The Spotted Crake Porzana Porzanain South Central and Southern Africa
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[Price arctic migrant; no supportingrectly. data, In theother first thanplace, norhabitat, the wasdate, are it August,given accepted is unlikely byfor Winterbottom a palae sight (1968); record in mydated opinion 5 Augustcor from the Cape Province side of. the Orange River mouth. This record is not shown in Table 2 or Map 1, was trapped near Walvis territory Bay.Dixon Courtenay-Latimer(1970) was shown a captive (1963) birdgives which a he was told Durban Museum and Art Gallery, a photograph of a All records are shown on Map 1. two other records from capturedthe at Gobabeb area in in South-Westthe Africasame early in season. and1972 knew of In the same by Parnell (1964, 1965, 1967). Personal sightpublished records records fromfrom Banket,Rhodesia north-west of Salisbury, in Rhodesia, of the migratory Spotted Crake South West Africa” . PalaearcticSmithers as “ as far south as Lesotho, Potchefstroom and northern R. A. C. Jensen will be found in Table and 1 dated records from sourcesall in Table 2. the U.S. National Museum in Washington. There are subsequent McLachlan Liversidge& give(1970) thesouthern African distribution Rhodesia: a specimen taken in February near Marandellas now in VOL. X .P A R T 3 3 \ovitates DURBAN MUSEUM ) Certain distributional aspects of Map 1 should be noted. Dr. RALLIDAE) IN SOUTH-CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN AFRICA RALLIDAE)AND SOUTHERN IN SOUTH-CENTRAL . 2 THE SPOTTED THE CRAKE SPOTTED 1 0 R1,00 2 d e t a d (Scientific Officer, Durban Museum, Durban) ( nett r ISSUED BY THE DURBAN MUSEUM, DURBAN 4001, SOUTH AFRICA e h ] s i l {in litt.) b u P e h t DISTRIBUTION R. K. BROOKE y sent to Mr. P. A. Clancey, Director of b d e t PORZANA PORZANA n a et et al. by r g e c Porzana porzana (1957), give one record from n e c i l r e d n u y a ISSUED 1ST MARCH, 1974 w e t a G (L.) of the t e (AVES: n i P.porzana b a S y b d e c u d o r p e R experience of record for the Cape Province. The Savuti Swamp specimen in the recent ones for southern Africa Botswanaoutside Rhodesia.(Smithers (1964)). National These Museum ofrecords Rhodesia, seem Bulawayo,to is bethe secondthe record only for and there is no indication that the author had had any previous 44 44 Africasouthern Crake and south-central in Spotted The from the north. Other Zambian records are given serve,in in Benson a dambo near Solwezi on 12 February. The bird taken on caught by a dog in a swamp at the Lundazi/Msuzi confluence on Dr. J. M. Winterbottom its confluence with theadvises Zambezi at Feira Ntambwa(Benson in Zambia, which is from Feira on the Zambezi River as most books have it but from near Ndola, on January,1 and an unsexed bird, too damaged to pre informs me that he obtained three included in the Natal avifaunamention by Clanceyit (1964). and was on because display in it his less ownbecause he, was museum. in commonSince still withRoberts most workers,on (1940) had didforgotten notdisplay, what and was at it one time was mounted for not public display in the Transvaal explains Stark & Sclater’s (1906) commentDr. that Stoehr’s“ the South collectionAfrican to in numberStoehr & but Sclater otherwise(1906) two andfemales obtainedonelacking collectedon data. 25 February, earlier, Museum judging in This Cape 1904, Town being byhas the three onesspecimens referred collected by Dr. Stoehr: National Museum in Bulawayo were picked up dead or dying, was as Valley, near Feira, presented by Museum Dr. has Stoehr.”recently received several examples from the Zambezi Museum, Pretoria. It was not mentioned by Roberts (1940), doubt (1971). Stoehr & Sclater’s (1906) records for February, 1904, are not 13 December seemed to be exhausted and had perhaps just arrived 13 December; a male shot on a snipe shoot at the Itawa swamp, et al. et verylow down, 1 tom 3 above the substrate accordingthe toLesotho Dement’ev specimen (Murray (1913)). They travel at night and be permanent residents at Aisleby Sewage foundDam, even Bulawayo,with the aid of Rhode a dog to flush them. most Theyseasons they did notare only seem toseen for a day or two and then cannot be ) . Mr. Mr. E. L. Button, Taxidermist of the Durban Museum, kindly A specimen from Weenen in Natal was taken by Arnold in 1908, Five of the seven Rhodesian specimens of 2 1 (1969). A. N. B. Masterson 0 2 d e t a d ( r P.porzana e h s i l b u P e h or even appreciated that it was the first t y b d e t c. n km65 up the Luangwa River from a (in litt.) r g (in Utt.) e P.porzana c n e c also makes the point that in i l r that the South African e d n in Zambia: a female u y a et et al., P.porzana w e t a G 1970, p. 55). t e n i b in the a S et et al. y b d e c u d o r p e R would call them, within their sia, winterin earlyrange. 1973 (Table 1). They are itinerants, as Moreau (1972) it as more a passage migrant than a winter resident in East Africa. it is regarded as a common unobstrusivebird in a bird.the westernThe numbersparts may,of central in the Africa,fact, Soviet beno substantialestimate since of numbers to present doubtis yet possiblethat for it so occurscentral Africaregularly from Decemberin season to in early southernMay. While andthere is no south-reason Largely by trapping, a technique seldom used in southern Africa, included. of October. The southward journey maythey be slower leave than the the Sovietnorthern Union from the last third of August to the end and a bird, presumably arrival dateson in the Sovietnorthward Union varymigration, between 7 March diedand May,16 at Queen’s Africa. The Tete, Mozambique, record of Peters and Loveridge (1953) is not one since they do not reach the Zambezi until well into December. Mine, Rhodesia, on 30 April. According to Dement’ev and others 28 28 specimens were obtained in Malawi (Benson (1953)). Union (Dement’ev Records.of the Spotted Crake ) It appears from Table 2 that The return journey to the breeding grounds may be rapid since . 2 1 0 2 d e t a d ( r e h s i l et et al., loc. cit.), b u P e h t by by R. K. Brooke Porzana porzana y b d e t P.porzana n a and Backhurst r g e c n e c i from south-central to southern l is present in southern and r e d n u y et al. et a w e t (1973), regard a G t e n i b a S y b 45 d e c u d o r p e R juveniles, since it is often the case that juvenal feathers are less plete, affecting only the contour feathers and that it takes place dropped all its flight-feathers and grew a new set in the first three normal primaries. The specimens in each category are listed in between December and April. This is supported by an examinationnuptial respectively) and believe that the prenuptial moult is incom weeks of August; this being the postnuptial moult. Witherby before the adults undergostrong theirand abradepostnuptial more moult.easily than The adult corollaryfeathers and are grown normal primaries are found in would March.be that Thebirds withresulting fresh to proportionnormal primaries are of adults. Such Table 3. It would seem that the birds with worn primaries are of 26 African-taken specimens. Stresemann & Stresemann (1966) report a ringed in company with Mrs. P. Lorber saw his first Spotted Crake at the insects. A female taken at Salisbury, Rhodesia, on 24 February had had grass seeds and A gritfemale taken in at Chipata the (Fort stomach,Jameson), Zambia,and on another 3 February taken at probably breeds at one year old. (1943), distinguish a winter and a summer plumage (off-season and 46 and 15 April were markedly a duskyfat, brownwhile palate a and maleweighed taken84g. Birds in taken Malawion 11 on February Kanyezi, Dedza district, Malawi, on February26 had grass seeds and 10 juveniles to 17 adults is not unreasonable for a species which Aisleby Sewage Dam in the late afternoon of January,28 1973 (Table After over twenty years of bird study in Rhodesia the present author the palaearctic Corncrake 21 21 March had the gonads enlarging. the few places with suitable habitat left in the Bulawayo area of Rhodesia. The 1972/73 drought concentrated crakes at Aisleby, which was one of 1). 1). Other migratory crakes seen, ) . Some birds have markedly worn primaries and some fresh to 2 1 0 2 d The Spotted Crake Africasouthern in south-central and Spotted The e t a BIOLOGICAL DATA FROM SPECIMENS d ( r e P.porzana h s i BEHAVIOUR AND HABITAT l b u P e h t seen on 28 January was foraging at the y b C.crex, d MOULT e t n a viz., r are also listed in Table 1. The g e African Crake c n e c i l r e d n u y a w P.porzana e Crex egregia t a G t e n i b a which S et et al. y and b d e c u d o r p e R moved from point to point by going inside the sedges rather than by outer or waterside edge of a sedgebed: it was shy and frequently the easier route over the mud just beyond the outermost plants.