Focus on African Finches: The Firefronted BishopThe Scaly-crowned Weaver Sporopipes squamifrons

Abstract

There is a peculiar asymmetry in the Weaver Family, Ploceidae. The 140-odd species are divided among 18 genera. Several of these genera dominate the family. Passer, the Old World Sparrows, include 19 species. Ploceus, the Village Weavers and their relatives, is composed of roughly 60 species, while the marvelously diverse genus Euplectes, Bishops and non-parasitic Whydahs, includes at least 17 species (the uncertainty in numbers is clue to the question of subspecies). On the other hand, there are several species which are the sole members of their genus. This situation may be indicative of both strong natural selection and, at the same time, a rather long geologic history forthis family.

The genus Sporopipes. composed of only two species, is particularly isolated, to the point where it has recently been accorded its own subfamily, Sporopipinae, by some authorities (Perrins, 1990), though others (Howard & Moore, 1991) continue to include it within the subfamily Passerinae, with the Old World Sparrows and related genera.

Of the two species of Sporopipes. one, the Speckle-fronted Weaver S. frontalis, is not likely to be of future concern to American aviculturists. Its vast range, from the Atlantic coast of Senegal lO the Red Sea Coast of Eritrea, and out to Tanzania, includes the Republic of Ghana. On February 26, 1976, Ghana listed all of its seed-eating birds on Appendix lil of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species. While a listing on CITES Appendix I recognizes that the organism in question is in danger of extinction, and prohibits its commercial trade, and an Appendix ll listing implies that trade may potentially threaten populations, and requires permits and documentation for any transaction, Appendix Lil Status means only that the country that requested it requires that any specimens of the listed species exported form there do so with official documentation, and often implies nothing about actual conservation status. However, the U.S. Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1992 prohibited the importation of birds on all three Appendices after October 22, 1993, thus ending the arrival from Africa of all the most traditionally common wild-caught finches (since they occur in Ghana, ironically a country from where little if any finch export has occurred in recent decades).

Despite being an abundant bird in the areas of traditional mass finch export in Senegal and other West African countries, the Speckle-fronted Weaver was hardly ever included in the huge shipments dominated by \Vaxbills, Bishops, Cut-throats, Silverbills, ere. l do remember inquiring about some small gray birds (which l had hoped were Grayinging Finches), in a shop in California in the early 'SO's and being told they were Speckle-fronted Weavers. They must have been ve1y young, as adult Speckle-fronts of either sex (which I've never seen alive) are certainly not nondescript. They remind me of those little plastic birds, covered with chicken and Coturnix Quail feathers sold in five-anddime stores as decorations. There is an excellent photo of three wild specimens in Harper's (1986) The Practical Encyclopedia of Pet Birds/or /-Jome and Garden, beautifully displaying the rufous nape and side of the neck, the black cap covered with tiny white spots, and an overall attractive pattern of gray and black. A few have shown up in shipments from Tanzania, where exporters are more discriminating in assembling their consignments. I am not aware if there are any presently in this country and I don't believe it has ever been bred here. It does not appear to have been bred in Britain either (Coles, 1987). Nagel, a German collector, bred it in 1907, the only record of which the great aviculrural historian Emilius I lopkinson (1926) was aware. The Moscow Zoo bred Speckle-francs every year from 1974 through 1976, but failed to rear any of the eight hatched over this period (Zoological Society of London, 1976- 78) This is the only public zoo record I know of.

On the other hand, from 1964 to 1989, six zoos hatched the Scalycrowned Weaver Sporopipes squami[rons (Zoological Society of London, 1966-1991). le must be qualified, however, chat four of these were in the Republic of South Africa, which includes the greater portion of species' range, it otherwise occurring in contiguous portions of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and thus, being nowhere near Ghana, is not prohibited entry to the U.S.

Of the four South African Collections that the International Zoo Yearhookliscs as hatching 5. sq11a111ifrons(Zoological Society of London, 1966-1991 ), three accomplished this only once: An unspecified number were hatched at the Pon Elizabeth Oceanarium and Snake Park in 1964, five were hatched and reared at the Natal Bird Park in Amanzimtoti in 1966, and three were hatched and reared at the World of Birds at Cape Town in 1984. Different results were achieved at the Tygerberg Zoo in Kraaifontein, near Cape Town. Two were hatched and reared in 1986; an achievement repeated the following year. It is indicated that at least some of the four hatched and reared in 1988 represent second generation breeding, as do the six hatched in 1989.

Of the two non-South African Zoos that the IZY documents bred Scalycrowns, the more successful was in Abu Dhabi, on the Arabian Peninsula. In 1986, 1987, and 1989, one was hatched and raised. The 1987 bird is indicated as being of at least partially captive-bred parentage (Zoological Society of London, 1988-91 ). The other collection is American, the San Antonio Zoo. Despite its excellent record in propagating difficult passerines, San Antonio did not raise the two hatched there in 1980 (Zoological Society of London, 1982).

The loss of Scaly-crowned chicks is an old problem. In 1909 the prolific German...