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Breeding Notes on the Phainopeplax

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Breeding Notes on the Phainopeplax Vol.•94• 60] Ra•Da•D Rm•, Breeding Notes on Phainopepla 333 SCOTT,E. D. 1888. On the avifauna of Pinal County with remarks on some birds of Pima and Gila counties, Arizona. Auk, 5: 31. STeVeNSON,J. 1935. Bird notes from Mount Pinos, California. Condor, 35: 79. Sw.•Rrl•, H. S. 1914. A distributional list of the birds of Arizona. Pacif. Coast Avifauna, No. 10: 64. 1920. Birds of the PapagoSaguaro National Monument and neighboringregion of Arizona U.S. Dept. Interior, Nat. Park Service: 55-58. T,•R, V. M. 1927. Notes on birds collected in the Virgin River Valley of Utah. Condor, 29: 196. TOWnSeND, C. H. 1887. Field-notes on the mammals, birds, and reptiles of northern California. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 10: 222. VAN ROSSEM, A. 1911. Winter birds of the Salton Sea region. Condor, 13: 129. 1936. Birds of the Charleston Mountains, Nevada. Pacif. Coast Avifauna, No. 24: 44. WOODS, R. S. 1932. Acquired food habits of somenative birds. Condor, 34: 238. WYse, L. E. 1919. Notes from southern California. Condor, 21: 172. SanDiego StateCollege SanDiego, California BREEDING NOTES ON THE PHAINOPEPLAX BY A. L. AND R. M. RAND Is Mrs. Bailey's('Birds of New Mexico,'p. 595, 1928)sketch of the breedinghabits of Phainopeplanitens, she commentson the varietyof its notes,and impliesthat its melodioussong is a con- spicuousfeature of the bird. Shegoes on to saythat the male often assumesthe dutiesof the female,building the nest and brooding the eggs,while the femaleflies about with her sistersawaiting the time to care for their young. Crouch (Abstractsof Dissertations,University Chronicles Series, Universityof SouthernCalifornia Press, Los Angeles, 1939), in a sum- maryof hiswork on the Phainopeplain California,says that the song of the male is somewhatsubdued and is heard chieflyduring the establishmentof territory,acquisition of a mate,and nestbuilding. z Contributionfrom the ArchboldExpeditions of the AmericanMuseum of Natural History, New York Cit},. 334 RA•DA•D I•ND, BreedingNotes on Phainopcpla I.['Auk July He also saysthat the male may start severalfalse or 'dummy' nests and that these are torn down and used in the construction of the real nest, built largely by the male. Later he saysthat male and female sharethe dutiesof incubationbut that after the younghatch the male shows less interest in the nest. Our observationson this species,made during the courseof other work, near Tucson, Arizona, during the period February to June, 1940, indicated a somewhatdifferent pattern of behavior than that presentedin these two somewhatcontradictory accounts. Part of thesedifferences may perhapsbe due to geographicalvariation in habits. SomePhainopeplas apparently spend the winter in the Tucson area (Swarth,Pacific CoastAvifauna, no. 10: 64, 1914). The first we saw, shortly after our arrival, was a male on February 8; the next recordwas of a party of four'males and two femaleson February 12. By February16, the birdsWere fairly common,and ten or twelve dayslater the malesappeared to have establishedterritories. About March 12, there was another influx of birds into the area, and twelve days or so later these, too, had spread out over the country and occupiedterritories. The first nest was found in constructionon February 27, the first egg was laid in it on March 3; nestsin constructionwere found through March, April and May, with concentrationabout the first part and the end of March. The last occupiednest seenwas one which the youngbirds left on June 12. Perhapssome of the later nestswere secondnests. By the latter part of May, bandsof adult and young birds were moving about over the country. Male birds appearedto predominategreatly until late May, when the young birds, resemblingfemales, appeared. Some observationsrecorded below indicatethat the femalesare more retiring than the malesand the discrepancyin the sexratio may be more apparentthan real. The cottonwoodgroves along the washes,and the mesquitethickets were favoritehabitats, the former being preferred. Here the Phain- opepla'sfavorite food, mistletoeberries, occurred in abundance,and here they nested. The nestsin mesquiteand cottonwood,varying from five to fifty feet above the ground, were typical structures (seeCrouch, 1939). Most of the following observationswere made at about fifteen ter- ritories; casual observations were made at a number more. As Crouchhas recorded,the Phainopeplaestablishes a territory. It may be small, as somenests were no more than 25 yardsapart. Vol.•943 60'] .• RANDAND RAND, Breeding Notes on Phainopepla 335 The Phainopeplagets much food outsideof its territory, even when there is abundant food within it. Our observations indicate that the male advertiseshimself by making himself conspicuousto the eye rather than by singing. From birds that quickly securedmates we heard no singing,and it wasonly from malesthat for someweeks had failed to secure mates that we heard the rather forced, deliber- ately phrasedsong, and then only occasionally.The unmatedmales spent much time on conspicuousperches in their territories,fre- quently flying sharply upward, swingingabout, and flying back to their perches,displaying their white wing-patches,which contrast with their black plumage. Someof theseflights may have been to catchinsects, as they have been frequentlyinterpreted, and sometimes thesebirds do take insectson the wing, but mostof the flightsat this time appearedto be for display. Females flying over an occupied territory were frequently pur- sued by the male. Crouch intimates that the male is defendinghis territory againstthese females. It seemedto us that the male, on these occasions,was attempting to induce the female to take part in a courtshipflight. Sometimesthe femalejoined the male in such a courtshipflight; togetherthey rosesharply, the male followingthe female,in a patternof circlesover the territorywhich lastedfor a half-minuteor more. There wasno quality of actual hurried chase; it looked more like an a•rial dance. These display flights were continuedbetween mated pairs until incubation started, but the female did not necessarilyaccept the male or the territory after havingjoined the male in sucha flight. At one territorythe female flew directly away after sucha flight, and though the male stayed in the vicinityfor the restof the dayand evenworked at a nestthere, this territory was abandoned. The males started nest building before they securedmates. Fre- quently a building male made high circular flightsto the nest with material, apparently to advertisehimself. On severaloccasions we saw a female follow such a building male to his nest. On one oc- casionthe femalewas driven away from the nestby anotherfemale, presumablythe male'smate. A male often made rapid trips to the nest while without a mate; one suchmale made thirty trips in an hour and could have made more, for the material he was using, the silk of tent caterpillars, wasabundant and closeat hand, and the male frequentlypaused and sat quietly for a few momentsnearby. Sometimesa male made cir- cular flightsout from the nest. The amountof materialcarried each 336 •,ND AND10•D, Breeding Notes on Phainopepla L[Auk July time by building birds was usually very small, often only a few strandsof tent-caterpillarsilk, and it was usuallydifficult to be sure they were carrying anything. Sometimesa female was in the terri- tory unobserveduntil the male flew to her. Once we saw a male, building alone,fly to a femalewe had not observed,and apparently offer her the building material he had in his bill. She openedher bill and quivered her wings; the male then carried the material to the nest. The femalepaid him no further attentionand shortlyflew away. One other time we saw a male, building alone, interrupt his building to fly to a female which we had not observedperched low in denseshrubbery, and feed her by regurgitation. The femaletook no interest in the subsequentnest building of the male and soon leftl This maledefinitely remained unmated for someweeks. When a female joined a male on his territory, there were some- timesmany flights in which both took part; sometimesthere were few. The nestwas built chieflyby the male, but the female aided in its completion. Sometimesshe made trips independentof the male; sometimeshe flew to the nest from a nearbyperch as shecame to it. Once, at least,we saw a female carry material to the nest. At one nest, between9:20 and 10:20 A.M., the day before the first egg was laid, the male made ten trips to the nest, sometimeswith material we could see,and each trip he sat in the nest,moulding it and work- ing at the rim. During this time the female made but one trip to the nest; whether or not she carried material we could not see, but shesat on the nest,moulding it and working at it with her bill. Sometimesduring this period the male flew to the female,which was sitting quietly on a conspicuousperch, and fed her berriesby regurgitation. Once a male fed a female in such a situation three berriesin succession,the femaleholding her mouth open for the last two, but not quiveringher Wings;both birds were silent and then sat quietly. Another time, two days before the first egg was laid by the female of a pair, the male flew to,her and perchedon her back, attemptingcopulation while he flutteredhis wings. The fe- male did not respond,remaining quiet. The male then perched besideher, and three timesregurgitated a berry, each of which he placedin her openbill; sheheld her bill openfor the last two. The femaleremained silent, while the male soonflew awayto the nest. The previousday the malewas seen twice to fly to the female,alight on her back,and attemptcopulation, without offeringher berries. Lack (Auk, 57: 169-178,1940) does not mentioncourtship feeding in the Ptilogonatidae,though Crouch has recordedit. VoL6o' I RA•D• R•, BreedingNotes on Phainopepla 337 •945 a Frequently a male, perchingsilently in conspicuousplaces, nest building and giving display flights,did not securea mate, though passingfemales were pursued,sometimes stopped and indulged in a displayflight with him, visitedhis nest,and werefed by him.
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