Evans,J. R. H.

Evans, J.R.H.

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J.E.Afr.Nat.Hist.Soc. Vol.XXIV No.5 (109) June 1964SOME NOTES ON LOVEBIRDS, (Aqapornis spp.)ByJ.R.H. EVANS(Sixth Form, The Delamere School, Nairobi.)The following observations on the behaviour and breeding of Love-oirds (Aqapornis spp.) may be of interest:The family Psittacidae includes two species of lovebirds residentin Tanganyika - these are Aqapornis fischeri Reichenow and A. personataReichenow. The Yellow-collared Lovebird, A. personata, is distinguishedby its black head,.yellow neck and green rump; Fischer's Lovebird byits peach-coloured head and violet rump. Both species have dark greenwings and backs, with a lighter green belly, tomato-red beak, white-rimmed eyes and grey feet. The sexes are indistinguishable. The twospecies have very similar habits.Both species occur naturally in central Tanganyika and have alsobeen introduced to the coast at Tanga and Dar es Salaam. The type ofcountry they inhabit is typical Nyika - rather dry acacia country,sparsely wooded and dotted with baobab trees.About eight years ago I obtained five specimens of A. personata,housing them in an outdoor aviary measuring about ten feet long, fivefeet broad and seven feet high. Three years later we obtained threespecimens of A. fischeri. Although Nairobi is about two thousand feethigher than their native habitat, with corresponding differences inclimate and vegetation, both species seem to thrive here, two yearsago their numbers reached a peak of sixty, all descended from the orig-inal eight birds.The birds are provided with nesting boxes, sunflower seed and water;otoerwise they are left to fend "for themselves. Eighteen months ago Imade some holes in the aviary so that the birds are now able to enterand leave at will. No particular effort has been made to tame thebirds. Over the eight years or so I have noticed the followingfeatures:- •1. Both species appear to eat only plant foods, and their main foodconsists of seeds, such as sunflower, millet and grass seeds. Bothspecies have a habit of chewing blades of grass, as if to extract thejuices. I have never seen the birds eating fruit.2. Both species have a similar variety of calls, consisting of squawksand squeaking twitters, although I have not been able to discover thesignificance of the variations. Occasionally several birds willsquawk intermittently, almost in turn as it were, continuing this per-formance for ten or twenty seconds, until one or more of the birds willsuddenly burst out with a torrent of high-pitched twittering. Onceagain, I cannot see any reason for this peculiar habit. GenerallyA. fischeri is the more vociferous of the two species.3. Both species make a rough nest of twigs inside the nesting boxesprovided. Often a large mound of nesting material is placed next tothe entrance, presumably to act as a wind-break. Mackworth-Praed andGrant mention that both species often block the entrance to the nest83Notes on Lovebirdswith the thorns, but I have never seen this. However this may be dueto the scarcity of acacia trees in the neighbourhood.4. Both species appear to breed throughout the year, and do not followany particular breeding season. In contrast Praed and Grant state thatA. fischeri breeds between May and July; A. personata between March andAugust. A. fischeri appears to be the more prolific of the two speciesby breeding more often. Praed and Grant state that between five andseven young are produced in each brood, but three is the largest broodI have observed. According to Praed and Grant again, the young ofA. fischeri have indistinct narrow barring, but I have never noticedthis on any of my specimens.The parent birds usually feed partially digested food to theiryoung, and before disgorging the food, go through a series of hiccupingor vomiting motions. These appear to act as a stimulus to the youngbird, for it immediately opens its beak and spreads its wings to wardoff its brothers and sisters. Once, when trying to feed an abandonedyoung bird and meeting with little success, I tried going through thesame motions of vomiting, this produced instant results for the youngbird opened its beak and I was able to feed it. This method has workedwith all the abandoned young I have since fed.5. Perhaps the most interesting feature was the successful rearing ofhybrid young, which has gone on for four years. These hybrids nowaccount for about one third of the number of birds in the aviary. Inappearance they are approximately midway between A. fischeri andA. personata, having a purple rump and yellowish neck; the head is abrown colour which shades to orange on the forehead. About a year agoI began to wonder if these hybrids were breeding, as I had seen themmating and also noticed that the colour of brown on the head variedconsiderably; on some birds it was almost black whilst other birdsdiffered little from A. fischeri. This led me to suspect that some ofthe hybrids had successfully mated wi~h specimens of one of their par-ents. In February of this year I obtained proof that this was so whenI examined a nest at night and found it contained two parents, one ahybrid and one a specimen of A. fischeri, together with three youngbirds. The three young birds are now in mature plumage.These observations have, of course, been made under somewhat arti-ficial conditions, and this must be borne in mind when assessing theirvalue. However one fact seems to stand out - the ability of the twospecies to interbreed. If one accepts that a separate species is agroup of organisms which are capable of interbreeding with one anotherto produce fertile young, then it may be that A. fischeri and A. per-sonata are not separate species but merely races or sub-species of onespecies. In any event, these two lovebirds are well worth furtherstudy.(Received for publication 25th. April 1964)84

Some notes on lovebirds (Agapornis spp.)

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Some notes on lovebirds

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