The relationships of the New Zealand Wrens have been debated for a century but up to 1981 it has not been clear to which suborder of the Passeriformes they should be assigned. Comparisons between the single-copy DNA sequences of Acanthisitta
chloris and those of other passerine birds indicate that the Acanthisittidae are members of the suboscine suborder Oligomyodi, and that they are sufficiently distant from other suboscine passerines to warrant separation as an Infraorder, Acanthisittides.
Herausgegeben von Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim – Urs N. Glutz von Blotzheim, Editor. Vol. 9. Pigeons to Woodpeckers. Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Wiesbaden, 1980. 1148 pp.
An ethogram for the Antarctic Blue-eyed Shag (Phalacrocorax atriceps bransfieldensis) is described with emphasis on behavioural comparisons with other shags and cormorants. Data regarding mate and nest-site retention are also presented.
Authors: Jack and Lindsay Cupper. 1981. Jaclin Enterprises, Mildura, Australia. pp. 208.
Six body measurements were taken from 283 adult and sub-adult Black-backed gulls (Larus dominicanus) in Auckland, New Zealand. Sex was determined in 158 of these by dissection or chromosomal methods. Using measurements from these 158 birds a classification function was derived and used to assign sexes to the remaining 125 gulls. Discriminant analyses were then made on the measurements from all 283 birds to describe the sexual size dimorphism accurately and to derive a simple classification function for the routine sexing of birds in the field.
Authors: F. Hannecart & Y. Letocart. 1980. Les Editions Cardinalis. 150 pp.; map and 180 species described.
Geographical variation in the Buff-banded rail (Gallirallus philippensis) in the south-west Pacific (known as the banded rail in New Zealand) is reassessed in the light of the origin of island stocks and nomadism. Nomadism appears to have diluted divergent evolution on small islands and (sub) continental mainlands throughout the region, and from it lines of colonisation from mainland sources have been adduced. There appear to be no justifiable subspecies on mainland Australia, and others on islands in the Bismarck Sea are open to question; one new subspecies, G, p. tounelieri, is described from cays in the Coral Sea.
Auithor: Johan Dalgas Frisch. 1981. Vol. I, 351 pp. with an addendum Birds of Brazil, Identification Guide in the English Language, 15 pp. Dalgas-Ecoltec-Ecologia Tecnica e Comercio Ltda, Sao Paulo, Brazil.