Keith (or Lindsay) Fisher kindly provided this interesting response to my
scrubwren question. I have taken the liberty of posting it on for more
general information. Richard
>From: "Keith and Lindsay Fisher" <>
>To: "Dr Richard Nowotny" <>
>Subject: RE: Three questions.
>Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1998 17:32:39 +1000
>
>Hi Richard,
>Large-billed and Atherton Scrubwrens are a can of worms! There has been much
>debate amongst local birdos about them. It became apparent through CSIRO
>studies that there were differences in plumage of particularly the Athertons
>at various locations within their range, especially on the different
>mountain ranges in the area. The Birds Australia - North Queensland Group
>intend to start a project on these birds, when time permits, and will be
>looking at the genetics to try and work them out once and for all. Leo
>Joseph has done some genetic work on the Athertons and found they are
>closely related to the White-browed Scrubwren (in fact hybridisation has
>been detected using mitochondrial DNA). We have had scrubwrens in the hand
>on Mt. Lewis and had heated discussions amongst several people as to the
>exact species! So the answer to your question is that we don't know the
>ratio - we wish we knew!.
>
>Keith & Lindsay Fisher
>PO Box 2209, Cairns QLD 4870
>E-mail:
_____________________
From: Dr Richard Nowotny,
Melbourne, Australia.
Tel. (w) 61-3-9214.1420
<>
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