October 1992] ShortCommunications and Commentaries 923 Schnell for comments on earlier versions of this toparasitismas a problem of prey choice:A study manuscript.T.I.W. thanksJ. N.M. Smith for helpful on mudflat-feeding curlews, Numeniusarquata. adviceduring the early stagesof this study. E.J.T.'s Anim. Behav. 39:219-230. researchin Canadawas supportedby a NATO/NSF GRUBB,T. C., JR. 1977. Weather-dependent foraging PostdoctoralFellowship (RCD-8854487). in Ospreys.Auk 94:146-149. HANSEN,A. J. 1986. Fighting behavior in Bald Ea- LITERATURE CITED gles:A test of game theory. Ecology67:787-797. KNIGHT,R. L., AND S. K. SKAGEN. 1988. Agonistic ALATALO,R.V. 1982. Effectsof temperatureon for- asymmetriesand the foraging ecology of Bald aging behaviourof small forestbirds wintering Eagles.Ecology 69:1188-1194. in northern Finland. Ornis Fenn. 59:1-12. PETIT,D.R. 1989. Weather-dependentuse of habitat BILDSTEIN,K. L. 1987. Behavioralecology of Red- patchesby wintering woodland birds. J. Field tailed Hawks (Buteojamaicensis), Rough-legged Ornithol. 60:241-247. Hawks(B. lagopus),Northern Harriers(Circus cy- RYAN, B. F., B. L. JOINER,AND T. A. RYAN, JR. 1985. aneus),and AmericanKestrels (Falco sparverius) in Minitab handbook, 2nd ed. Duxbury Press,Bos- south central Ohio. Ohio Biol. Surv. Biol. Notes ton. 18:1-53. SCHNELL,G. D. 1968. Differential habitat utilization BILDSTEIN,K. L., ANDM. W. COLLOPY.1985. Escorting by winteringRough-legged and Red-tailed hawks. flight and agonistic interactionsin wintering Condor 70:373-377. Northern Harriers. Condor 87:398-401. STALMASTER,M. V., AND J. A. GESSAMAN. 1984. Eco- BROCKMANN,H. J., ANDC. J. BARNARD.1979. Klep- logical energeticsand foraging behavior of over- toparasitismin birds. Anim. Behav. 27:487-514. wintering Bald Eagles.Ecol. Monogr. 54:407-428. CLARK,R. J., AND J. G. WARD. 1974. Interspecific TEMELES,E.J. 1987. The relative importance of prey competitionin two speciesof open country rap- availabilityand intruder pressurein feeding ter- tors Circuscyaneus and Asiofiammeus. Proc. Pa. ritory size regulation by harriers, Circuscyaneus. Acad. Sci. 48:79-87. Oecologia74:286-297. DUGAN,P.J. 1982. Seasonalchanges in patchuse by TEMELES,E. J. 1990. Interspecific territoriality of a territorialGrey Plover:Weather-dependent ad- Northern Harriers: The role of kleptoparasitism. justmentsin foraging behaviour. J. Anim. Ecol. Anim. Behav. 40:361-366. 51:849-857. ENS,B. J., P. ESSELINK,AND L. ZWARTS.1990. Klep- Received4 September1991, accepted 8 March 1992. The Auk 109(4):923-928, 1992 Pterylographyof Birds-of-paradiseand the SystematicPosition of Macgregor'sBird-of-paradise (Macgregoria pulchra) MARY H. CLENCH Divisionof Gastroenterology,G-64, Department of InternalMedicine, TheUniversity of TexasMedical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555, USA Macgregor'sBird-of-paradise (Macgregoria pulchra) the treesare fruiting, the high mountainswhere Mac- is a poorly known speciesthat occurshigher in the gregorialives are difficult of accessand the birds dis- mountainsof New Guineathan any other memberof appear to unknown habitat when Dacrycarpusis not its family (Gilliard 1969,Cooper and Forshaw1977). fruiting (Beehler 1991). Macgregoriawas originally discoveredin 1896 and Becausethe speciesis little studied and rare in col- observationson itsbreeding behavior were first made lections,knowledge of the morphologyof Macgre- by Rand (1940),who locatedthe speciesin 1933and goriais limited.When Bock (1963) published a study 1938. More recently, Beehler(1983, 1991) visited its of the Paradisaeidaebased on skull morphologyand habitaton severaloccasions and reported on the spe- jaw musculature,no specimenof Macgregoriathen cies'behavior and ecology.As far as is known, Mac- existedin alcohol;Bock's only materialfor thatgenus gregoriahabitat is cloudforest and subalpineDacry- was a skull taken from a studyskin. He found that, carpus(Podocarpus) forest at the edge of alpine within the family, Macgregoriawas the only genus grasslandsbetween 2,800 and 4,000m. Althoughthe thatdid notclearly fall into eitherthe large subfamily speciesappears to be sedentary,relatively easy to ob- of typicalbirds-of-paradise (Paradisaeinae) or the small serve,and fairly commonin Dacrycarpusgroves when group (Cnemophilinae)that Bockproposed for Cne- 924 ShortCommunications and Commentaries [Auk, Vol. 109 for morphologists,one individual caughtin a net was accidentallykilled by a dog and, thus,was preserved in formalin: USNM No. 541230, an adult male from PapuaNew Guinea,Northern Province,English Peaks, 3,650 m (8ø46'S,147ø29'E); 23 July 1986;testes 3 x 2 o'o obo ram), mass 253 g, no molt. I am grateful to B. M. c• o o a o•o Beehler and to S. L. Olson of the National Museum o' a' a' o, 'a ,o •a k, of Natural History for being allowed to skin and ex- amine this and other recently obtainedmaterial. d • o'• a • ; k •x PARSDORSALIS When I publisheda study of the body pterylosis (feathertracts) of the birds-of-paradise(Clench 1985), my seriesof specimensincluded all the known genera of the family exceptMacgregoria, Lycocorax, and Drep- anornis.Drepanornis, an undoubtedmember of the Par- o• o o • • O o 'D o •O o adisaeinae,remains unavailable, but with a recently oo•o•o•oo collected specimen of Lycocorax(USNM No. 507559) and a better specimenof Loboparadisaea(a cage bird from the National ZoologicalPark; USNM No. 507321), a fairly completerecord of the body pterylosisof the • PARS PELVICA family is now available. I also thank M. LeCroy of the American Museum of Natural History, who ar- ranged to lend me a recently collectedspecimen of I Melampitta(AMNH No. 4384), a New Guinea "log- runner" that Sibleyand Ahlquist(1990) found to be Fig. 1. Diagrammaticrepresentation of Pteryla a primitive paradisaeid. Spinalisin Macgregoriapulchra. Individual feathersof In this study, I have followed the flat-skin tech- pars dorsalisare indicatedby circles,those of first nique previouslydescribed (Clench 1970, 1985),ex- row of pars pelvica as triangles. amining the underside of a skin with a binocular dissectingmicroscope (10-40x). The pterylae stud- ied and pterylographicterminology used here are the sameas in Clench (1985).In brief, the Pteryla Spinalis mophilus,Loria, and Loboparadisea.Macgregoria shared (the Dorsal Tract of Clench 1970) extends down the manyskull characterswith the cnemophfiines,but dorsal surface from the base of the skull to the uro- also had a few that were similar to the true birds-of- pygial gland. It containsthree parts:the pars inter- paradise.Bock concludedthat Macgregoriawas most scapularis(formerly, anterior element), a narrowband similarto the Cnemophilinaeand includedit in that of feathersextending down the midline of the body subfamily. from the baseof the skull to the upper back; the pars Mayr (1962)recognized the subfamilialdivisions, dorsalis(saddle), an expanded area of feathering that butalthough he wasfamiliar with Bock's(1963) study covers the back; and the pars pelvica (posterior ele- and noted that the genus might belong in the Cne- ment), a narrow band that coversthe rump. The Pter- mophilinae,he placedMacgregoria as the first genus yla Ventralis(Ventral Tract) is composedof a mirror- of the Paradisaeinaefor Peters'Check-list. Perhaps be- image double band of feathers covering the breast causeMacgregoria is large-bodied and almostsolidly and abdomen on either side of the midline. It contains black,but with orange-yelloweye wattlesand wing two parts:the pars pectoralis(flank element) and the patches,and Paradigallais alsolarge and blackwith parsabdominalis (main element). In mostpasse fines, yellow wattlesat the baseof the upper mandible, the PterylaSpinalis, especially the parsdorsalis, shows Mayr (1941)had placedthe two generabetween the more variation and, therefore, is of the greatest tax- similarlylarge but all-black Manucodia and Phonygam- onomic interest. mus in an earlier work on the New Guinea avifauna. Macgregoriais uniformly heavily featheredin the Mayrmay have been more persuaded by Macgregoria's Pteryla Spinalis. The central pars dorsaliscontains 10 outwardappearance than by itscranial characteristics. chevron-shapedrows, with a total of 158 feathers(Fig. Sincethe early 1960s,therefore, the systematicpo- 1). The featheringis closelyarranged with no sug- sition of the genushas remainedin question.Prob- gestion of a spaceor apterlure at the junction of the ably becausefurther evidence has not becomeavail- pars dorsalisand pars pelvica, which is also heavily able, mostsubsequent authors have followed Mayr's feathered.The Pteryla Ventralis hasa maximum width placement(e.g. Schodde1976). of eight feathersand the separationbetween the pars During his field studiesof Macgregoria,Beehler pectoralisand pars abdominalisis three or four rows (1983,1991) color-tagged and attachedradios to a few long;the parsabdominalis had losttoo many feathers birds to follow their daily movements.Fortunately to count. October 1992] ShortCommunications and Commentaries 925 TABLE1. Dorsal pterylosisof Paradisaeidae? Pteryla Spinalis, pars dorsalis No. specimens Taxon No. rows No. feathers Basalgap examined Cnemophilinae Loria 13 225, 254 No 2 Loboparadisea 13 245 No 2 Cnemophilus 13 -- No 2 Macgregoria 10 158 No 1 Melampitta 12 254 Yes 1 Paradisaeinae Lycocorax 8 115 Yes 1 Manucodia 8 92, 116 Yes 3 Phonygammus 7 105 Yes 1 Ptiloris 9 147 Yes 1 Semioptera 7 89 Yes 1 Seleucidis 7 97 Yes 1 Paradigalla 7 -- Yes 1 Epimachus 10 172,180 Yes 2 Astrapia 11 200,201 Yes 2 Lophorina 8 119 Yes 1 Parotia 10 142 Yes 1 Pteridophora 10 150 Yes 1 Cicinnurus