Supercilium Research Articles

Unexplained recurrent features of the plumage of birds

Unexplained recurrent features of the plumage of birds

Super Cilia Skin: A Textural Interface

The Tangible Media Group has done a series of investigations into new multi-modal computer interfaces that utilize gesture and the sense of touch to improve interpersonal communication, education, and access to digital information. “Interactive surfaces” are one of our most promising lines of research and this article will look in depth at the design, implementation, and possible applications of interactive surfaces through an example project, Super Cilia Skin, an Interactive Membrane.Super Cilia Skin (SCS) is a computationally enhanced membrane that couples tactile/ kinesthetic input with tactile and visual output. Our prototype manipulates the orientation of an array of yarn-like actuators (cilia) to display dynamic images or physical gestures. Like cloth, SCS is designed to be applied to arbitrary objects to engage sight and touch. Unlike traditional textiles, SCS can sense touch and dynamically move its surface. This article will discuss the potential for scale shifts with actuated textiles in which the material can blur boundaries between foreground/environment and field/object. Our design studies will present applications in which actuated textiles can use their material properties to improve interpersonal communication, enhance creative expression, and assist education in young learners by engaging tactile/kinesthetic intelligences.

THE VALIDITY OF SOME GENERA OF LARKS (ALAUDIDAE)

SUMMARYThe larks (Alaudidae) tend to be taxonomically arranged in a large number of small genera. There appear to be few characters which will separate the genera Alauda, Galerida and Lullula, and in recent times additional species have been placed in the first two genera without a reappraisal of the characters by which each genus is defined. Ten species are involved and originally these belonged to eight different genera.In this group of ten species of eight genera as at present, six morphological generic characters are examined separately: the length of the tenth primary in relation to the roundness of the wing, the length of the hind claw, the profile of the crest, the conspicuousness of the superciliary stripe, the thickness and taper of the bill, and the length of tertiaries and secondaries.All ten species show these characters, and the variation in any single character is fairly evenly graded through the group without marked discontinuity. The succession of species within the gradation varies from one character to another. It is not possible to find any group of characters which will subdivide the group of species.Little is known of the behaviour of the ten species but examination of song‐flight suggests that such characters may also show a gradation without obvious subdivision.It is considered that the present data do not justify the retention of the present genera for these species, and that it would be preferable to group them under the earliest generic name, Alauda.The characters defining the Alauda group are listed and the relation of Chersophilus duponti to the group is discussed.

POLYMORPHISM IN THE WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, ZONOTRICHIA ALBICOLLIS (GMELIN)

A sample of 286 museum and 199 live specimens of white-throated sparrows were examined for morphic differences. Two morphic types in both sexes are described according to the color of the median crown stripe. These are the white-striped morph and the tan-striped morph. Regardless of sex, white-striped morphs have more black on the lateral crown areas, less streaking on a wider and grayer chest band, less intense black on the malar markings of the white throat patch and brighter yellow on the superciliary stripe. The proportions of white-striped males and tan-striped females increased from Newfoundland to the Northwest region. White-striped morphs mate selectively with tan-striped morphs. Evidence was presented to show that these morphic types are genetically determined, and once attained, do not change with age. Mechanisms governing polymorphism are discussed in an attempt to explain the existence of the morphic types in the white-throated sparrow.

Breeding of the Moustached Warbler in Britain

Conclusive evidence produced by R. A. Hinde and A. S. Thorn (British Birds, 40, No. 4; April 1947) shows that the first recorded breeding of the moustached warbler (Lusciniola melanopogon) in the British Isles took place in Cambridgeshire in 1946. The evidence was compounded from observations made by a group of distinguished ornithologists, and the dark crown and superciliary stripe, as well as the cocking of the tail, leave no doubt that this Mediterranean bird, the nearest part of whose normal range is the south of France and whose sole previous claim to a place in the British list rested on a single occurrence, must now be added to the list of birds which have been known to breed in Britain.

A Description of Downy Young of Pseudototanus guttifer from South Saghalien. (PI. IV.)

Description of downy young (about 2 weeks old).- Down on fore-head pale buffy-white; a sooty black median line commencing apart(4.5 mm.) from base of exposed culmen, reaching to centre of crown; another from above anterior of eye encircling occiput; posterior half of crown chestnut-buff with a few whitish-buff bars; centre of nape with a black streak; a broad superciliary stripe commencing from base of upper mandible to nape greyish white, faintly washed with buffy; a black line from extreme base of upper mandible through eye, reaching to sides of nape; the line being interrupted (5.5mm.) at lores, broader at base of bill and sides of nape, giving an uneven outline ; mantle part greyish-black with greyish-white tips to each down; upper back and wings also greyish-black with some buffy bars; lower back and rump streaked with 3 black bands; sides of rump also streaked with an obsolete sooty black band; between these bands with pale buffy bands, centre of them being much deeper buff or rusty; sides of face. fore neck, lower throat and chest greyish-white, chin and upper throat whitish; round the eyes. lower breast, abdomen and vent nearly pure white; down feathers of tail black with rusty buff bars and tipped with greyish-white. Three anterior toes distinctly webbed as in those of adults.Soft parts.-Mandibles blackish, basal half of lower mandible horny yellowish; tarsus, toes and webs olive yellow.Specimens collected.-3 were collected by Mr. Giichi Okada from a group of 4 downy young.Locality and date.-West coast of Tsui River, near Rutaka-machi, S. Saghalien, 5 July, 1936.Remarks.-Mr. Stuart Baker(1919, 1929, t.c.) has recorded several eggs from high Lake Rhamtso (13, 000-14, 000 feet aboree sea level) in Tibet under the name of guttifer, but they seem to be very doubtful for identification as Dr. Hartert(1921, t.c.)and Mr. Peters(1934, t.c.) have considered. A discovery of the downy young of guttifer from Saghalien is very remarkable, It is no doubt a first record for exact breeding ground of the rare wader.

A New Race of Francolinus Squamatus from Tanganyika

Type from Magamba, 8 miles north of Loshota (Wilhelmstal), Usambara District, Tanganyika Territory. Altitude 5200 feet. Adult male in the Conover Collection, Field Museum of Natural History. Collected June 14, 1926 by H. B. Conover. Original number 1201. Characters.-Differs from all other races of Francolinus squamatus by the dull black markings on the head, which consist of (1) a dull black line extending from behind the ear coverts forward over the ear to the back of the eye and continued faintly over the eye above a white superciliary stripe, (2) a streak of thickly spread dull black spots beginning at the gape and extending below the eye to below and behind the ear coverts where they merge into the dark brown markings of the neck; although always very conspicuous, they vary somewhat in density in different specimens, but are always most widely scattered at the gape and densest under the ear coverts. These spots also continue about the lower edge of the white throat, but are duller, more brownish and more scattered. White of throat purer and more sharply contrasted with sides of head and foreneck. Lores and superciliary stripe pure white. The upper parts are nearly plain, lacking the conspicuous vermiculations observed in allied forms. Below nearest to kapitensis, but throat pure white instead of pale grayish. Description.-Feathers of the pileum sepia, each feather edged very indistinctly with light gray. Lores, superciliary stripe and throat pure white. Forehead whitish with a dull black spot at the tip of each feather. A narrow dull black line extending from behind the ear coverts over the ear to back of the eye and continued faintly above the white superciliary stripe. This black line is separated from the auriculars by a more or less inconspicuous whitish line, a continuation of the superciliary stripe. Sides of face white, densely spotted with small dull black spots which are densest under the ear coverts and more scattered at the gape. These spots are continued about the lower edge of the white throat, but are duller and more brownish. Ear coverts plain grayish brown. Feathers of the sides

The West Indian Black Forms of the Genus Cœreba

AMONG the West Indian members of the genus Ca?,reba are two peculiar forms, one known as Cwereba atrata (Lawr.) from the island of St. Vincent, and the other, C. wellsi (Cory), from the island of Grenada, which are entirely black. MIr. Ridgway has suggested (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., Vol. VIII, 1885, p. 28) that these may prove to be merely phases of plumage of the normally colored birds inhabiting the same islands, and I shall in the present paper advance reasons for this supposition. In the genus Careba, all the species are (except in these two cases) dark above, with a light superciliary stripe, and yellow, or yellow and white, below. Mlost of them have a yellow or yellowish patch on the rump, and all have the bases of the primaries (forming a wing spot) and the tips of the outer rectrices white. It is evident then, that the genus has a definite and well marked color-pattern. In the black forms there is an olive tinge on the underparts (except the throat) and rump, corresponding to the yellow markings of the normally colored birds inhabiting the same islands. The black forms are of the same color from the first appearance of feathers, and not of more normal coloration in the younger stages as we might expect were these forms simply species widely divergent from the generic type. The black birds are identical in size, coloration of naked parts, actions, notes, and nesting habits with the normal birds of the same islands. In the case of Ccereba wellsi the eggs are exactly alike.1 In the genus Caereba no two species are known to inhabit the same locality. In certain mammals (for example, Canis occidentalis Rich., Vulpes fulvus Desm., and Sciurus carolinensis Gmel.) melanistic

The Santa Cruz Song Sparrow, with Notes on the Salt Marsh Song Sparrow

Melospiza melodia santeecrucis new subspecies. Subsp. Char.-Relationship apparently nearest to IJelospiza melodia cooperi, from which it differs in smaller size, in much narrower and weaker bill, and in the greater extent and intensity of the brown markings. Type-i ad., No. 4292, Coll. J. G.; San Francisquito Creek, near Palo Alto, California; June 2, 1900; collected by J. Grinnell. Coloration--Feathers on top of the head with narrow sooty streaks, broadly edged with chestnut; narrow median crown-stripe drab gray; feathers of mantle, broadly streaked with sooty and latterally margined with hazel and clay color. Wing-coverts, secondaries and tail feathers broadly edged with bright hazel. Postocular and rictal stripes, chiefly hazel. Superciliary stripe, drab gray. Breast and sides narrowly and sparsely streaked with sooty, the streaks running forward into well-defined maxillary stripes; most of these blackish markings are bordered narrowly with bright hazel. Flanks and crissum clay color, streaked with sooty sepia. Rest of under parts pure white. Range-Along the fresh-water streams heading in the Santa Cruz Mountain Region, from San Francisco south to Monterey Bay. Measurements-The following are the average measurements in inches of all the adult skins available of the four southern coast races of iMelospiza melodia.