6. REVIEWS AND CRITICISM OF NOMENCLATURAL CHANGES

CLARK, A. 1976. Observations on the breeding of whistling ducks in Southern Africa. Ostrich 41 59–64.

Records collected since 1954 show that Dendrocygna viduutu breeds in the Transvaal, Natal and Rhodesia, choosing for the most part a limited mid-summer period when most rains can be expected. D. bicolor records for the Transvaal and Natal show a similar pattern but in Rhodesia breeding is not so restricted. In the Transvaal and Natal most records were obtained near the more populated areas at man-made or artificial breeding grounds. Information is given on nest sites and construction, clutch and brood size, and the behaviour of nesting birds. The percentages of juveniles in flocks of D. viduuta following the breeding season are compared showing the apparent effect of rainfall on breeding success.     

BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTES

Australian Aboriginal Social Organization . David H. Turner.
The Affinal Relationship System: A New Approach to Kinship and Marriage among the Australian Aborigines at Port Keats . Aslaug and Johannes Falkenberg.     

8. SHORT NOTES

Stutterheim, C. J. 1980. Moult cycle of the Redbilled Oxpecker in the Kruger National Park. Ostrich 51:107-112.

This paper describes the pattern and rate of the complete moult cycle in the Redbilled Oxpecker Buphagus er ythrorhynchus. The average duration of primary moult in adult birds was 340 days and the mean time to replace a primary feather was calculated as 34 days. The moult of the secondaries is initiated at two points, at the first secondary and at the innermost secondary. Secondary moult takes seven months. The differentiated inner secondaries moult in the normal middle/inner/outer passeriform fashion. The rectrices moulted only once annually. The two body moult cycles correspond with the moult of the differentiated inner secondaries. First-year birds undergo a partial postjuvenile feather replacement at three months of age.     

7. REVIEWS AND RECORDS

Evidence from the Northern Hemisphere and simple theoretical models both predict that climate change could force southern African birds to undergo poleward range shifts. We document the chronology and habitat use of 18 regionally indigenous bird species that colonised the extreme south-western corner of Africa after the late 1940s. This incorporates a period of almost four decades of observed regional warming in the Western Cape, South Africa. Observations of these colonisation events concur with a 'climate change' explanation, assuming extrapolation of Northern Hemisphere results and simplistic application of theory. However, on individual inspection, all bar one may be more parsimoniously explained by direct anthropogenic changes to the landscape than by the indirect effects of climate change. Indeed, no a priori predictions relating to climate change, such as colonisers being small and/or originating in nearby arid shrublands, were upheld. This suggests that observed climate changes have not yet been sufficient to trigger extensive shifts in the ranges of indigenous birds in this region, or that a priori assumptions are incorrect. Either way, this study highlights the danger of naïve attribution of range changes to climate change, even if those range changes accord with the predictions of climate-change models. Nonetheless, studies of artificially enriched faunas, such as that of the Cape Peninsula, and the dynamics of these observed range shifts, may provide insight into processes likely to take place should climate change trigger significant poleward movement by Southern Hemisphere birds.     

PSEUDO-NITZSCHIA PUNGENS AND P. MULTISERIES (BACILLARIOPHYCEAE): NOMENCLATURAL HISTORY,MORPHOLOGY, AND DISTRIBUTION1

Pseudo-nitzschia pungens f: multiseries is raised in rank from form to species based on morphological, physiological, and genetic features. Distinctive details of the valve face striae, the valve mantle, and the girdle of P. pungens and P. multiseries are outlined. The nomenclatural history and the distribution of the two species and their relationship to other species of the genus are discussed.