Table Of Content

52 Shortcommunications References Mackworth-PraedC.W.&Grant,C.H.B. 1962.AfricanHandbookofBirdsSeries2,Southern ThirdofAfrica.London:Longman. Davies,S.1991.Lilian'sLovebirdAgapornislilianaeintheMatumbiHills,Tanzania.Scopus 15: 50. BensonC.W.,Brooke,R.K.,DowsettR.J.&IrwinM.P.S. 1972.ThebirdsofZambia.London: Collins. Forshaw,J.M. &Cooper,W.T.1978.Parrotsoftheworld. Australia: LandsdownEdition. Moreau,R.E.1945Thedwarfparrots{Agapornis)ofTanganyika.TanganyikaNotesandRecords 19:23-33. N. E. Baker,Box23404,DaresSalaam, Tanzania Scopus 15: 51-52,August 1991 Received 2February 1990,revised 11 August 1991 The genusAgapornis in EastAfrica The genusAgapornis (lovebirds)is confined to theAfrotropical region, with five ofthe nine species occurring in EastAfrica, including twospeciesendemic toTanzania. Thenoticeableincreaseofferalbirdsinmanyurbanandsuburbanareasisnowposing serious threats to other hole-nesting species, while the trapping and export of many thousands oflovebirds continues on a vast scale inTanzania, with commercial airlines carrying consignment after consignment of these and other birds for the pet shops in Europe and NorthAmerica. Overthepastfortyyears,lovebirdshavebecomeextremelypopularcagebirdsandare nowafamiliarsightinpetshopsthroughouttheworld;asaresult,thislucrativetradehas become,togetherwithhabitatdestruction,amajorthreattothesurvivalofmanyspecies. With suchconditionsprevailing,itseemsappropriateatthistimetoreviewthecurrent status ofallAgapornis species occurring inEastAfrica. Fischer's LovebirdAgapornisfischeri EndemictoTanzania,occurringasalocallycommonresidentinwoodedgrasslandstothe southandeastofLakeVictoria,withitsrangecentredaroundtheSerengetiNationalPark. OtherpopulationsoccursouthtoNzegaandSingidaandeasttoBabatiandLakeManyara withwanderersreportednearArusha.ItoverlapswithA.personatainanareaimmediately southofLakeManyaratoBabati,thoughnointerbreedinghasbeenreported.Thereisno evidence thatit haseveroccurred in thewildin Kenya. Yellow-collared LovebirdAgapornispersonata EndemictoTanzania,occurringasalocallycommonresidentinAcaciathornscrub,being particularly partial to areas with scattered baobab trees. It ranges from Arusha and TarangireNationalParksouththroughDodomaandcentralareastoRuahaNationalPark andtheLakeRukwaarea,overlappingwiththeprecedingspeciesaroundthesouthernend ofLakeManyara, and Babati. Despiteapre-1920sightrecordfromTavetaontheKenya-Tanzaniaborder,thereisno evidence thatithaseveroccurred in apurelywild statein Kenya. Shortcommunications 53 Feraland hybrid lovebirds WiththetrappingandexportoflovebirdsfromTanzaniadatingbacktothe1920s(Moreau 1945),andthesubsequentreleaseandescapeofmanyincoastalcities,feralpopulations ofboth Fischer's and Yellow-collared Lovebirds have been present in Dar es Salaam, Tanga, and Mombasa forover fifty years. In addition, over the past 15-20 years many aviaryownersinbothKenyaandTanzaniafacedwithaneverincreasinghybridpopulation of Fischer's x Yellow-collared Lovebirds (which hybridize freely in captivity) have frequentlyreleasedmanyhundredsintothewild.Thompson(1989)estimatedthehybrid lovebirdpopulationintheLakeNaivashaareaofcentralKenyaalonetobemorethan6000 by 1986,whileseveralotherhybridpopulationshavealsobeenreleasedinotherareasof Kenya(Cunningham-van Someren 1975). This hasresultedin flocks ofhighly variable hybrid birds occurring in many areas, particularly around Kisumu, Molo, Nakuru, Naivasha, Nairobi, andAthi River, with wanderers occurring north to Isiolo, Meru and Embu districts, and south to Lolgorien andNamanga. Red-faced LovebirdAgapornispullaria The race ugandae is a locally common species occurring in and around forest edges, woodedgrasslandsandareasofcultivation.Itoccursrathersporadicallyovermanyareas ofwestern,centralandsouthernUganda,northwesternTanzania(southtoKigoma),and extendingeastalongthesouthern shoreofLakeVictoriatoKomeandUkereweislands. In Kenya it is a local resident in the extreme western border areas from Malaba and Malikisi south toAlupe and Busiaandextendingeastto Mungatsiin Mumias district. Black-collared LovebirdAgapornisswinderniana Theraceeminiisararelyrecordedlowlandforestspeciesparticularlyfavouringfigtrees andedges ofcultivation in the Bwambalowlands ofwesternUganda. Grey-headed LovebirdAgaporniscana This Madagascarendemic wasreported to have been introduced to Zanzibarand Mafia Islands, with someearly sightrecordsreported fromZanzibar(Pakenham 1979). How- ever,withnoevidenceofitsoccurrencetheresince1920,ontherecommendationofBaker (1990) this species has now been deleted from theEastAfrican andTanzanialists. Lilian's LovebirdAgapornislilianae Moreau(1945)mentionedreportsofthisspeciesfromwesternpartsofRufijidistrictand from around Liwale during the early 1940s. Forshaw (1973) also gave its range as including the southernmost parts ofTanzania and northwestern Mozambique; this was reiterated by Clancey (1980),possibly followingForshaw (op. cit.). Recentrecords are provided by Davies (1991) and Baker(1991). AlthoughnotadmittedtotheEastAfricanlistbyBritton(1980),therecordsofDavies and Baker(op. cit.)justify theinclusionofthe species in theTanzanian avifauna. References Baker,N.E. 1990.ThreedeletionsfromtheavifaunaofTanzania.Scopus 14: 34-35. Baker,N.E. 1991. Lilian'sLovebirdAgapornislilianaeinTanzania.Scopus 15: 51-52. Britton,P.L. (ed.) 1980.BirdsofEastAfrica.Nairobi: EANHS. Clancey,P.A. (ed.) 1980.SAOSchecklistofsouthernAfricanbirds. Pretoria: SAOS. Cunningham-vanSomeren,G.R. 1975.AgapornisfischeriReichenowin Kenya?Auk92: 370- 371. 54 Shortcommunications Daves,S.1991.Lilian'sLovebirdAgapornislilianaeintheMatumbiHills,Tanzania.Scopus15: 50. Forshaw,J.M. 1973.Parrotsoftheworld.NewYork: Doubleday. Moreau,R.E.1945.Thedwarfparrots(Agapornis)ofTanganyika.TanganyikaNotesandRecords 19:1-11. Pakenham,R.H.W. 1979.BirdsofZanzibarandPemba.BOUCheck-listNo.2.London:BOU. Thompson,J.J. 1989.Acomparisonofsomeaviancensustechniquesinapopulationoflovebirds atLakeNaivasha,Kenya.AfricanJournalofEcology27: 157-166. D.A. Turner,Box48019,Nairobi Scopus 15: 52-54,August 1991 Received 6 October 1990 First EastAfrican Nest Record fortheBar-tailed TrogonApaloderma vittatum On 16March, 1990,aBar-tailedTrogonApalodermavittatumnestwaslocatedat1554m intheImpenetrable(Bwindi)ForestofsouthwesternUganda(0°53S-1°8Sand29°35E -29° 50E).Apparently, thisis thefirstEastAfrican nestandeggrecordforthis species (Brown&Britton 1980,Fryetal. 1988).TheBar-tailedTrogonisalittle-knownspecies inhabiting mountain forests. Its populations are disjunct, although found as farwest as Bioko Island, andasfarsouth asZambia(Fryetal. 1988). TheMarchnestingdateforUgandaagreeswithFebruary-Marchlayingrecordsfrom Zaire (Prigogine 1953).Theserecordscoincidewith therainy season. Breedingrecords elsewherearescatteredacrossmanymonths(Prigogine1953,Stuart1986,Fryetal.1988). Itis, therefore, notclearwhatfactorsinfluencetheonsetofbreeding. We found the nest when a female Bar-tailed Trogon flew from the tree cavity as we passedunderit.Locatedonalittle-usedfootpathinavalley,thenesttree(Memecylonsp.) was3mfromastream.ThreekilometresinsidetheForestReserveboundary,thenestsite was on asmall peninsula(15 m across), formed by a4.7-m wide stream. Thenestwas heavily shadedbytalltreesandsurroundinghills.Theenvironmentwasdamp,darkand dominatedby mosses, lianas,epiphytesandtreeferns (Cyatheadeckenii). Middlestory treesweresparselyspaced.Theherbaceousunderstoryprovideddensegroundcovertoa heightof 1.3 m. Thenestholefacednorthwest.Itwas1.9mabovegroundinaslightlyleaningtrunk.The nesttreecircumferencewasapproximately1m.Itsknobblytrunkwascoveredwithathick layerofmossandepiphytes.Approximately90percentofthenesttreewasdeadwood. Itwas hollowfrom60cm abovegroundtojustbelow thenestfloor. Dimensionsofthe entranceholewere 17x8cm.Thefloorofthecavitywascoveredwith woodchipsand sawdust. The nest was clean, and contained no faeces. Cavity dimensions were 21 cm (from inside lip ofentrance hole to backwall) x 17 cm. The floorofthenestgradually slopedawayfromtheentrancehole(withwhichitwasnearlylevel)toadepthof3.5cm against the back wall. These cavity dimensions are considerably different from those recordedinWestAfrica(c. 40cmdiameterx 20cmdeep) (Prigogine 1953). Twoeggsrestedinasmalldepression,2cmfromthebackwall.Theyweresmooth,white andthin-shelled.Theeggswereroundedovals,slightlypointedonthenarrowend.Their