Marsh Widowbird, female, male, non breeding male, figure from Bannerman (1949)
Marsh Widowbird distribution, type locality circled
Introduction
The Marsh Widowbird was formally described by Jose Vicente Barbosa du Bocage, a Portuguese zoologist and politician. He was curator of the Lisbon Museum, and described several other weavers.
The Marsh Widowbird was collected by Jose Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta, a Portuguese explorer and naturalist, who collected a large number of birds in Angola.
In 1867 the Portuguese government hired Anchieta as a naturalist but probably also as a secret agent and informer in the Caconda region of Angola. Anchieta lived in Caconda, explored the area and sent many specimens and letters to his scientific correspondents in Lisbon. Anchieta discovered the Marsh Widowbird near Caconda, and sent a single male specimen to the Lisbon Museum. Bocage measured the tail as 160 mm, while tail length in the nominate subspecies is usually 163-201 mm.
The first illustration of the Marsh Widowbird was published in Delacour (1933). The second illustration was published by Bannerman (1949), as a black and white sketch, but also showing the female and non-breeding male.
The type specimen was in the Museum of Lisbon, before a fire destroyed the museum.
All news items relating to this species
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