Buff Spotted Flufftail

Sarothrura elegans (Smith)

This species is represented in the Forbes-Watson collection by a single immature female collected in the Kakamega Forest on 14 December 1965. As this appears to be the first specimen in juvenal plumage obtained by collectors, we give the following description: The upperparts are dark rufous brown, with occasional feathers of the scapulars having subterminal black bars spotted with tawny. On the secondary coverts, these tawny areas are broader and give the effect of bars. The primaries are black, with incomplete bars of pale creamy white on the outer webs. The tail and under tail coverts are black, barred with rufous. The breast is gray, suffused with rufous, there being some faint indication of barring along the sides. The rest of the underparts are grayish brown, with the center of the lower breast suffused with white and barred dusky. Unfortunately, the skin about the head and neck was eaten by ants before the specimen could be prepared.

MEASUREMENTS.—Wing 91, middle toe with claw 28, tarsus 25, and culmen 14 mm.

*Capella gallinago nigripennis (Bonaparte)

Two adult males with testes enlarged were collected at Kimilili on the southeastern slopes of Mount Elgon on 24 June 1965.

Although White (1965) and most recent authors treat the African Snipe as a species distinct from its Palearctic congener, we believe that the proposal set forth by Meinertzhagen (1951) that nigripennis should be considered as a race of Gallinago [= Capella] gallinago is merited. In our view, many—perhaps most—of the Palearctic species which had been pushed south during the Glacial periods returned to their old homes after the retreat of the ice. Within some species, however, a residual population may have become well established in suitable areas of the tropics and remained behind. From such a population as this, nigripennis presumably evolved. Meinertzhagen comments that regardless of the gap in their present distributional ranges, both the Palearctic and African populations originated from the same stock and should therefore be treated as geographical representatives of the same species.

Geographical Variation in Turtur chalcospilos (Wagler)

After a careful study of sixty specimens of Turtur chalcospilos in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History, including one female from the Sokoke Forest and another male from the same locality, kindly loaned to us by the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, we have been able to discern certain trends and patterns in the geographical variation of this species which seem worthy of putting on record.

In eastern Africa, this species exhibits two clines in the coloration of the upperparts. One cline occurs along the coast from Somalia to South Africa and another inland from Ethiopia to Rhodesia. Birds resident along the coast become generally darker toward the south. The dark coastal population reaches its highest expression in southeastern Africa from Natal to the Cape. This is the area (Eastern Cape Province) from which Wagler described Columba chalcospilos and which now delimits the range of the nominate race. The name zambesiensis Roberts (Zimbiti, Beira District, Mozambique) has been resurrected by Lawson (1961) for the slightly paler birds occurring north of T. c. chalcospilos. The specimens which we have examined from the Sokoke Forest are closet to zambesiensis in coloration, although the wing measurements are slightly smaller (male 109, female 103 mm) than the averages of any of those given by Lawson for his series of zambesiensis, which he lists (in mm) as follows: male (10) 110.5–114.5 (112.4); female (10) 106.0–113.0 (109.0).

Lawson also mentions a specimen examined by him from Sokoke, Kenya, which had a small wing measurement (sex? 106 mm). He suggested that this might be interpreted as an extension of range of the short-winged west African race erlangeri eastward to the Kenya coast. We are inclined to believe that the short-winged Sokoke birds are a reflection of a size cline in the coastal population from southeast Africa northward along the coast to Somalia. Nine specimens which we consider to be identical to zambesiensis in the coloration of the upperparts, from coastal Mozambique, Tanzania, and Kenya, including two from the Sokoke Forest, have the following wing lengths: male (2) 105, 109 mm; female (7) 100–106 mm.

Two pale sandy specimens from Somalia (T. c. patetus Peters) have the wing 102 and 104 mm.

Birds taken in the interior of east Africa (including those taken immediately west of the coast) have the upperparts colored differently than those described above and exhibit a color cline that is the reverse of that shown by the coastal birds. From the dark population in Ethiopia, the series becomes progressively paler southward to Rhodesia and South-West Africa. This pale population of the semidesertic regions of southern Africa has been named T. c. volkmanni by Reichenow. The following data illustrate the difference in wing measurements (in mm) between this form (as given by Lawson) and twenty-four specimens in the collection of the National Museum of Natural History from interior Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. T c. volkmanni (from National Museum of Natural History): male (13) 108–113 (109.6), female (11) 101–107 (105.5); T. c. volkmanni (from Lawson): male (11) 110.5–117.0 (113.2), female (3) 107–109 (108.3).

These figures indicate a general increase in wing length toward the south, and in this respect the clinal gradient is similar to that demonstrated for the coastal populations of eastern and southern Africa.

In those portions of west Africa where this species occurs, size and color differences are somewhat parallel to those occurring farther east in the interior of Africa. Here, the darker and smaller Angolan race erlangeri (wing 96–105 mm) is replaced immediately to the south by the western extension of the range of the larger and paler form volkmanni (wing 107–117 mm).

Thus we believe that the following generalizations may be made about the geographic variation of Turtur chalcospilos in Africa. There is a general increase in wing size from north to south for both interior and coastal populations. In the color of the upperparts, there are two clines running in opposite directions: coastal birds are darkest in the southern part of their range, while interior birds are darkest in the northern part. To a certain extent, these color variations may be correlated with environment following Gloger’s rule. The darkest populations occur in areas of increased humidity: i.e., the mountains of Ethiopia and the eastern and southern coasts. The palest birds occur in Somalia and on the periphery of the southwest African xeric regions. Populations that occur between these extremes of humidity and aridity are generally intermediate in color.

Although we have presented evidence that the inland populations reflect both color and size differences that are clinal in nature, the extensive range over which these birds occur may justify the reinstatement of certain subspecific names that have been proposed in the past. As mentioned above, the pale southern population is presently known as volkmanni. For the dark Ethiopian population the name intensa Mearns, type locality Howash River, Ethiopia, may be used. Birds from east-central Africa, which are intermediate in color, may be called acanthina Oberholser, type locality, Mount Kilimanjaro.

Although we have examined only two specimens from Somalia, they suggest to us that T. c. patetus Peters may be a valid race, as these birds appear to represent a pale, short-winged population bounded on the west by the dark, long-winged intensa and on the south by the dark, short-winged zambesiensis.

The short-winged Angolan form erlangeri should be retained, as it is demonstrably smaller than its neighboring races.

Clamator jacobinus pica (Hemprich and Ehrenberg)

White (1965) records this subspecies as breeding between March and August. A female collected on 9 December 1964, in the Sokoke Forest, had the ovary enlarged.

The buff-spotted flufftail (Sarothrura elegans) is a species of bird in the family Sarothruridae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Specimen at Nairobi National Museum