Lester L. Short

Nesting of Southern Sonoran Birds during the Summer Rainy Season

My interest in the avifaunas of xeric regions species known to me to occur outside Shreve’ s prompted me to visit Alamos, Sonora, from 21 ( 1951) limits of the Sonoran Desert]. This July to 9 August 1971. The Alamos region is largely ecotonal region about Alamos is ocjust south of the Sonoran Desert, the southern cupied by birds that may be characterized as: limit of which is generally placed at, or just (a) cosmopolitan species, widely distributed north of, the Mayo River. It is within an in diverse habitats; (b) species of xeric regions ecotone formed by the gradual merging of generally that occupy both the Sonoran Desert thorn forest, desert, and short tree forest to the north and the thorn forest to the south; (Shreve 1951). I timed my visit to coincide (c) tropical, thorn forest, and short tree with the period following the onset of the forest species which reach southern Sonora summer rainy season. My objective was to from the south, but penetrate the Sonoran ascertain which avian species were nesting at Desert little, if at all; and (d) northern, this time. Although many species were breedxeric-adapted species which reach their southing, it was of course impossible to establish ern limit in southern Sonora or in northern the proportion of a given species that was Sinaloa (coastal northern Sinaloa, especially). nesting, and which of the nestings represented When I arrived in Alamos on 21 July, the second broods or renestings. Hence, the vegetation was verdant and luxuriant, totally results presented below are preliminary, and unlike the xeric aspect of that countryside I intended to stimulate further studies in that witnessed some years ago in early June, at interesting region. Nevertheless, it is shown the end of the spring dry season. Local resithat many species breed in the period of the dents informed me that the rains commenced summer rains, and that some species are about 1 July 1971, with heavy but generally occupied with nesting activities until late brief rains about every fourth day. On 20 July August or September. a long, heavy rain fell in the morning although Alamos, an old town once the capital of rains usually occur during afternoons or Sonora, and a famous locality for early evenings. During my 3-week stay, rain fell collectors, is situated in low foothills between on 7 days, mainly within a S-hour period or the isolated, rugged Sierra de Alamos southless, but on 30 July successive storms resulted west of town, and the Sierra Madre Occidental in intermittent rain all day. Temperatures 25 miles to the east. Its elevation is 1345 ft, exceeded 32°C on all but 2 days and usually and the Sierra de Alamos rises to over 5800 ft. exceeded 38°C in the afternoon. Humidity, I characterize the vegetation of the region although not measured, was high most of the about Alamos as: short tree forest in a few time, even on days without rain; about half places in the hills and near the Cuchujaqui the nights were uncomfortably humid and hot. River, south of Alamos; thorn forest on less Summer temperatures average 30.3”C for June, disturbed slopes and along some arroyos; thorn the hottest month, 27.8”C for July, and 27S”C scrub near areas of cultivation, in heavily for August (based on average for 28 years, see pastured sites, and in drier situations generally; Hastings 1964). The summer rains ordinarily and mixed desert and thorn scrub in very dry commence abruptly in late June or early July, sites, in badly overgrazed or otherwise very peak in July and August, and gradually dimindisturbed areas, and in increasing abundance ish in September. About three-quarters of as one proceeds north and west from Alamos the annual precipitation of 643.5 mm (Hasttoward the Mayo River and Navojoa [for ings 1964) falls in these 4 months, mainly in example, I found scattered, large saguaro July and August. Winter rains fall mainly cacti (Carnegiea gigantea) on Cerro Prieto, in December and January, accounting for a a hill a dozen miles out of Navojoa along the small portion (16%) of the annual rainfall, Alamos road, and the only stand of this desert which nevertheless is important because these

A SECOND HYBRID WILLIAMSON'S X RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER AND AN EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF SAPSUCKERS

The discovery of a second hybrid between the Williamsons Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus) and the Red-naped Sapsucker (S. nuchalis) is noteworthy because the first reported hybrid of these woodpeckers (Oberholser 1930) was only casually mentioned and incompletely described. Hybridization between these sapsuckers also is interesting in view of the hybridization among the three species (S. varius, S. ruber, S. nuchalis) comprising the superspecies Sphyrapicus varius (Howell 1952; Short 1969). The hybrid reported by Oberholser, a female (Carnegie Museum collection, bearing Cleveland Museum no. 10042), was obtained 25 October 1929 at an elevation of 6000 ft in the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona by W. W. Brown. We found in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History a male hybrid (no. 56494) taken by F. Robinette on 1 January 1891 at Rancheria de los Apaches, northern Chihuahua, Mexico. Both hybrids are adults, and both resemble the Williamsons Sapsucker more closely than they do the Red-naped Sapsucker. In contrast to the almost completely allopatric distribution of the three sapsuckers comprising the S. varius complex, the Williamsons Sapsucker is widely sympatric with the Red-naped Sapsucker and, to a lesser extent, with the Red-breasted Sapsucker (S. ruber); it is not sympatric with the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (S. varius). Both hybrids reported herein were collected south of the breeding ranges of all of the sapsuckers. Both Williamsons Sapsucker and the Red-naped Sapsucker regularly winter in southern Arizona and Chihuahua, where the hybrids were found. The Red-breasted Sapsucker is unknown in Mexico, except for Baja California, and it occurs rarely to casually in Arizona (A.O.U. 1957).

A New Anseriform Genus and Species from the Nebraska Pliocene

AMONG avian fossils on loan to me from the University of Nebraska State Museum is the tarsometatarsus of a goose-like anseriform bird from the early Pliocene of Nebraska. The tarsometatarsus has some features of geese and swans, and of the anatine tribe Tadornini, but it also tends somewhat oward the Cairinini in some of its features. Comparison with extant and fossil Anseriformes in the American Museum of Natural History and the United States National Museum and a study of the literature have convinced me that this tarsometatarsus represents an undescribed species that is sufficiently distinct to warrant placement in a new genus. I thank the authorities of the above-mentioned museum for their help in conducting my studies. I am grateful to Charles G. Sibley, who originally borrowed the fossil, for permission to study it. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the aid of C. B. Schultz for the loan of the material, and H. B. Gunderson of the University of Nebraska State Museum for useful information concerning the fossil. The use and potential importance of stereophotography in avian paleontology has been discussed by Cracraft (1968: 3-4). I hope the stereophotographs reproduced here will facilitate comparisons by avian paleontologists.

IN MEMORIAM: DEAN AMADON, 1912–2003

Dean Amadon, a former President of the AOU (1965–1966) and for three decades my best friend, died aft er a brief illness at home in Tenafl y, New Jersey, 12 January 2003. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 5 June 1912, Dean was already interested in birds before his parents moved to a dairy farm in Catt araugus County, western New York, in 1919. As a farm lad, he helped with chores and raised rabbits and trapped fur-bearers in winter to supplement the family’s income. He observed birds and mammals; read books by John Burroughs, Thornton W. Burgess, and Ernest Thompson Seton; and in 1925 published a note on crows in A Paper for Boys, a Sunday school paper. A high school teacher told Dean that Professor E. H. Eaton, the authority on New York’s birds, taught at Hobart College, Geneva, New York. He entered Hobart as a freshman in 1930, the year in which he also joined the AOU. In late 1933 Dean hitchhiked from Hobart to New York City to att end the AOU 50th Anniversary Meeting at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Hitchhiking back upstate to Hobart aft er that meeting, he paid the driver with a cock pheasant that he had mounted. By the time he graduated, Phi Beta Kappa, from Hobart in 1934 he had published an article on western New York birds in The Auk. He undertook graduate studies at Cornell University with Arthur A. Allen (he also briefl y studied at the University of Wyoming) but could not sustain graduate studies in the depths of the Great Depression, and aft er a few semesters, accepted a job with the Connecticut Fish and Game Department in 1936. Paid only at the end of the month, he twice pawned his Phi Beta Kappa key for

Taxonomic Aspects of Avian Hybridization

3.00. Frank M. Chapman, of the Ornithology Department at the AMNH, interviewed Dean in 1937 and hired him with funds from Mr. P. B. Philipp to curate eggs including those from Mr. Philipp’s own collection, thus commenced a 66-year association with the American Museum. At the museum in 1937 Ernst Mayr, poring over specimens, suggested that Dean, in his spare time, help him in research on the vast Whitney South Seas collections. Needing no encouragement, Dean began a lifelong friendship with Ernst. Many publications treated various taxa of Pacifi c birds, some coauthored with Mayr and many authored by Amadon alone. In this period, Dean began his lifetime research on birds of prey. Draft ed in 1942, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, dealing with insect and rodent control, working with bubonic plague carried by fi eld rats in Hawaii. In his spare time, he conducted research on the Hawaiian honeycreepers (Drepanididae) that were to form the basis for his doctoral thesis. He also spent time in the Philippines and developed a knowledge of its birds. Meanwhile, he had met Octavia (Tavvy) Gardella whom he married in 1942. The couple were devoted to one another, and to their two daughters, Susan and Emily. Tavvy oft en att ended AOU and other meetings with Dean. They frequently entertained local and overseas ornithologists, especially aft er moving in the 1950s to their Tenafl y home in the 1950s, where they made everyone feel welcome. Dean’s devotion to Tavvy was especially evident in his care of her and of the children during a critical illness Tavvy suff ered in the 1950s; he somehow continued his museum work and productivity. Later, aft er Tavvy was disabled by a series of strokes, Dean cared for her at home. He exhibited his love, kindness, and infi nite patience when with her, and maintained an outward calm as well as his cordiality, helpfulness, and friendliness to visitors. Following World War II, under special arrangement with Professor Allen at Cornell, and with administrative leave from the museum, Dean was able to complete his doctoral thesis in 1947 with a minimal residence at Cornell. Known among graduate students at Cornell (including Kenneth C. Parkes and Allan R. Phillips) for his extensive knowledge of birds and his wry sense of humor, he was also an aggressive ping-pong player. He prepared his thesis on Hawaiian honey creepers for The Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History (1950). Meanwhile his fi rst views on subspecies appeared in 1949; six more conceptual papers on lower categories (genus, species, subspecies) were to follow in the next four decades, two of which I was fortunate to coauthor. With Ernst Mayr