Small Bills Research Articles

CAN SELECTION BY AN ECTOPARASITE DRIVE A POPULATION OF RED CROSSBILLS FROM ITS ADAPTIVE PEAK?

The bill structures of different call types of red crossbills (Loxia curvirostra complex) in western North America usually approximate the predicted optima for foraging on single species of conifers. One clear exception is the call type in the South Hills, Idaho, that is coevolving in an evolutionary arms race with Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta ssp. latifolia). Although South Hills crossbills forage only on the cones of these lodgepole pines, their average bill depth is smaller than that predicted to be optimal. Because preliminary data showed that large-billed males were more likely to exhibit symptoms of ectoparasitic mite (Knemidokoptes jamaicensis) infestation, the goal of our study was to further quantify the incidence of mite infestation and determine whether selection by mites may have favored smaller-billed crossbills and thus driven crossbills away from the foraging optimum. We estimated annual survival of both infected and uninfected South Hills crossbills using program MARK, which allows for auxiliary variables such as bill size and sex to be included in survival analyses. Mite infestation depressed crossbill survival and, especially for males, caused directional selection against larger-billed individuals. Such selection may explain why South Hills crossbills have smaller bills than the optimum and why average bill size for males has decreased from 1998 to 2003. This selection may also explain why the degree of sexual size dimorphism has decreased by nearly 50% since 1998.

"To Be at Once Another and the Same": Walter Scott and the End(s) of Sympathetic Britishness

ON A MISERABLE DECEMBER DAY IN 1825, WALTER SCOTT RECORDED HIS resolve fight his latest bout of depression letting mind and body know that supposing one the House of Commons and the other the House of Peers, my will is sovereign over Three weeks later, only days before the collapse of the printing and publishing businesses on which he had staked his fortune, Scott mused in his journal on the significance of the new year: A thought strikes me allied this period of the year. People say that the whole human frame in all its parts and divisions is gradually in the act of decaying and renewing. What a curious time-piece it would be that could indicate us the moment this gradual and insensible change had so completely taken place that no atom was left of the original person who had existed at a certain period but there existed in his stead person having the limbs thewes and sinews, the face and lineaments, the consciousness.... Singular--to be at once and the same. (1) Ruminating on the concurrent deterioration and renewal that paradoxically characterizes the body, Scott ponders the prospect, eerie and exhilarating, that an individual might be another and the same simultaneously. His interest in the duality of bodies, moreover, seems intimately linked his life-long investment in the fate of Britain, a compound state created by the 1707 Act of Union joining England and Scotland. Given Scott's evident familiarity with metaphors of the body politic, and bearing in mind his public role as the leading literary representative of Scotland the world, we can fruitfully read the above passage as reflecting national as well as personal concerns. Do nations, like bodies, change so gradually that it is impossible demarcate precisely when the transformation has created a new entity? If it seems paradoxical, even uncanny, to be at once and the same, what do Scott's writings reveal about the possibilities and pitfalls of attempting retain one's original national identity while simultaneously learning accept a new one? Only a month after the financial crash that ruined him, Scott was hard at work on one of his most explicit interventions in national affairs: the Letters of Malachi Malagrowther (1826). Written in response the British government's proposal limit Scottish banks' powers of issuing small bills, the Letters defends such credit arrangements as the backbone of northern economic development. Scott was well aware of the irony of his situation, remarking in his journal that is ridiculous enough for me in a state of insolvency for the present be battling about gold and paper currency (120). Nevertheless, by vindicating Scotland's right self-government on domestic issues, the Letters effectively proclaims the importance of retaining Scotland's institutions and, by extension, Scotland's national identity within the United Kingdom. On this point, Scott knew he had tread carefully: Spent the morning and till dinner on Malachi's Second Epistle the Athenians. It is difficult steer betwixt the of one's setting in one direction and the prudent regard the interests of the empire and its internal peace and quiet recommending less vehement expression. I will endeavour sight of both. But were my own interest alone concerned, d--n me but I wa'd give it them hot. (115) As in his novels, Scott aligns prudence with respect for the conjoined interests of civil society and the British state. (2) Following one's natural impulse would mean allowing one's National feelings overrule such prudential, imperial concerns. Scott's compromise is attempt keep sight of both the national and the international by attempting reconcile Scotland's interests with those of Britain as a whole. …

Unrealistically high costs of rejecting artificial model eggs in cuckooCuculus canorushosts

Most studies that have tested the egg‐recognition and egg‐rejection ability of European cuckooCuculus canorushosts have used artificial model eggs that are much harder than real Cuckoo eggs. Here we evaluate whether the use of such models overestimates the costs of egg rejection by hosts. We tested 17 potential cuckoo host species in south‐eastern Spain with both artificial hard cuckoo‐egg models and real eggs taken from a population of house sparrowsPasser domesticusbreeding in captivity. The puncture resistance of sparrow eggs, measured in the laboratory, was more similar to that of real cuckoo eggs than was the resistance of artificial models, although sparrow eggs were less resistant than real cuckoo eggs. Potential host species with a grasp index greater than 200 mm2did not suffer high rejection costs when rejecting hard models, probably because they are grasp ejectors. However, all species with a smaller grasp index suffered high costs when rejecting hard artificial models. For these species the frequency and magnitude of costs were significantly higher when rejecting artificial hard models than when rejecting real eggs. For some species the breakage of real eggs was quite difficult (they needed 97 to more than 4000 pecks in video‐recorded ejections), and sometimes the birds suffered rejection costs. These results show that realistic estimates of the frequency and magnitude of rejection costs for hosts with small bills cannot be obtained by using artificial models, and also that for a variety of medium‐sized puncture ejector species the costs when rejecting real eggs may be low.

The challenges facing currency usage: will the traditional transaction medium be able to resist competition from the new technologies?

The euro's introduction highlights several shortcomings of cash and coins, and some advantages of paying with plastic, but is hard currency an endangered species, threatened by technologically more advanced means of payments, electronic transfers, e–money and the like? If the last twenty years are any guide, the answer is no. We find that modern payment technologies have little impact on currency usage. To understand this lack of effect, we distinguish between demands for large– and small–denomination banknotes. Competition from existing electronic retail payments’ products focuses mostly on small to medium–sized purchases where small bills (less than the £50) are most common. By contrast, there are few signs, nor much likelihood, of past or current electronic products displacing holdings of large bills without government intervention. Large bills, which account for over half the stock of outstanding currency in many OECD nations, are mainly held for hoarding and bad behaviour motives ranging from hard crime to paying the plumber under the table; for such purposes the anonymity of cash is, and is likely to remain, superior. As concerns policy implications, we note that, although issuing large denomination bills facilitates ‘bad behaviour’, withdrawing big bills is unlikely for political reasons. Governments could try to induce e–money usage as a means of discouraging bad behaviour, but we argue that any attempt to force a complete shift to electronic transfer, and to try to ban, or to prevent, the domestic use of cash would be appallingly illiberal.

Habitat choice in Phylloscopus warblers: the role of morphology, phylogeny and competition.

We studied ecological and evolutionary aspects of habitat choice in a group of closely related bird species to gain insight into factors influencing bird community structure. Seven species of Phylloscopus warblers breed sympatrically in the middle taiga subzone of Central Siberia. We examine how the distribution of species among habitats is related to morphology, phylogeny and competition, and we compare our results with an earlier study on the ecomorphology of Phylloscopus warblers in Kashmir. We found that in Siberia, large warbler species prefer productive habitats with mostly deciduous vegetation, whereas small species occupy poor coniferous forests. Possible explanations for this finding remain to be tested in the future. Moreover, we found a tendency for species with large feet, small bills and short wings to occupy habitats with an abundance of bush thickets near the ground. In the Kashmir study, competition was considered a major factor in structuring the Phylloscopus community, and patterns of habitat choice were not influenced by phylogenetic relationships. In strong contrast, we found that in the Siberian community, closely related species occupy similar habitats. We discuss whether this conservative evolution of habitat preferences in Siberia may be due to low intensity of interspecific competition or to other ecological factors.

The magnitude effect: Temporal discount rates and restaurant tips

Decision makers show a larger subjective temporal discount rate for small magnitudes than for large ones. That is, they demand a larger percent increase in value to compensate for a delay when they are waiting for a small amount of money than for a large amount. Prelec and Loewenstein (1991; see also Loewenstein & Prelec, 1992) proposed an increasing proportional sensitivity account of this magnitude effect. This account surmises that the magnitude effect stems from the utility function for money and is consequently not unique to intertemporal choice. One study tested this prediction by demonstrating the magnitude effect in two domains: intertemporal choice and tipping for restaurant meals, haircuts, and taxi rides. In intertemporal choice, subjects showed a larger discount rate for smaller monetary amounts. They also tipped a larger percentage on small bills than on large bills. Thus, both domains showed the magnitude effect; however, the size of the effect was not well correlated between domains.

A note on banknote characteristics and the demand for currency by denomination

This paper uses characteristics analysis to explain the demand for Swiss banknotes by denomination. We find that the characteristics of banknotes explain to a large extent the currency mix that the public wishes to hold. An increase in the price level and in real income is found to favor large denominations, while an increase in velocity and in interest rates is found to increase the share of small bills. The model is used to predict the demand for a Frs. 200 banknote, a denomination which does not exist at the moment in Switzerland.

Evolutionary lag versus bill-size constraints: a comparative study of the acceptance of cowbird eggs by old hosts

Evolutionary lag and resistance to puncture-ejection are two hypotheses explaining why hosts long exposed to brood parasitism by molothrine cowbirds accept their eggs. The former hypothesis assumes no physical constraints while the latter requires them. We show (1) that most acceptors of Brown-headed Cowbird eggs have small bills, (2) that the single species known to puncture cowbird eggs for ejection also has a small bill, and (3) that all grasp ejectors of Brown-headed Cowbird eggs have large bills. We propose that most acceptors cannot remove cowbird eggs by grasp ejection because their bills are too small. Small hosts probably cannot puncture cowbird eggs for ejection because their unusually thick shells make the costs of puncturing them higher than the benefits of ejection. This hypothesis is capable of explaining the success of cowbirds with scores of host species in the puzzling absence of egg mimicry.

Morphologie bucco-linguale d'une guilde de canards barboteurs

Interspecific variations of bucco-lingual characteristics were measured in a guild of dabbling ducks and the influence of these characteristics on the use of food resources was studied. Morphological characters of the bill and tongue were measured in eight species of dabbling ducks of the genus Anas. Our results show that there are interspecific differences in the bucco-lingual characteristics of all species studied except for the Black Duck (Anas rubripes) and the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). There was a significant correlation between the density of bill lamellae and the weight of the species (r = −0.935, P < 0.01). In six species, the density of the lamellae was correlated with the volumetric index of the bill (r = −0.960, P < 0.01). These results indicate that in species with large bills the density of the lamellae is low, whereas in species with small bills, the number of lamellae is high. The volumetric index of the bill was significantly related to the average weight of each duck species (r = −0.905, P < 0.01). Dabbling ducks that filter benthic material can thus be classified on a scale based on lamellar density and bill volume. The differences in bucco-lingual morphlogical characters seem to reflect a mode of resource partitioning that diminishes competition.[Journal translation]

Science Policy Wordsmith Responds to Bell

Science Policy Wordsmith Responds to Bell

House Committees Choke on Small Business Bills

House Committees Choke on Small Business Bills

House Committees Choke on Small Business Bills

House Committees Choke on Small Business Bills

The feeding of darwin's finches on Tribulus cistoides (L.) seeds

Food-handling skills of finches vary as a function of bill size. Geospiza magnirostris crush and shatter the woody mericarps of caltrop ( Tribulus cistoides) to reach the seeds, whereas G. fortis (a smaller species) bite and tear at them. G. magnirostris accept and crack most of the mericarps picked up; fortis reject most mericarps but often feed on fragments. Energy rewards are greater for magnirostris than for fortis. Intraspecific variation in handling skills parallels interspecific variation. G. fortis individuals with large bills spend more time on mericarps and extract more seeds than do those with small bills, and they reject mericarps with a lower frequency. Those observed feeding on seeds from Tribulus mericarps were larger, particularly in bill size, than those not observed feeding on them.

Morphological and Ecological Divergence and Convergence in Isolated Populations of the Red-Tailed Black-Cockatoo

SUMMARYFord, J. 1980. Morphological and ecological divergence and convergence in isolated populations of the Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo. Emu 80: 103–120.The Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus magnificus is essentially a Torresian species with six or seven isolated populations in the southern and central parts of the continent. Morphological relations between populations were analysed by univariate and multivariate statistics. Populations fall into three divisions: those in northern and north-eastern Australia consist of birds with long wings and large bills; that in the lower south-west consists of birds with short wings and large bills; those in central and remainder of southern Australia have short wings and small bills. Two distinct populations occur in south-western Australia: that in the lower south-west feeds arboreally on Marri Eucalyptus calophylla fruit and is large-billed and that in the upper south-west feeds terrestrially mainly on the introducted double-gee Emex australis and is small-billed. Divergence between the large-billed and small-billed populations in south-western Australia was probably made possible by an unsuitable belt of light woodland between their ranges. Similarities between some of the southern and central populations probably evolved convergently as they became adapted to similar sources of food. Southern and central Australia were probably invaded at least by a two-pronged movement from the north, one down the western part and the other down the inland-eastern part of the continent. The northern and north-eastern populations appear to be connected by a zone of hybridization in the Carpentarian lowlands. In Calyptorhynchus, the speciation of magnificus and funereus is considered to have preceded the splitting of lathami from magnificus.

"Thayer's" Gull in the Niagara Frontier Region

DURING autumn and winter thousands of gulls are often present on the Niagara River. Most are Herring (Larus argentatus), Ring-billed (L. delawarensis), and Bonaparte's Gulls (L. philadelphia), and they can be observed particularly well at such favored concentration points as Niagara Falls and the lower river in the Lewiston-Queenston vicinity. As the Niagara is usually ice-free in winter, varying numbers of gulls are able to subsist even during the coldest periods. During past years local birders have noted on the river adult-plumaged gulls with characteristics similar to those described for Thayer's Gull, a form presently treated as a subspecies (L. argentatus thayeri) of the Herring Gull (A.O.U., 1957) and recently considered a species (L. thayeri) by Smith (1966) based on his studies in northern Canada. During December 1954 and January 1955 first one and later three of these birds were observed about Niagara Falls and described by Coggeshall (1955) in a paper discussing the taxon and reviewing its history. Prior to 1967 two or three attempts to secure an adult specimen failed, partly because of the difficulty in approaching and retrieving the birds in the Falls area. A specimen in first-winter plumage H. D. Mitchell collected on a Buffalo Harbor dump 4 February 1945 ( 8 ?, BSNS no. 2857) was subsequently sent to L. Griscom, who identified it possibly as L. glaucoides kumlieni (Beardslee and Mitchell, 1965: 244). On 24 December 1957 at the dump on Squaw Island, Buffalo, along the edge of the Niagara River, I secured a gull (sex indeterminable, BSNS no. 4107) that is almost identical in size and coloration to the 1945 first-winter bird. A comparison of these two immature gulls with material in the Royal Ontario Museum and the National Museum of Canada has shown that they agree well with specimens of Thayer's Gull from northern Canada and the Pacific coast. The culmens of the two immatures from Buffalo measure 42 and 41 mm respectively. Two first-year female specimens of L. a. thayeri in the Royal Ontario Museum, taken in September in Bellot Strait, Northwest Territories, Canada, have culmens measuring 37.1 and 41.3 mm. Although three of these culmens measure less than the smallest such measurement (42 mm) that I can find published for female Thayer's Gull, as W. E. Godfrey (pers. comm.) pointed out, first-year gulls often have smaller bills than adults. Also some shrinkage may have occurred in these specimens. In addition, the great majority of published culmen measurements for female Thayer's Gulls are those by Smith

Notes on the Birds of Colima, Mexico

Identification of specimens was based on comparison with material in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and especially with the superlative collections at the Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental College. Permission to work in the Moore Collection was generously given by Dr. Raymond M. Selle. In the following account, details are presented only if they augment distributional or taxonomic information contained in the Distributional Check-list of the Birds of Mexico, parts 1 and 2 (Pac. Coast Avif., 1950, 1957), or if they present information of biological interest. Sula leucogaster. Brown Booby. One was seen just offshore at Playa de Santiago, 42 miles northwest of Manzanillo, on October 28. On previous visits to Manzanillo in December, 1954 and 1955, boobies were seen from the shore every day, and were noted on one day in December, 1955, between Playa de Santiago and Manzanillo harbor. Part 1 of the Mexican Check-list (Pac. Coast Avif., 1950:23) lists one specimen of the race nesiotes recorded from Manzanillo, and Blake (1953:19) terms nesiotes accidental or casual at that locality. It seems probable that small numbers of Brown Boobies visit Manzanillo harbor and Bahia Santiago regularly in the fall and winter. cayana mexicana. Squirrel Cuckoo. Fifteen and one-half miles northwest of Manzanillo, 1 9, October 28, 1 9, November 5; 22 miles northwest of Colima, 1 9, November 10. Squirrel Cuckoos were common in the coastal lowlands and in the vicinity of Colima. The three collected are referable to the race mexicana. In the course of identifying them, the validity of the race extima van Rossem (1930:210), described from a single specimen collected at Guirocoba, Sonora, was checked. In the Mexican Check-list (Pac. Coast Avif., 1950:133) extima was synonymized with mexicana, with the footnote comment that Piaya cayana extima van Rossem, based on one specimen from Sonora, requires confirmation. Granted that extima was described from only one specimen, van Rossem (1934:436) noted that six specimens of the latter race [extima] have recently been examined, in the collection of Robert T. Moore, from Guirocoba, San Rafael, and Questa del Tigre, the last named locality being on the Sonora-Sinaloa In the Moore Collection there are five specimens from the localities mentioned by van Rossem; a sixth could not be found. In addition, there are four specimens from Los Leones and Huassa, Sinaloan localities near the Sonoran boundary. Comparison of these nine specimens from southern Sonora and extreme northern Sinaloa with seasonally comparable specimens of mexicana collected in Nayarit and Colima shows that the northern specimens are noticeably pale and cinnamomeous above rather than dark and reddish as in mexicana, and ventrally they are paler, sandier, and generally brighter than the specimens of mexicana collected farther south, thus agreeing with van Rossem's original description. cayana extima was also characterized by the describer as having a longer tail and smaller bill than mexicana. The tail length of male extima averages 317.8 mm. (301-327); of four male mexicana from Nayarit and Colima, 303.5 (293-310). Length of culmen from anterior edge of nostril for seven male extima averages 7.7 mm. (7.2-8.1); of five male mexicana from Nayarit and Colima, 8.0 (7.5-8.4). The difference in tail length appears to be valid; the difference in bill length may possibly be valid, although this could be determined only by statistical treatment of larger samples. In my opinion, extima is a clearly recognizable race with characters as originally described. Chlorostilbon canivetii auriceps. Fork-tailed Emerald. Nine miles northwest of Manzanillo, 1 ?,

The Great-Tailed Grackles of the Southwest

Since 1913, a general northward invasion of Great-tailed Grackles has taken place in southern Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent parts of southwestern Texas and northern Mexico. Two distinct races are involved, and the future will probably produce mingling of these races. Ornithologists should make careful observations and collections, especially of females, as this unusual situation develops. One of the races involved is Cassidix mea Huey, 1942) ; the other has been in doubt. As early as 1934, van Rossem‘( 1934:476) called attention to the small bills of four males from the city of Chihuahua; he had seen no females. Lowery (1938) was likewise handicapped by paucity of specimens from the plateau when he described the bird of the Texas lowlands. Since then, thanks largely to the discriminating collecting of Gale Monson and of A. E. Borell, a number of females have been taken in the upper Rio Grande valley and vicinity. These show that the birds of the northern plateau of Mexico resemble most closely the nominate race and are more distinct from the paler races of the adjacent coastal lowlands. They may be known as

The Santa Cruz Island Vireo

Vireo mailliardorum new species CHARACTERS-Similar to Vireo huttoni of the mainland of California, but slightly inferior in size with especially smaller bill; coloration darker, more leaden olive above and a little more buffy yellow below posteriorly. TYPE-S (in unworn adult annual plumage); No. 5425 Coll. J. G.; Friar's Harbor, Santa Cruz Island, California; September I, 1903; collected by J. Grinnell. MEASUREMENTS (in inches)-