange, narrower than the egg-length, at its lower edge.
