Longtails - Is Forshaw's new book wrong? Or is Morcombe?

[natamambo]

Well today I got my Forshaw, Shephard & Pridham book (happy birthday to me ). Woodstockaus said the first page I had to look at was the Longtail painting..... imagine my surprise when I read the key and realised it seemed to be wrong! - he shows a Hecks as having a yellowish beak. A closer look and reading shows he suggests that the intermediate (hybrid?) coral beak as also being Hecks.

As I errantly said Forshaw was wrong (because I had misread Forshaw because of the way the info is presented), she replied that she had noticed the other day that Morcombe also had it wrong, so I pulled it out and saw he indeed said Hecks had the yellow bill.

In a blind panic, and bringing the candles to an abrupt end I rushed in, got Immelman and phew, to my relief he listed the Hecks as being the orange beak - the way I have always known them (probably because I grew up on Immelman's book). So I dug out Cayley and he only talks about the variation but does not split them into subspecies. Peter Slater matches Morcombe. So I re-read Forshaw and realised the error of my ways in relation to his description.

What gives? Have we all been duped by Immelman, who got it wrong but who has the "bible" for so many of us these past 40 years or so? Or has Morcombe and others like him copied the wrong text book originally? What different versions do you have based on the books on your shelf?

[Danny]

Strahan has the yellow bill as hecki too. It wouldn't be the first time a common name has been applied wrongly and perpetuated by common text. Maybe we have been duped but it seems that if so, it has been on a worldwide scale as everyone regards the red as the heck's longtail.
Jennings, W. Bryan, WB; Edwards, Scott V. (2005). "Speciational history of Australian grass finches ( Poephila ) inferred from 30 gene trees". Evolution 59 (9): 2033–47 list, in their museum specimens that their sample of hecki come from Doomadgee, QLD and their acuticauda from the Kimberley region .
The holotype of hecki ( submitted as Poephila aurantiirostris) however came from Latitude -15.483 , Longitude 128.116 which lands you in Wyndham, WA.
The holotype of acuticauda is described as:
Amadina acuticauda Gould, 1840, Proc. Zool. Soc. London (1839), p. 143 – North-west coast of
Australia. Peters, Vol. XIV: 360.
[= Poephila a. acuticauda (Gould)]
* STONE’S TYPE: ANSP 14622 (VN 609), ad. Verreaux Catalogue data:
, N. W. Australia.
Meyer de Schauensee’s Cotype.
MEYER DE SCHAUENSEE’S COTYPE: ANSP 14621 (VN 610), ad.
Verreaux Catalogue data: , N. W. Australia.
REMARKS: In his description, Gould states that the specimen on which
his description was based was collected by Bynoe. In the text to his plate (Bds.
Aust., 3, pl. 90) Gould remarks, “The specimens from which my figures of this
bird was taken were from the interesting collection placed in my hands by Mr.
Bynoe of the Beagle. Since the arrival of Bynoe’s birds I have also received
specimens from Port Essington”. An additional specimen (ANSP 14622, VN 608,
, N. W. Australia) is missing and may have been a syntype. Sibley and Monroe
(1990) place acuticauda in superspecies P. cincta. LONG-TAILED FINCH

This just adds to the confusion

[mattymeischke]

HANZAB is very clear:
"Bill, orange-yellow (nominate acuticauda) or orange-red to bright red (subspecies hecki)".

It is not uncommon for the location data on early specimens to be misleading, for reasons including ignorance of the actual location, confusion between the provenance of the specimen and the residence of the collector or attempts to increase the value of the specimen.

[Danny]

What distribution does HANZAB give - The old SD Macdonald Birds of Australia gives Wyndham as the separation point - red to the east of Wyndham, yellow (or orange as they call it) to the west.

[Tiaris]

Its not that uncommon to see one published error perpetuating another (or others). It usually stems from authors attempting to cover subject areas outside of their own expertise and hence relying on literature searches for their own published data rather than hands on field study or first-hand experience with the species/sub-species concerned.

[mattymeischke]

HANZAB gives:
"Nominate acuticauda, Kimberly Div., WA, between Dampier Land and Ord R. Drainage Basin, S. to Fitzroy R. Drainage Basin; hecki Heinroth, 1900, from middle reaches of Daly and upper reaches of Roper R. Drainage Basins in Arnhem Land, E to round Leichardt R., in SE Gulf of Carpentaria Drainage Basin, NW Qld."

[mickw]

HANZAB is very clear:


It is not uncommon for the location data on early specimens to be misleading, for reasons including ignorance of the actual location, confusion between the provenance of the specimen and the residence of the collector or attempts to increase the value of the specimen.

Even during modern times its not uncommon for location data to be wrong....mostly due to the first and last reasons

[Jayburd]

Both my morcombe iPad app and my copy of his book say red billed is hecks? I have the 2004 "red cover" edition of the book.

[natamambo]

Jay, I'm disillusioned now - all those years I hoped my Original Edition (2000) Morcombe might be worth something one day (after all my OE Forshaw Parrots of Australia is). Now I find out it's wrong (otherwise why would he fix it?) so does that mean my collector's item aint .

Is the app any improvement over carrying the book? I was thinking of spending my birthday money on it.

[Jayburd]

Maybe it'll be a more valued item because he made a mistake!!!
The app is absolutely brilliant. iPad and phone compatible, easy navigation and use. Plus, all the calls are built in to the app. Press a button, and bam! You can have any fairy wren within a couple of hundred meters checking you out!!
I'm planning to use it when I'm out searching for powerful owls. Hope it works!!
Apparently there's going to be a competitor pizzey and knight app coming out. I'd save your money until then, but my guess is theyd both be equally useful.