British VOLUME 87 NUMBER 6 JUNE 1994

Asian Brown Flycatcher, Mugimaki Flycatcher t and Pallas's Rosefinch

Three recent decisions of the British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee

David T. Parkin and Ken D. Shaw, on behalf of the BOURC

he 19th and 20th Reports of the British Ornithologists' Union Records T Committee (1993, 1994) included details of several changes to the British & Irish List. Among these are decisions relating to observations of Asian Brown Flycatcher Mnscicapa dauurica, Mugimaki Flycatcher mugimaki and Pallas's Rosefinch Carpodacus roseus in Britain. These three species would seem to be candidates for natural vagrancy to Britain, but the records were not accepted onto the British & Irish List. The reasons are discussed here.

[Brit. Birds 87: 247-252, June 1994] 247 248 Asian Brown Flycatcher, Mugmiaki Flycatcher and Pallas's Rosefinch Asian Brown Flycatcher On 1 st July 1992, P. V. Harvey found an Asian Brown Flycatcher in the Plantation during his early-morning trap round on Fair Isle, Shetland. The was trapped and photographed {Brit. Birds 85: plate 297), and during the next few days was seen by many observers. The record was received by the BBRC on 20th November 1992, and the identification was accepted unanimously. In March 1993, the record was passed to the BOURG, and again the identification was accepted. Categorisation proved more difficult. After considerable study, the Committee decided that the species should be placed in Category Dl, which forms an appendix to the British & Irish List. The nominate race of Asian Brown Flycatcher breeds in southern and eastern from the Yenesei Valley and Mongolia east to Amurland, the southern shore of the Sea of Okhotsk, Manchuria, northern Korea, Sakhalin, Japan and the Kurils. There arc disjunct populations in India in the foothills of the Himalayas from Chamba to Nepal and Bhutan, the Vindhya Range and the southern part of the Western Ghats, and in the mountains of southern . It winters from India cast, to southern China, soudi to Sri Lanka, and (rarely) the . When assessing the origin of potential vagrants to Britain, the Records Committee examines a variety of information. Sometimes it is established beyond reasonable doubt that the individuals concerned were genuine vagrants or obvious escapes, but often the evidence is ambiguous. Then die decision is based on a balance of the likelihood of natural vagrancy against the likelihood of escape. In deciding this, the Committee follows established working practices and guidelines, and aims for a consistent approach. Two main factors have recently shifted the balance of this equation. One has been a reassessment of the occurrence patterns of the rarest vagrants from and North America (Parkin & Knox in press). The other is recent changes in our knowledge of the cage-bird trade, including information from the Continent, from where many escaped birds are known to originate. The cage-bird problem has altered significandy in the last five or six years, since the opening of a huge market in birds from China and, more recendy, from the countries of the former USSR. The variety of potential vagrants that is now available has increased dramatically. As a consequence, the Committee has adopted a more cautious approach to the assessment of records of such birds. The Fair Isle Asian Brown Flycatcher was first seen on 1st July. As such, it does not conform to the existing, albeit limited, pattern of occurrence of the species in western Europe: the three previously accepted records were all in August and September (Denmark, September 1959, Christensen 1960; Germany, August. 1982, Fleet 1982; Sweden, September 1986. Hirschfeld 1987). There is also a clear pattern of autumn occurrence for almost all of the rarest Siberian insectivorous vagrants to Britain and Ireland (Parkin & Knox in press). So clear is this pattern that, whereas a first-year Asian Brown Flycatcher in autumn would be regarded as a 'possible' candidate for natural vagrancy to Britain and Ireland, at any other time of year it is distinctly less likely. Asian Brown Flycatcher, Mugimaki Flycatcher and Pallas's Rosefinch 249 Flycatchers from the eastern Palearctic are becoming increasingly common in captivity. Recently there have been Verditer M. thalassina and Ferruginous M. ferrugjmea (= mfiiatd) (both congeneric with Asian Brown), Slaty-blue F. tricolor, Snowy-browed F. hyperythra, Orange-gorgetted F. strophiata, Red- breasted F. parva, Mugimaki, Yellow-rumped F. zanthopygia and Narcissus F. narcissina, amongst others. The males of most of these species are brightly coloured and relatively easy to distinguish, but many drab flycatchers are sold unidentified. Although the Committee is not aware of any Asian Brown Flycatchers having been advertised or imported into Britain since 1970, the availability of related species combined with the difficulty of identification make it very likely that this species also occurs in captivity. This view is also shared by colleagues on the Continent. After much deliberation over the timing of this record and the escape potential, the Committee decided to place Asian Brown Flycatcher in Category Dl pending further evidence of natural vagrancy and the situation in captivity. The Committee would welcome information on either subject.

Mugimaki Flycatcher On 16th and 17th November 1991, a first-winter male Mugimaki Flycatcher was present at Stone Creek, Humberside. The bird was found and identified by R. T. Parrish, J. Ward, G. J. Speight, S. Exley and J. M. Turton. The record started circulation of the BBRC on 13th August 1992 and was accepted unanimously. The BOURC began consideration on 20di February 1993 and identification was again accepted unanimously. After lengthy discussion, this species, too, was placed in Category Dl, and not added to the British & Irish list. The Mugimaki Flycatcher breeds in Russia from the northeast Altai eastwards through Transbaikalia to the Sea of Okhotsk, lower Amur, Ussuriland, Sakhalin and Japan. It migrates through Korea, Japan, eastern China and to winter in Indochina, Malaysia and western Indonesia. It has been recorded in winter from southern China, Hong Kong, eastern Indonesia and the Philippines, but its status in these areas is poorly known. It is a vagrant to the Aleutians. There are no accepted records from western Europe. One in Treviso, Italy, on 29th October 1957 was not admitted to the Italian List. This species has a very similar breeding range to Pallas's Leaf Warbler Phylbscopus proregulus, and it is also a long-distance migrant. Although it is expanding its breeding range westwards (Rogacheva 1992), there is no pattern of westward vagrancy, even within Siberia. Mugimaki Flycatchers leave their Siberian breeding grounds earlier than Pallas's Leaf Warbler (Rogacheva 1992). While the weather at the time was favourable, the Stone Creek bird was recorded after all of the 29 Pallas's Leaf Warblers that were seen in Britain in 1991, and a full 20 days after the peak arrival of that species on 27th October (Evans 1992, 1993). Mugimaki Flycatcher has been imported into Britain regularly in recent years. For example, 16 in 1986 from China via Germany, seven in 1989 from the Netherlands, and ten in 1990 from China (MAFF 1990, 1992a; WCMC 1993). The present individual was in its first winter, but this does not rule out 250 Asian Brown Flycatcher, Mugimaki Flycatcher and Pallas's Rose/inch a captive origin, as birds trapped in China are said to arrive in Europe within a week or so of capture. The suggestion that 'very few consignments of any wild birds' were imported in the autumn of 1991 because of the anti-trade campaign (Gantlett 1991) is not substantiated by the facts. The number was still high: 130,000, compared with 185,000 in 1989 and 176,000 in 1990 (MAFF 1990, 1992a, 1992b). The 1991 total includes 153 unidentified flycatchers, including birds from China (46), Indonesia (57), Malaysia (50), and 18,246 unidentified 'finches' and 'softbills'. Import statistics are believed to represent only a proportion of the trade in foreign birds, and take no account of the trade on the Continent, where birds may also escape. The birdkeepers' newspaper Cage and Aviary Birds has been scrutinised by the BOURC since 1975. Mugimaki Flycatcher was first advertised on 23rd September 1989, and several further advertisements appeared in 1990. The Committee considered that the extraordinary coincidence of the Humbersidc individual's occurrence, so soon after the species was first advertised for sale in Britain, gave rise to serious doubts about its origin. As with the Asian Brown Flycatcher, the Committee agreed to place Mugimaki Flycatcher in Category D1, pending further information on patterns of natural vagrancy and the situation in captivity. The Committee would welcome further information on cither subject.

Pallas's Rosefinch A Pallas's Rosefinch was present on North Ronaldsay, Orkney, from 2nd June to 14th July 1988. It was found by P.J. Donnelly, J. B. Ribbands and Dr K. F. Woodbridge, and was subsequently seen by many observers. It was trapped on 5th, 7th and 12th June and 13th July, and photographed (Brit. Birds 81: plate 265). The record started circulation with the BBRC in January 1989, and the identification was unanimously accepted. It began its circulation around the BOURC in November 1992, and again identification was accepted unanimously. After much discussion, the BOURC decided not to admit this species to any category; this decision was based upon three main considerations. There was no dispute about the specific identity of the bird; it was trapped and photographed and, together with the biometric data, there was sufficient evidence to eliminate alternative species. Ageing and sexing were rather more of a problem, but, on general plumage features, it was either a first-year male or an adult female. Although Svensson (1992) did not give tail-feather shape as an ageing character for species in the genus Carpodacus, examination of skins at the Natural History Museum at Tring led Dr Alan Knox to conclude that the tail feathers are narrower and more pointed on first-years. Since the Orkney individual had broad, rounded tail feathers, this suggested that it was an adult female. When the bird was first caught, however, its tail feathers were fresh and unworn. The four longest primaries were slightly faded and were broken at the tips. The combination of unworn tail and broken wing tips was curious, for the tails of most Pallas's Rosefinchcs collected in midsummer arc quite worn. Svensson (1992) reported that C. roseus has a complete summer moult and, on 13th July 1988, a month after arrival, the bird was trapped again and Asian Brown Flycatcher, Mugimaki Flycatcher and Pallas's Rose/inch 251 was found to be in heavy moult, invoking wing, tail and body feathers. This is a cause for concern with this record: why should a wild bird show such a lack of abrasion to the tail at a time of year when it is about to commence its moult? A possible scenario is that it was a one-year-old bird that had recently replaced its tail. Although wild birds can completely lose their tails for a variety of reasons (e.g. because of cats or raptors), this is probably more common in captivity, particularly during handling associated with trade or importation. In any event, this aberrant plumage is a cause for concern. A second point counting against a natural origin is the date of occurrence and the length of stay. Pallas's Rosefinch breeds in the mountains of central and eastern Siberia (Vaurie 1959; Flint et al. 1984). It is a short-distance migrant, leaving the breeding areas late in the year (November/December), returning in March/April. These dates are different from those of more 'typical' long-distance vagrants from Siberia. In the BOURC discussion, Ian Dawson showed that seven earlier (prc- 1940) records of Pallas's Rosefinch, from Hungary, Switzerland, the Ukraine and European Russia, were all in November/December. Three of the four recent European records (including this one) have been outside this migratory window. Despite the smallness of the sample size, this difference is statistically significant (/K0.03), suggesting that older and recent records may be genuinely different in character. The recent non-British records cither have been rejected or are under review. Thirdly, there is an increasing pattern of importation of this species into western Europe. Fifty were reported to the Department of the Environment as being brought into Britain in 1985 (WCMG 1993), and over 40 were reported to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1988 (MAFF 1989). These figures inevitably underestimate the true situation. The species has been bred in captivity on the Continent since 1983, and is now very cheap. Pallas's Rosefinches were on sale for £40 per pair at the 1993 National Cage & Aviary Birds Exhibition, and prices have fallen since (Knox 1994). Pallas's Rosefinch and Long-tailed Rosefinch Uragus sibiricus are now among the commonest non-native Palearctic finches in captivity in Britain. The combination of a short-distance migrant with an arrival in summer and a six-week stay, an increasingly common commercial import, and the unusual state of die plumage led the BOURC to recommend that the species should not be admitted to any category of the British List.

Finally . . . The opening of the Chinese bird-market several years ago has resulted in many more species that arc potential vagrants to Britain turning up in cargoes here, and subsequently escaping. The situation has been made worse by the economic collapse of the former Soviet Union, and bird imports from there, too. As a result of this, the number of eastern birds in captivity in Europe is increasing all the time. For example, at the 1993 meeting of the Association of European Rarities Committees on Heligoland, it was reported that a single importer in the Low Countries possessed about 30,000 east Palearctic in (and around!) his aviaries. The list of Palearctic species in trade is considerable, and this is making the job of the BOURC more difficult (see, for 252 Asian Brown Flycatcher, AlugimaM Flycatcher and Palks's Rosefinch example, Knox 1994), for almost any species in captivity will eventually escape. Species are added to Category D when there is reasonable doubt that they have ever occurred in a wild state, and this is very much a 'holding' category. The status of both of the flycatchers will be reviewed as and when further information becomes available.

Acknowledgments We are grateful to Paui Harvey and Kevin Woodbridge for commenting upon this note, although they may not agree with its contents. We thank our colleagues on the BOURC for their helpful advice, and Peter Arctander, Rolf de By and Erling Jirle for information regarding the status of three recent Continental records of Pallas's Rosefinch.

References BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. 1993. Records Committee: 19th Report. Ibis 135: 493-499. 1994. Records Committee: 20th Report. Ibis 136: 253-256. CHRISTENSEN, N. H. 1960. Bam Fluesnapper (Muscicapa latirostris Raffles) ved Blavand efterar 1959. Dtmsk Om. Form. Tidsskr. 54: 36-40. EVANS, L. G. R. 1992. Rare Birds in Britain 1991. (Privately published) - 1993. Rare Birds in Britain 1992. (Privately published) FLEET, D. 1982. Brown Flycatcher in BRD in August 1982. Dutch Birding 4: 97-98. FLINT, V. E., BOEHME, R. L., KOSTIN, Y. V„ & KUZNETSOV, A. A. 1984. A Field Guide to the Birds of the USSR. Princeton. GANTUHT, S.J. M. 1991. [Comments on Mugimaki Flycatcher.] Birding World4: 393-395. HIRSCHFELL), E. 1987. Sallsynta faglar i Sveiige 1986. Var Fagebdrld 46: 441-456. KNOX, A. G. 1994. Vagrants on the cheap. Birdwatch (June): 40-41. MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES & FOOD (MAFF). 1989. Importation of Birds, Mortality Statistics from Quarantine Returns. Tear ended 1988. Surbiton. 1990. Importation of Birds, Mortality Statistics from Quarantine Returns. Year ended 1989. Surbiton. 1992a. Importation of Birds, Mortality Statistics from Quarantine Returns. Tear ended 1990. Surbiton. 1992b. Importation of Birds, Mortality Statistics from Quarantine Returns. Year ended 1991. Surbiton, PARKIN, D. T., & KNOX, A. G. In press. Occurrence patterns of rare passerines in Britain and Ireland. Brit. Birds. ROGACHEVA, H. 1992. The Birds of Central Siberia. Husum. SVENSSON, L. 1992. Identification Guide to European Passerines. 4th edn. Stockholm. VAIIRIE, C. 1959. The Birds of the Palaearctic Fauna. Passeriformes. London. WORLD CONSERVATION MONITORING CENTRE (WCMC). 1993. Rwiem of UK Imports ofMon-CITES Fauna from 1980-1991. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.

Dr David T. Parkin, Department of Genetics, School of Medicine, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham MG7 2UH Ken D. Shaw, 4 Headland Court, Newkmhill, near Stonehaven AB3 2SF