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The Breeding of the Marabou Stork in East Africa
Author(s) -
North Captain M. E. W.
Publication year - 1943
Publication title -
ibis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1474-919X
pISSN - 0019-1019
DOI - 10.1111/j.1474-919x.1943.tb03827.x
Subject(s) - stork , geography , seasonal breeder , table (database) , ecology , breeding pair , avian clutch size , biology , population , reproduction , demography , computer science , data mining , sociology
Summary.1 A summary of breeding records for Kenya Colony, Uganda, Tanganyika Territory and Italian Somaliland is given in the following table. 2 The table shows that the main breeding area is the great lowland plain that stretches from the Tana River north‐eastwards into Italian Somaliland. The actual nesting quarters seem to centre around the lower middle courses of two rivers—the Tana and the Juba—and the finish of a third—the Waso. A fourth river, the Webi Shebelli, deserves investigation. 3 The breeding season over the whole of this area begins in October‐November ( i. e. , during the short rains). Conversely, the scanty records from the highlands of Kenya Colony and Uganda, and from the semi‐high country of Tanganyika Territory, show that the season here may begin in July, at the end of the long rains. 4 Most colonies are beside rivers, but others are several miles from water. 5 Either tall forest trees or thorn acacias are chosen. With forest trees, birds normally build in the highest branches, but lower forks are sometimes employed. With acacias it is the flat tops that are utilized. 6 A clutch of three eggs, now in the Coryndon Museum, Nairobi, measures 76·5–71 × 53·5–50 mm. 7 Either one or two young are normally reared. The plumages of a half‐grown nestling and of a newly‐fledged juvenile are described, possibly for the first time.