Schodde & Mason 1999 - fantails

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Does anyone happen to have the section of The Directory Of Australian Birds Passerines (Schodde & Mason 1999) relevant to the separation of NZ fantail from grey fantail, as followed by the NZ checklist (Gill et al.)? Please?
N

[Ian Southey]

Neil

Tidying up I came up with a shabby photocopy of the bit you want Assuming you still want to know -

"Species: There are three major groups of forms within the Rhipidura fuliginosa[i] complex, each coherent in distribution and discretely allopatric in breeding range, without intergradation. They are:

(i) [i]phasiana De Vis (mangrove fringes of Arafura Basin): dorsum and cheeks pallid mid brownish grey; white ear spot present; throat bar reduced, pallid mid grey; ventrum pale ochreish buff; spotting on wing coverts reduced. whitish; tail mid grey, with broadly rounded retrices that are edged broadly white towards tips on outer four pairs; size small with large bill (wing: both sexes c. 63-69mm; exposed culmen: both sexes c. 6.6-7.2mm; exposed culmen/wing ratio: both sexes c. 0.10-0.11).

(ii) albiscapa Gould (southern, inland and eastern Australia, Norfolk Is, New Caledonia and Vanuatu to south Solomons): dorsum and cheeks mid (brownish) grey to sooty; white ear spot present; throat bar large, dark grey to black; ventrum off-white to creamy buff; spotting on wing coverts variably well-defined, whitish; tail dark to blackish grey, with attenuately rounded retrices that are edged narrowly white towards tips on outer four pairs (prevailingly white only in one eremic Australian form); size large with small bill (wing: both sexes c. 70-78mm; exposed culmen: both sexes c. 5.5-6.5; exposed culmen/wing ratio: both sexes c. 0.08-0.09). Note: populations on some south west Pacific islands are somewhat smaller and a little whiter tailed;

(iii) fuliginosa Sparrman (New Zealand and adjacent ils, Chatham Ils, Lord Howe Is): dorsum deep grey with distinct russet cast imbuing a chocolate tone, cheeks mid to dark grey; white ear spot absent; throat bar reduced (sooty) to absent;ventrum entirely rich ochre; spotting on wing coverts moderately defined, ochreish; tail prevailingly white to approaching pattern as in albiscapa, with attenuately rounded retrices; size large with small bill, matching albiscapa Gould but tail disproportionately longer (wing: both sexes c. 70-76mm; exposed culmen c. 5.0-6.0mm; exposed culmen/wing ratio: both sexes c. 0.9-1.11), cf Ford (1981b). Note: this description applies only to bi-coloured forms; the melanistic morph in New Zealand retains the white ear spot which may have implications for the genetic basis of some plumage patterns (Stressman 1923; Mayr & Moynihan 1946).

The songs of these three allotaxa also differ from one another..."

There is a bit more discussion mainly about traits of the Australian forms

Ian

[Neil Fitzgerald]

Thanks Ian. I managed to get a copy on interloan for a few days and grabbed a scan of the bit I wanted. Thanks for taking the time to copy it here; I'm sure it will be of interest to others and easy to come back to.
Cheers
Neil