The Yellow-capped Weaver Ploceus dorsomaculatus is not a ‘nuthatch-weaver’ FrangoiseDowsett-Lemaire Le Tisserin a cape jaune Ploceus dorsomaculatus nest pas un ‘tisserin-sittelle’. Dans certains ouvrages leTisserin a cape jaune Ploceus dorsomaculatus est mentionne comme appartenant a la guilde des ‘tisserins-sittelles’, au meme titre que son espece jumelle leTisserin de Preuss P.preussi. Cette note, basee sur des observations extensives au Congo-Brazzaville et au Cameroun, montre que ce nest pas le cas. Alors que Ppreussi se nourrit essentiellement en prospectant l'ecorce des troncs et grosses branches, P dorsomaculatus fouille les feuillages des grands arbres a la maniere d unegrossefauvette, etsenourritegalementcomme un gobemoucheMuscicapa. Cettedifference fondamentale de techniques de nourrissage explique sans doute que ces deux especes jumelles peuvent coexister dans le meme type de foret dans une vaste region, allant du Gabon et du Cameroun jusqu’au Congo-Kinshasa. The Yellow-capped Weaver Ploceus dorsomacu- altitudeof1,800 m mentioned byCraigapparent- latus is a scarce forest resident known from a lycomes from asight record in Kivu byLippens & small number oflocalities in southern Cameroon, Wille (1976) and is best considered unconfirmed north-east Gabon, northern Congo-Brazzaville, (especially as the feeding behaviour recorded sug- southern Central African Republic (C.A.R.) and gests P preussi rather than P dorsomaculatus). P eastern Congo-Kinshasa (ex-Zaire). The distribu- preussi on the other hand, reaches the montane , tion details given by Craig (in Fry & Keith 2004) zone in Cameroon north of the Sanaga: it is contain a few errors: the only locality cited for recorded from several massifs including Bakossi, Congo-Brazzaville is Berberati, which is in fact in Kupe and the Bamenda Highlands, up to r.2,000 C.A.R. The species was first observed in northern m (it has been seen several times at Bafut-Ngemba Congo-Brazzaville in 1994, in Odzala National near Bamenda at an altitude of2,000 m, includ- Park, and reported once from Nouabale-Ndoki ing by myself, R. j. Dowsett, M. Andrews and National Park (Dowsett-Lemaire & Dowsett others in April 1997). Ppreussi is unquestionably 1998). Additional localities overlooked by Craig a nuthatch-weaver, foraging by probing the bark are Lobeke in south-east Cameroon (Dowsett- of trunks and larger branches (Chapin 1954, Lemaire & Dowsett 2000a) and Minkebe in Brosset & Erard 1986, Dowsett-Lemaire 1997 northern Gabon (Christy 2001). Lobaye in and pers. obs.). The biology ofP dorsomaculatus C.A.R. (included by Craig) was rejected by remains poorly known: the voice is unknown and Germain (1992) and the only localities acceptable the nest was undescribed until recently, when N. for C.A.R. are Berberati (Stone 1936) and Ngotto Borrow (pers. comm.) found one near Makokou (Christy 1993). in Gabon on 21 August 2001 (the source is erro- Preuss’s Golden-backed Weaver P. preussi is neously given as ‘Borrow & Demey 200T in very similar in plumage (Borrow & Demey2001) Craig). Very little has been published on its feed- & and overlaps with P. dorsomaculatus from ing behaviour. Dowsett-Lemaire Dowsett Cameroon and Gabon to eastern Congo- (1998) briefly mention that the species is distin- Kinshasa, but has a wider range, reaching Guinea guishedfromPpreussinotonlybyplumagedetails in West Africa. It is generally considered to be but also by its feeding ecology, ‘exploring the more common, and has also a wider altitudinal foliage and not the bark for insects’. This distinc- range. P. dorsomaculatus does not penetrate mon- tion is correctly stressed in Borrow & Demey tane forest sensu stricto\ it is restricted to lowland (2001). Similarly, Brosset & Erard (1986), who forest in Central Africa and is not recorded with studied the forest avifauna of northern Gabon any certainty above 1,300 m in eastern Congo- over a period of 20 years, noted: ‘exploitant les Kinshasa (Chapin 1954, Prigogine 1971). The feuillages des houppiers des arbres...vu exploitant 28-BullABCVol12No 1 (2005) Yellow-cappedWeaverisnota 'nuthatch-weaver':Dowsett-Lemaire — — les essaimages de termites’ the latter sentence cecropioides searching the base ofthe large com- , implying that it may also feed by flycatching. pound leaves for insects. Yet P. dorsomaculatus has been qualified in My next encounterwith P. dorsomaculatuswas somehandbooks (e.g. Hall &Moreau 1970, Craig in Lobeke Faunal Reserve (now a National Park) & in Fry Keith 2004) as being part ofthe assem- in south-east Cameroon in April 1997 (Dowsett- & & blage of ‘nuthatch-weavers’. Hall Moreau (p. Lemaire Dowsett 2000a). R. J. Dowsett and I 292) write ofP. dorsomaculatus Ppreussiand oth- were camped on the Lobeke stream for aweek, in , ers: ‘all are alike in the way they crawl about on an area of open-canopy, semi-evergreen forest branches and trunks oftrees searching for insects, dominant tall trees being Triplochiton scleroxylon , more like nuthatches than weavers.’ Craig (in Fry Pterygota macrocarpa Ceiba pentandra and & Keith 2004) adds ‘verylike Ppreussiin appear- Terminalia superba. A,single female (with black ance and behaviour’. The early collectors (e.g. cap) had her quarters in a number of large trees Bates 1909, 1911) did not as a rule record the next to our tent, and a pair was seen once c.1 km feeding behaviour of P. dorsomaculatus. Chapin further away. The femalewas seen each day, occa- (1954) cameacross thespeciesonlyonce, whenhe sionally feeding alone, but more frequently with collectedapair ‘climbingabout the largerlimbs of other species, including the local pair of Forest some great trees in a clearing’. This apparently Wood-hoopoes Phoeniculus castaneiceps Western , served to justify the label of ‘nuthatch-weaver’ in Black-headed Oriole,Andropadus bulbuls, various subsequent works. Yet, as the birds were collected sunbirds, Tit-hyliaPholidornis rushiae three apalis , theymaynot have been observed for long enough warblers Apalis spp., Rufous-crowned Eremomela to be certain of Chapin’s statement. My own Eremomela badiceps Fernando Po Batis Batispoen- , observations in Congo and Cameroon concur sis, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher Erythrocercus & with thoseofBrosset Erard (1986) and indicate mccallii and Cassin’s Malimbe. The female either , that the feeding behaviour ofP. dorsomaculatus is fed in the foliage in the usual agile manner (some- radically different from that ofPpreussi. times upside-down) or by flycatching. This was In Gabon (Brosset & Erard 1986), Congo and most frequently performed from the crown ofan Cameroon (pers. obs.) both P.preussiandP. dorso- almost bare tree (in leaf-bud), in circular loops maculatus occur in the open canopy ofsemi-ever- returning to the same perch or another perch in green forestorofold secondaryforest. I first came the same tree. A pair ofP.preussiwas seen several across P dorsomaculatusin primarysemi-evergreen times in thevicinityandoncein thesametree: the forest in OdzalaNational ParkinJanuary 1994. A two weaver species were some distance apart as P single male (with golden crown) flew into the preussifedexclusivelyon the barkofthe trunkand canopy ofa 50-m-tall Piptadeniastrum africanum large branches, and was closely associated with a (Mimosaceae) with a group of Dusky Tits Partis pairofRed-headed MalimbeMalimbus rubricollis , funereus and a pair of Western Black-headed which is also a typical bark-gleaning specialist. Orioles Oriolusbrachyrhynchus.Thisbirdspentthe This close association between P. preussi and M. 40 minutes it was watched searching the thin, rubricollis has been observed elsewhere too, as in feather-like foliage of the outer canopy. It occa- Nouabale-Ndoki (Congo) and otherforestsites in sionally fed upside-down, inspecting the under- Cameroon. surface of leaflets, but was never seen probing In all, I havewatchedbothP.preussiandP.dor- bark. I sawitagain thesameweek (presumablythe somaculatus sufficiently closely and frequently to same bird) in the same forest, this time with a be confident that their feeding ecologies are very muchlargermixed-speciesflockincludingCassin’s different. N. Borrow (pers. comm.), who has seen Malimbes Malimbus cassini and Yellow-mantled both species in Gabon on several occasions, is in Weavers Ploceus tricolor. It again fed like a large complete agreement with this conclusion. Given warbler in the foliage of tall trees. Later that the similarityofplumage, range and habitat, these month, I watched a pair in another forest at two siblingspecies obviouslymanage to coexist by Odzala, in a huge canopy party including using different feeding techniques. In a limited Andropadus bulbuls, several sunbirds, malimbes, part oftheir range, they may come across Brown- Western Black-headed Orioles etc. The pair fed in cappedWeaver Ploceus insignis a montane species , tall trees then flew to a medium-sized Musanga with occasionalvagrants orisolatedpopulations at Yellow-cappedWeaverisnota 'nuthatch-weaver':Dowsett-Lemaire BullABCVol12No 1(2005)-29 medium altitudes (cf. Dowsett-Lemaire & Dowsett-Lemaire, F. & Dowsett, R. J. 2000a. Birds of Dowsett 1996): thus all three were seen once in the Lobeke Faunal Reserve, Cameroon, and its the same party at M’Passa in Gabon, P. insignis regional importanceforconservation. BirdConserv. being a mere vagrant there (Brosset & Erard Intern. 10: 67-87. & 1986). ButP insignisbeinga bark-feedingspecial- Dowsett-Lemaire, F. Dowsett, R. J. 2000b. Further ist like P preussi the problem of coexistence is biological surveys of Manenguba and Central between these two, species, rather than with Pdor- Bakossi in March 2000, and an evaluation of the somaculatus. At Bafut-Ngemba near Bamenda, we conservation importance of Manenguba, Bakossi, observed P.preussi and P insignis feed in the same Kupe and Nlonako Mts, with special reference to birds. Unpubl. report to WWF-Cameroon (also tree, in an area where extensive forest destruction deposited at BirdLife International, Cambridge, had reduced available habitat to a tiny fragment. UK). Conditions of the coexistence ofPpreussi and P & Fry, C. H. Keith, S. (eds.) 2004. TheBirdsofAfrica. insignis elsewhere in their montane range in Vol. 7. London, UK: Christopher Helm. Cameroon need investigating. In the Bakossi Mts, Germain, M. 1992. Surquelquesdonn^eserron^escon- at least, they both appear rather rare an&d were not cernant Favifaune de la Lobaye, Republique observed together (Dowsett-Lemaire Dowsett Centrafricaine. Malimbus 14: 1-6. 2000b); on Mt Kupe the status of P insignis Hall, B. P. & Moreau, R. E. 1970.AnAtlasofSpeciation (reported only twice) is uncertain and Ppreussi is in African Passerine Birds. London, UK: Br. Mus. at best uncommon (Bowden 2001). (Nat. Hist.). Lippens, L. & Wille, H. 1976. Les Oiseaux du Zaire. References Tielt, Belgium: Lannoo. Bates, G. L. 1909. Field-notes on the birds ofsouthern Prigogine, A. 1971. Les Oiseaux de lltombwe et de son Kamerun, WestAfrica. Ibis 1909: 1-74. Hinterland. Vol. 1. Tervuren: Musee Royal de Bates, G. L. 1911. Further notes on the birds ofsouth- l’Afrique Centrale. ern Cameroon. Part II. Ibis 1911: 581-631. Stone, W. 1936. Zoological results of the George Borrow, N. & Demey, R. 2001. BirdsofWesternAfrica. Vanderbilt African expedition of 1934. Part VI. London, UK: Christopher Helm. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 88: 529-598. Bowden, C. G. R. 2001. The birds of Mount Kupe, southwestCameroon. Malimbus23: 13-44. Le Pouget, 30440 Sumene, France. E-mail: Brosset, A. & Erard, C. 1986. Les Oiseaux des Regions [email protected] Forestieres du Nord-est du Gabon. Vol. 1. Paris: SocieteNationale de Protection de la Nature. Chapin, J. P. 1954. The birds of the Belgian Congo. Part4. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 75B: 1-846. Christy, P. 1995. Ornithologie de Ngotto-Bambio. Bruxelles: Groupement Agreco-CTFT. Unpubl. report. & Christy, P. 2001. Gabon. In Fishpool, L. D. C. Evans, M. I. (eds) Important BirdAreas in Africa andAssociatedIslands:PrioritySitesforConservation. Newbury: Pisces Publications & Cambridge, UK BirdLife International. Dowsett-Lemaire, F. 1997. The avifauna ofNouabale- Ndoki National Park, northern Congo. Tauraco Res. Rep. 6: 111-124. & Dowsett-Lemaire,F. Dowsett,R.J. 1996. Decouverte de Phylloscopus budongoensiset autres especes a car- actere montagnard dans les forets d’Odzala (Cuvette congolaise).Alauda64: 364-367. & Dowsett-Lemaire, F. Dowsett, R. J. 1998. Further additions and deletions from the avifauna of Congo-Brazzaville. Malimbus20: 15-32. 30-BullABCVol12No 1 (2005) Yellow-cappedWeaverisnota 'nuthatch-weaver':Dowsett-Lemaire