Comparison of Breeding Ecology Between Two Color Morphs of <I>Lanius schach</I>

Abstract

Lanius schach is typical of species with color polymorphism. The black morph has been regarded as an independent species by some authors. We compared the breeding ecology of the black morph and brown morph of L. schach to explore the classification position of the black morph. From February to June in 2008, observations were made on the breeding ecology of the two morphs. Trials, including of interchanging their eggs and nestlings, were carried out in Haifeng Natural Reserve, Guangdong Province, China. Logistic equations were used to describe growth of the body morphological characters of the nestlings. The results showed: 1) There were no significant differences of egg figures between two types (P>0.05). 2) The growth of the body mass, wing length and other morphological characters of >15-day-old nestlings could be described accurately by the Logistic equation. 3) There were no significant difference between the body morphological characters of the 14-day-old nestlings, but there was significant difference on the asymptotic value of the ninth primary. 4) The experiments of interchanging eggs and nestlings showed that during the process of sitting and fostering, eggs and nestlings of the same period from the two color morphs were accepted, but eggs of different periods were rejected. 5) Nestling behaviors did not differ between the nestlings from different patterns. We concluded that black morph is not an independent species but a color morph of L. schach.