AUTUMN MIGRATION OF QUAIL COTURNIX COTURNIX AT THE NORTH COAST OF THE SINAI PENINSULA

Autumn migration of Quail was studied on the northern coast of Sinai in 1972 and 1973. Arab Quail nets were used to catch totals of 4863 and 1823 in the two years, respectively. Of 1761 Quail ringed in 1973, 0–4% have been recovered from the extensive area predicted by earlier ringing results. Quail started to enter nets 10 min after first light, and continued to do so until 0800–0900 h, local time. The quantity netted per day varied greatly, producing waves of migration which were inversely correlated with the barometric pressure over Europe prior to the arrival of each wave. Each of the arriving waves was apparently a discrete (group of) populations) from one area. The very close similarities in the arrival dates of each wave for both the 1972 and 1973 passages has been interpreted as showing that the timing of autumn migration in Quail is mainly dependent on exteroreceptive time–setters and/or biological clocks. Sex and age ratios of each day's catch varied greatly and were related to the rise and fall in numbers of Quail arriving each day. The approximate sex and age ratios for all Quail crossing the coast after dawn during the 1973 passage was 58% male, 75% young, and 7–2 young per adult female. The 26 Quail analysed for fat and water content were definitely not suffering from dehydration, but many of them would not have been able to reach their wintering grounds without additional food. The ‘average’ Quail had 75% of the fat reserves required, while less than 20% of the Quail had the required amount. The daily temporal pattern of netting suggests that a proportion of the Quail cross the coast before dawn and alight at dawn well dispersed within the Sinai desert. This, together with the observed inverse correlation between the amount of fat at arrival and the time of netting, suggest that it is the Quail in poorer physiological condition that arrive later in the day, and that these may stand smaller chances of completing their autumn migration even if not netted by man. More than three times the number of Quail were caught per metre net in 1972 than 1973 (2–43 Quail/metre net/season and 0–73 Quail/metre net/season, respectively. This decline cannot be attributed to hunting. Rough quantitative data during the years 1900–1959 shows that the abundance of Quail in any year was not dependent on abundance in the preceding year. On the other hand, fluctuations in Quail abundance were associated with long–term climatic changes, i.e., netting success in Egypt was negatively associated with rainfall in the Sahel, and shooting in Luxembourg was positively correlated with temperatures in Germany.     

PTERYLOGRAPHY, PLUMAGE DEVELOPMENT AND MOULT OF JAPANESE QUAIL COTURNIX C. JAPONICA IN CAPTIVITY

Japanese Quail were kept in small cages under controlled conditions of temperature and light, and their pterylography and moult are described. There are 10 primaries, 14 secondaries and corresponding numbers of greater upper and lower wing coverts. The alula has four feathers and the tail from five to six pairs of feathers. There is an apterium in the dorso-pelvic tract similar to that in other quail genera. The arrangement of feathers in the ventral and cervical tracts appears to differ from that described for some North American quail.
The chicks hatch with a covering of natal down. Pre-juvenile moult can be seen when the chicks are three days old. Juvenile body plumage is complete in about 30 days; the sides of the face, around the eyes, are the last places to acquire feathers. The tenth and last juvenile primary to grow is mature when the chicks are 41 days old.
The moult in which the juvenile plumage is replaced overlaps the post-natal moult and in part of the ventral tract natal down is replaced by the first adult feathers. This makes it possible to sex the quail at 14 days old. The first adult moult is complete, in the body tracts, by the time the birds are five to six weeks old. The dropping of juvenile primaries commences at about three weeks old and ceases when about eight weeks old. Only from three to six primaries are replaced; most birds studied replaced five. The significance of this difference from other Galliformes is discussed; it is thought to be associated with the species' migratory behaviour. Quail which remained in the controlled laboratory environment did not undergo any further moult. All birds moulted when both temperature and light period were reduced and most birds moulted when the light period alone was reduced. Adult birds housed in small cages in an unheated, unlit shed underwent a complete moult between August and December in which all primaries were replaced. This moult took 8–14 weeks to complete.     

ONTOGENY OF THE ULTRADIAN RHYTHM OF ACTIVITY IN JAPANESE QUAIL

As soon as they hatch, gallinaceous chicks follow broody hens. This matriarchal unit presents a temporal organization of activity. The ontogeny of this ultradian rhythm of activity was followed in Japanese quail during their first 3 weeks of life. Under controlled laboratory conditions, 12 groups of four chicks were recorded using an activity monitoring system. They were observed between the ages of 2 and 17 days. Chicks in groups presented an ultradian rhythm of activity, with a period that increased significantly from 14.3 ± 1.4 minutes when chicks were 2 days old to 26.0 ± 1.9 minutes when they were 16 days old. The increase of ultradian periodicity was particularly pronounced during their first and third weeks of life. Finally, the ultradian period was correlated positively with body weight of the chicks. (Chronobiology International, 17(6), 767–776, 2000)     

蜡嘴,锡嘴雀和法国鹌鹑耳蜗—中脑听觉中枢的比较观察

用辣根过氧化物酶HRP顺行标记方法表明蜡嘴(Eophona migratoria)、锡嘴(Coccothra-ustes coccothraustes)和鹌鹑(France Coturnix coturnix)脑干内听觉中枢的初级神经元位于耳蜗核(nCO,Cochlear unclei)内。较高级神经元位于中脑背外侧核(MLD,Nucleus mesen-cephalicus lateralis,pars dorsalis)。脑干内听觉传入通路始于nCO,经外侧丘系(LL,Lemni-scus lateralis)可直接投射于MLD。鸣禽鸟蜡嘴、锡嘴是对侧投射,同侧仅有个别纤维被标记,非鸣禽鹌鹑仅是对侧性投射。     

DURATION DISCRIMINATION IN NORTHERN BOBWHITE QUAIL

ABSTRACT

We examined the ability of northern bobwhite quail Colinus virginianus to discriminate along the duration dimension because of its suspected importance in their ability to identify individual covey members. If quail are using variability along this dimension to identify individuals we would expect their auditory resolving powers to be sufficiently refined in that dimension to make appropriate discriminations. Three 2-year old male bobwhite quail were trained using a positive reinforcement technique to discriminate between a 1000 Hz standard (correct) tone 600 ms in duration (100 ms rise/fall time) and a 1000 Hz comparison tone 300 ms in duration (also 10 ms rise/fall time). Quail were then required to discriminate between pairs of tones in which the duration of the comparison tone was progressively increased from 400 ms to 590 ms. Because of the categorical nature of the analysis we concluded that the two tones must differ in duration by 20 ms or more if they are to be discriminated correctly. Our study has shown that bobwhites are able to detect a 3% difference in duration around a standard tone 600 ms in duration, which compares favourably with results obtained from earlier studies with parakeets Melopsittacus undulatus and pigeons Columbia livia. Such a finely tuned duration discrimination ability also suggests that it is possible bobwhites may be using individual variability along the duration dimension of the separation call to identify individual covey members.     

溶酶体在垂体—肾上腺皮质激素分泌调节中的作用

本实验用地塞米松造成大鼠垂体促皮质激素细胞及其靶腺肾上腺皮质束状带细胞分泌抑制,对这两种细胞中的溶酶体及分泌自噬和自体吞噬活动进行了超微结构观察、CMP 酶细胞化学定性和形态计量。实验结果显示,在分泌受抑制状态下,垂体促皮质激素细胞中分泌自噬和自体吞噬作用加强,与此同时,肾上腺皮质细胞中自体吞噬作用也业著加强。这些结果表明,在分泌类固醇激素的细胞中,溶酶体以自体吞噬的方式清除一部分生产激素的细胞器,可能是一种普遍存在的分泌调节机制,正如在分泌蛋白质和肽类激素的细胞中普遍存在着分泌自噬这一调节机制一样。     

BIOSYNTHESIS OF S-ADENOSYL-L-METHIONINE IN THE RAT PINEAL GLAND

This investigation provides direct evidence that rat pineal gland contains ATP:L-methionine S-adenosyltransferase. The specific activity of the enzyme is about 25 times greater than that of hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase, the unique marker enzyme in this tissue. The major product of the reaction catalyzed by ATP:L-methionine S-adenosyltransferase has been identified as S-adenosyl-methionine which can function as a methyl group donor for the formation of melatonin. The specific activity of pineal ATP:L-methionine S-adenosyltransferase is at least eight times greater than that of brain, and one-half that of the liver enzyme.     

粘虫性信息素分泌腺的超微结构

对粘虫Ｍｙｔｈｉｍｎａ ｓｅｐａｒａｔａ雌蛾性信息素分泌腺的位置及结构进行了光学显微镜、扫描电镜。透射电镜的观察，结果表明：粘虫性信息素分泌腺位于腹部末端第８－９节节间膜腹面。求偶时，伸出节间膜，为一白色的囊泡。腺体表面分布着饱满的锥状体。羽化后５天未交尾雌蛾，腺体细胞呈单层排列，中央细胞为柱状，细胞核为椭圆形。细胞与细胞间有明显的胞连接，细胞基底膜基褶较高，质膜上，分布着微绒毛，并与内表皮连接，内表皮之上含有多层几丁质，外角质层染色较深。细胞质中含有空泡，线粒体、脂质粒、糖原及粗面内质网。了解粘虫性信息素分泌腺的位置形态结构，对了解性信息素合成和释放的时辰节律，改进性信息素的提取、分离、鉴定是有意义的。