AUS1RALIAN 250 PALMER WATCHER

I thank James Fitzsimons, Sarah Palmer, Stephen Debus, Julia Hurley and Andrew Ley for helpful comments on a draft.

References Debus, S. (1998), The of Prey of : A Field Guide, Oxford University Press, Melbourne. Marchant, S. & Higgins, P.J. (Eds) (1993), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, vol. 2, Oxford University Press, Melbourne. Olsen, P. (1995), Australian Birds of Prey, University of Press, Sydney. Pruett-Jones, S.G., White, C.M. & Devine, W.R. (1981), 'Breeding of the Peregrine Falcon in Victoria, Australia', Emu 80 Supplement, 253-269. Schrader, N.W. (1974), 'Co-operation in catching of rrey', Australian Bird Watcher 5, 278. Walsh, B.P. (1978), 'Observations on Peregrine Falcons m Werribee Gorge, Victoria',Australian Bird Watcher 7, 137-142. GRANT C. PALMER, Landscape Ecology Research Group, School of Ecology and Environment, Deakin University,221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125. Received 17 June 2002 •

Wild Hybrid Population of haematodus moluccanus X Glossopsitta concinna on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

Between 24 and 27 January 2001 and between 25 and 27 January 2002, I made several observations of up to 30 lorikeets which appeared to be Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus X Musk Lorikeet Glossopsitta concinna hybrids at Port Hughes (34°53'S, 137°32'E) on the western coast of Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. The surrounding countryside and much of Yorke Peninsula is extensively cleared for wheat and barley cropping, with only 5% of the native mallee vegetation remaining. This remnant native vegetation is degraded and restricted to roadside corridors, with small remnants on private properties and country-town commons (Wigan & Malcom 1988). The hybrids were restricted to the urban habitat of gardens in the streets of Port Hughes (pers. obs.), which consists primarily of introduced and non­ indigenous Australian native vegetation, particularly profusely flowering eucalypts. An investigation of the streets of Port Hughes revealed that the majority of the lorikeets there appeared to be hybrids of Rainbow Lorikeet X Musk Lorikeet. Over the three days of observations in January 2002, up to 30 of these hybrids, one pair of Rainbow Lorikeets, and up to five Musk Lorikeets were observed. Rainbow Lorikeets were more common the previous year. The plumage of the hybrids was variable, but was generally redder than usual in Rainbow or Musk Lorikeets, and this was particularly noticeable in flight. The VOL. 19 (8) Wild Hybrid Rainbow DECEMBER2002 X Musk Lorikeets 251 hybrids usually exhibited red, orange or yellow where these colours appear in the plumage of both Rainbow and Musk Lorikeets (Plate 58). Erythrism or xanthochroism was not evident in hybrid . As with other hybrids (Leggett & Woodall1987), these hybrids were intermediate in size between the presumed parent species, and their vocalisation was intermediate between the calls of the Musk Lorikeet and the Rainbow Lorikeet. A detailed description of the plumage of the hybrids is as follows: frontal band, ear-coverts and bill red; cere black; throat variable dark blue; cheeks navy blue; crown variable light to navy blue; nape green to lime-green, sometimes suffused with orange; breast variable: orange, yellow or lime margined with green; breast-band variable, narrow, orange; belly and vent always uniform green; undertail feathers green with variable amount of orange, and each outer tail­ feather had a yellow b;tse. In contrast with these 'typical' intermediate-type hybrids, however, some birds approached Rainbow Lorikeets in size and had a more uniform blue on the head, throat and cheek-patches, had a minimal red frontal band, and were obviously longer tailed. The calls of these 'Rainbow Lorikeet-like' hybrids more closely resembled those of the Rainbow Lorikeet than of the Musk Lorikeet. Such variability amongst these hybrid Rainbow X Musk Lorikeets, however, does not prove that any Rainbow Lorikeets had produced any offspring from matings with the Rainbow X Musk Lorikeet hybrids. Leggett & Woodall (1987) also described two types of hybrids, in that case type 'X and type 'B' hybrids from Rainbow Lorikeet X Scaly-breasted Lorikeet Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus. The behaviour of all the hybrid Rainbow X Musk Lorikeets observed at Port Hughes was typical of lorikeets in the area: they displayed strong pair-bonding when roosting during the heat of the day and even when in mixed flocks with Rainbow Lorikeets. Both 'typical' intermediate-type hybrids and those hybrids that more closely resembled Rainbow Lorikeets formed pair-bonds with their own type. No pair-bonding was observed between either a Musk Lorikeet and a Rainbow Lorikeet or between a hybrid and a Musk or a Rainbow Lorikeet. The fertility of the hybrids is not known. On 26 January 2002, an adult Rainbow Lorikeet was observed feeding a juvenile hybrid. The other parent was not observed. The juvenile was recognised by its begging calls and bone-coloured bill (Higgins 1999). The description of this juvenile is as follows: head, lores and upper cheeks blue; ear-coverts red; lower cheeks green, nape lime-green; breast yellow, heavily suffused with green, and lower breast-band suffused with orange; belly and vent uniform green; underwing-coverts yellow with orange and green, and underwing-bar yellow. The observation of this juvenile hybrid being fed by an adult of one of the full species suggests that the Port Hughes population was not being sustained by release of hybrids from aviaries. Interspecific hybridisation in the family Psittacidae is not unusual (Ford 1987), particularly amongst aviary birds, but hybridisation in the wild is rare (Cooper 1962). There is no documented hybridisation between Musk and Rainbow Lorikeets in the wild, although hybridisation between these lorikeets in aviaries has been reported (Prestwich 1951 cited by Gray 1958, Forshaw & Cooper 1981). Rainbow Lorikeets and Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, however, have been recorded hybridising in the wild (Gray 1958, Forshaw & Cooper 1981, Leggett AUSTRALIAN 252 DONATO BIRD WATCHER

& Woodall 1987), and in aviculture Rainbow Lorikeets Trichoglossus haematodus moluccanus have hybridised with Rainbow Lorikeets of other subspecies (Forshaw & Cooper 1981). Yorke Peninsula has mobile and fluctuating populations of Purple-crowned Lorikeets Glossopsitta porphyrocephala (pers. obs. ), but Rainbow Lorikeets and, to a lesser extent, Musk Lorikeets are more restricted in their distribution (pers. obs.), being absent from much of Yorke Peninsula except for the extreme south and, increasingly, the towns of Port Hughes and Moonta (Blakers et al. 1984, Barrett et al. 2002). Musk and Rainbow Lorikeets are thus effectively isolated from other populations of these species in the vicinity of Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills and southern Yorke and Eyre Peninsulas by fragmented native vegetation and the gulfs of South Australia. Over the last 20 years, expansion of Port Hughes and proliferation there of private gardens with flowering native plants have, however, increased the habitat suitable for lorikeets. Yorke Peninsula is at the western extremity of the distribution of both Rainbow and Musk Lorikeets in eastern Australia. Here their small population size restricts the choice of mates (Ford 1987), and isolation from other populations by inhospitable habitat minimises the influx of individuals of both species. Its reproductively isolated (Cannon 1984, Ford 1987) population of Rainbow Lorikeets appears, therefore, to have hybridised with extant Musk Lorikeets. Such hybrid populations are maintained initially by low gene flow and low population densities (Barton 1980). Long-term survival of a hybrid population is unlikely, however, because of an eventual swamping effect (Lambert et al. 1984), in the present case by the expansion of range and numbers of the Rainbow Lorikeet. If hybrids are less fit than their parents, they will ultimately be eliminated by natural selection, although even if they are infertile they will persist in the short term because of the limited mate choice (Ford 1987), in this case for Rainbow Lorikeets.

Acknowledgements I am grateful to Peter Wilkins, Roger Potts and an anonymous referee for connnents on the manuscript. I also thank Greg Smith for conducting follow-up field observations and connnenting on the hybrid plumage.

References Barrett, G., Silcocks, A., Barry, S., Cunningham, R. & Poulter, R. (2002), The Atlas of Australian Birds (1998-2001), Environment Australia Natural Heritage 'frust Fund, Birds Australia, Melbourne. Blakers, M., Davies, S.J.J.F. & Reilly, P.N. (1984), The Atlas of Australian Birds, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne. Barton, N.H. (1980), 'The hybrid sink effect', Heredity 44, 277-278. Cannon, C.E. (1984), 'Rosellas, Platycercus spp., and their hybrids in eastern Queensland­ New South Wales region', Australian Zoologist 21, 175-183. Cooper, R.P. (1962), 'Hybridizing of Rainbow X Scaly-breasted Lorikeets in bush and aviary', Emu 62, 212-213. Ford, J. (1987), 'Hybrid zones in Australian birds', Emu 87, 158-178. Forshaw, J.M & Cooper, W.T. (1981), 'Australian Parrots', 2nd edn, Lansdowne, Melbourne. Gray A.P. (1958), 'Bird Hybrids, A Check-list with Bibliography', Thchnical Communication 13, Connnunication Bureau of Breeding & Genetics, Edinburgh. Higgins, P.J.JEd.) (1999), Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic Birds, vol. 4, Oxford niversity Press, Melbourne. VOL.19 (8) Wild Hybrid Rainbow DECEMBER 2002 X Musk Lorikeets 253

Hybrid Rainbow X MuskLorikeets, Yorke Penisola, S.A.: above-a hybrid (on left) with a Rainbow Lorikeet; below-a pair of hybrids. Plate 58 Photos: Lynda Hale AUS1RALIAN 254 DONATO BIRD WATCHER

Lambert, D.M., Centner, M.R. & Paterson, H.E.H. (1984), 'Simulation of the conditions necessary for the evolution of species by reinforcement', South African Journal of Science 80, 308-311. Leggett, R. & Woodall, P.F. (1987), 'Hybrid Scaly-breasted X Rainbow Lorikeets' Australian Bird Watcher 12, 122-126. Prestwich A.A. (1951), Records of Parrots Bred in Captivity. Part 1 (Lories and Lorikeets), London. Tzaros, C.L. (1993), 'Notes on the breeding behaviour of the red variety of the Eastern Rosella', Australian Bird Watcher 15, 137-142. Wigan, A. & Malcom, I. (1988), Roadside Vegetation Management Plan, Report to Yorke Peninsula Roadside Vegetation Steering Group, Native Vegetation Authority, Department of Environment & Planning, Adelaide. DAVID DONATO, 39 Allwright Street, Darwin, Northern Territory 0810 Received 24 May 2002 •

Review- Magpie Alert: Learning to Live with a Wild Neighbour by Darryl Jones. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, 2002. Soft cover, pp. 157, 17.5 X 24 em. $30. This is a book about one of our best known-and, usually, best regarded­ birds, the Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen. More particularly, it concerns the problems created, and their possible solutions, when some individual Magpies tum into misanthropes during the breeding season. However, it is also about us, since we are the other side of the Magpie-human equation. The first thing that impressed me in the book was the reality of the problem. I had regarded swooping Magpies as a bit of a lark, having never actually been touched by one (although I was aware from experience of the difficulty of retaining one's composure when being harassed from the rear by a bill-clicking aerial savage). Throw in a bit of Schadenfreude-I plead guilty to being sometimes amused when watching, from a safe vantage point, others being swooped-and I would definitely have been one of those mentioned in the Preface who regard Magpie attacks as trivial and humorous. But I was brought up short by this (p. 30): The attack begins unexpectedly, with the magpie landing on the ground a few metres in front of its unsuspecting victim. The sudden appearance of the bird, now standing in the path and looking directly at the person, is quite disconcerting and possibly intriguing: What is this magpie up to? The answer usually comes dramatically and shockingly fast: it has been focusing on the victim in order to launch itself directly at the face. In some cases, the bird flies straight towards the head, plants its extremely sharp claws into the chest, and immediately starts stabbing rapidly and repeatedly at the eyes. Have no doubt: this is an experience that the victim will remember for life. I can believe it, but fortunately for us and our children attacks such as this are rare. In spite of the widespread occurrence of Magpie attacks-most Australians have personal experience of them at some time during their lives-the problem had been little studied until Darryl Jones and his Suburban Wildlife Research