褐頭嶺雀（Leucosticte sillemi）自1929年在新疆首度被德國鳥類學家發現後，迄今未再現身，一直到今年6月，一名法國自然攝影師意外地在西藏發現這種罕見鳥類，並拍下 照片，兩次發現的地點距離1500公里。經由專家認定，確定是消失80年的褐頭嶺雀。褐頭嶺雀體型與麻雀相若，身體灰白色，頭則是黃褐色。
Rediscovery of Sillem's Mountain Finch
Sillem's Mountain Finch Leucosticte sillemi is a species known only from two specimens collected by Dutch explorer Jérôme Alexander Sillem during the Netherlands Karakoram Expedition in 1929 from Kushku Maidan, a barren plateau in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in western China, at an altitude of 5125m. One bird is a worn adult male, and the other a juvenile male with wings not yet fully grown (implying that the species bred in the area).
Both specimens languished in a mixed drawer of Leucosticte and Montifringilla finches in the collection of the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam, labelled as Brandt's Mountain Finch L. brandti, until Prof. C. S. Roselaar noticed in 1991 that they did not match the other specimens in the drawer. A comparison with 400 specimens of L. brandti established that the birds represented a new species; in particular, the grey-fringed flight feathers, tawny-cinnamon head and neck, and an absence of black on the lores and forehead all serve to separate it from Brandt's Mountain Finch. In addition, the juvenile is heavily streaked above, unlike any juvenile Brandt's. He named the new species L. sillemi in a paper in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club in 1992.
OrientalBirdImages.org has photographs of the type specimens, kindly contributed by Prof. Roselaar.
Rediscovery in Qinghai in 2012
In early June 2012, Yann Muzika photographed many finches during a difficult trek in Yenigou Valley in western Qinghai, China (1500km east of Kushku Maidan), including one he could not identify. In August, he sent a batch of photographs to Krys Kazmierczak, the maintainer of OrientalBirdImages.org, who immediately identified the mystery bird as the long-lost Sillem's Mountain Finch. The identity of the birds has been confirmed by various experts, including Prof. Roselaar. Upon studying the remaining photographs, some images of what appear to be the female (hitherto unknown) were also found.
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Click the photographs above for larger versions, or visit Yann's blog for an account of the rediscovery and more photographs (including some comparisons with Kozlowia roborowskii and Leucosticte brandti).
Further research is needed, which may include trapping the bird for measurements and close-up examination, as well as possibly procuring a blood sample for DNA analysis. The decision to make this news public at this stage was taken in order to encourage visitors to the remoter areas of the Tibetan plateau to look out for the species, so that we may learn more about its distribution and habitat requirements and endeavour to ensure that it continues to survive.
References
- Yann Muzika's blog post about the rediscovery
- OBI photographs of Sillem's Mountain Finch specimens
- C. S. Roselaar's paper describing Sillem's Mountain Finch
- Wikipedia page about Jérôme Alexander Sillem (in Dutch)
| Sillem's Mountain Finch (Leucosticte Sillemi) | ||
| A rare and
strange
bird
Only two specimens have
ever been
sighted of this little bird. And the man who observed and caught the
two Mountain Finches was a Dutchman named Jerôme
Alexander Sillem (1902-1986) who
was to become the director of the Amsterdam bank Mees & Hope NV later. As a 27 year old
he
participated in an expedition in Asia. He had discovered the two birds
on the Western Plateau in Tibet at an altitude of 5000 m (or 15,000
feet). Experts assume that Sillem's
Mountain Finch is a bisexual species as it has some
similitaries
with another species called Leucosticte
brandti pallidior that
in fact embraces two genders.
Thus the bearers of our name would be something really exceptional in
the realm of nature!
When Jerôme
Alexander
discovered the birds a snow-storm
was approaching. Probably, the birds had been driven down by the
weather from even greater altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau. As the wing
of the juvenile was not yet full-grown, it is unlikely that they had
travelled far in horizontal direction. Their appearance is rather
inconspicuous, pale and not very attractive. A personal impression can
be gained at a visit to the zoological museum in Amsterdam where the
bodies are kept (see link below). Rump and underparts are grey-white,
with a slight buff tinge on the breast, the ground-colours of the
flight-feathers are drab-grey. The tail is relatively short, and the
bill is slender.
|
||
 |
||
| This is the Leucosticte Sillemi, the Sillemfinch, in a reconstruction drawing made by W. Maas in 1993 as an illustration to ta publication on thebird (supplied by Caroline Sillem). | ||
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is playing a large role in dictating how big-box retailers should
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Windows 8的上市，是微軟17年以來規模最大的產品上市計劃，執行長史帝夫‧鮑曼（Steve Ballmer）曾信心滿滿地宣稱，「Windows 8的推出將為微軟開啟新紀元。」英國《金融時報》報導，微軟砸下了10億美元的行銷預算，為Windows 8宣傳造勢。多家電腦大廠也趁勢推出搭載Windows 8的筆記型電腦、超薄筆電、平板電腦。
但是，分析師們卻是看壞Windows 8的銷售。
根據研究機構IHS iSuppli預估，Windows作業系統在所有電腦裝置市場（包括智慧型手機、平板電腦、個人電腦）的市佔率，將從2011年的44％，下滑至2016年的32％。多位產業分析師認為，Windows 8完全無助於個人電腦的銷售。
分 析師不看好的最大主因在於，Windows 8的使用介面和過去Windows系統完全不同，因此必定存在「學習曲線」，這是過去10多年來，使用者首次必須重新學習Windows作業系統。此外， 美國《財星》雜誌引述研究機構Gartner的分析表示，雖然Windows 8有平板電腦和桌上型電腦兩種版本，但是它最初設計是以觸控式螢幕為主要考量，一旦轉換至必須使用滑鼠與鍵盤的桌上型電腦版本，使用經驗仍有些許的不順 暢。
因此，一般預料個人電腦使用者更換Windows 8的意願將偏低。對於企業客戶而言，目前也沒有急迫性，必須立即更新至Windows 8。再加上過去Windwos Vista的失敗經驗，也讓使用者不敢貿然更新。
Gartner 預估，Windows 8上市第一年的銷量將比Windows 7減少6％。而且，Windows 7仍將持續熱銷至2014年。Gartner表示，明年搭載Windows 7的個人電腦銷售量預計將有1.68億台；反觀2009年10月推出Windows 7之後，搭載Windows Vista的個人電腦銷量僅有5,300萬台。
另一個影響Windows 8銷售因素的是硬體價格。
以搭載Windows 8的超薄型電腦為例，宏碁推出的S7系列，13.3吋、擁有觸控功能的售價為1,400美元（約台幣42,000元），比蘋果的MacBook Air貴了200 美元，也比谷歌最新推出、由三星生產的Chromebook超薄筆電（249美元；約台幣7,500元）要貴許多。
再看看平板電腦，微軟最近公布了自家平板電腦Surface的價格，以32GB為例，若沒有附上具觸控鍵盤功能的保護蓋，價格為499美元，若有附 上保護蓋，價格為599美元，與32GB的iPad價格相同，沒有特別便宜，更比谷歌的平板電腦Nexus 7（199美元）要貴。
不過， 仍有不少電腦大廠樂觀看待，期望Windows 8的上市能推升電腦的銷售。根據巴克萊銀行的統計數據，今年9月份亞洲電腦大廠的筆電出貨量成長了25％，是過往9月份的兩倍之多。此外，英特爾也表示， 未來幾個月，將有多達140多款使用英特爾晶片的筆電上市，其中有超過40款具有觸控螢幕功能。
Windows 8跨平台的應用，也促使多家電腦大廠推出筆電與平板電腦二合一的創新機種，包括華碩、索尼與聯想等廠商。（吳凱琳編譯）
Gartner 預估，Windows 8上市第一年的銷量將比Windows 7減少6％。而且，Windows 7仍將持續熱銷至2014年。Gartner表示，明年搭載Windows 7的個人電腦銷售量預計將有1.68億台；反觀2009年10月推出Windows 7之後，搭載Windows Vista的個人電腦銷量僅有5,300萬台。
另一個影響Windows 8銷售因素的是硬體價格。
以搭載Windows 8的超薄型電腦為例，宏碁推出的S7系列，13.3吋、擁有觸控功能的售價為1,400美元（約台幣42,000元），比蘋果的MacBook Air貴了200 美元，也比谷歌最新推出、由三星生產的Chromebook超薄筆電（249美元；約台幣7,500元）要貴許多。
再看看平板電腦，微軟最近公布了自家平板電腦Surface的價格，以32GB為例，若沒有附上具觸控鍵盤功能的保護蓋，價格為499美元，若有附 上保護蓋，價格為599美元，與32GB的iPad價格相同，沒有特別便宜，更比谷歌的平板電腦Nexus 7（199美元）要貴。
不過， 仍有不少電腦大廠樂觀看待，期望Windows 8的上市能推升電腦的銷售。根據巴克萊銀行的統計數據，今年9月份亞洲電腦大廠的筆電出貨量成長了25％，是過往9月份的兩倍之多。此外，英特爾也表示， 未來幾個月，將有多達140多款使用英特爾晶片的筆電上市，其中有超過40款具有觸控螢幕功能。
Windows 8跨平台的應用，也促使多家電腦大廠推出筆電與平板電腦二合一的創新機種，包括華碩、索尼與聯想等廠商。（吳凱琳編譯）
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