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Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Brazza's Martin/archive1

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by Ian Rose 00:29, 10 January 2013 [1].

Brazza's Martin edit

Brazza's Martin (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

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Nominator(s): Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:00, 12 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Like many other birds from the Congo Basin, this species is very poorly known, a single study in 2007 quadrupling its known range. The never-ending wars in the DRC don't help either. Anyway, this is essentially everything known about this small swallow Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:00, 12 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Lit check. Here's some things I found that may or may not be useful. Sasata (talk) 15:33, 12 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

  • if you can read Deutsch, the Web of Knowledge suggests that there might be relevant info in the following:
Title: PROBLEMS OF GENUS DIFFERENTIATION IN ORNITHOLOGY
Author(s): WOLTERS H E
Source: Bonner Zoologische Beitraege Volume: 22 Issue: 3-4 Pages: 210-219 Published: 1971
This journal is open access, and apparently the article should be available at this page, but I think they haven't activated the link yet or something. An email might be fruitful if you think this is worth pursuing.
  • Turner covers the suggestion by Wolters and other that the genus should be split, but I've send an email just in case there's something I missed. I was going to go into more detail when I write the genus article (I'm aiming for FT eventually) Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:02, 13 December 2012 (UTC) [reply]
  • Oh, link is live now, doesn't really change my view insofar as this article is concerned but I'll add a link Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:16, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Title: Notes on African Birds-Artamella gen. n., Phedina, Sigmodus.
Author(s): Sclater, W. L.
Source: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club Volume: 44 Pages: pp. 90-93 Published: 1924 (available here)
  • in theory, it should be possible to include a link to the protolog, as Le Naturaliste canadien is available online
  • Added, I wasn't quite sure if Brazza had actually collected the type bird, this confirms Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:02, 13 December 2012 (UTC) [reply]
  • It states that borbonica and madagascariensis differs from this bird through the small size, rather one-coloured back and finer dashing on throat and chest. Also I see you did not describe its throat.--Tomcat (7) 15:36, 15 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Not sure how relevant that it since there is no range overlap, but added anyway, also tweaked to make it clear that underparts includes throat
  • the IUCN classification of the bird is discussed in doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.10.008
  • I had actually seen this when I was writing African River Martin, but I didn't use it because I thought it was a bit of a digression even for that species, and Brazza's isn't DD anymore. It's more relevant to the article Data Deficient Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:02, 13 December 2012 (UTC) [reply]
  • thanks for taking the trouble to do the lit search, although I really should have thought to look at Sharpe myself ): Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:02, 13 December 2012 (UTC) [reply]
  • in the lead sentence, links to swallow and Hirundae lead to the same page
  • I think the imperial conversions should be consistent throughout the article as to whether fractions or decimals are used
  • links: plumage, clutch; I think the African countries would be sufficiently unfamiliar to a largely Western audience to justify links
  • "The song consists of a series of short notes increasing in frequency, followed by a complex buzz, and sometimes completed by a number of clicks." I can't quite put my finger on exactly why, but this sentence construction seems odd to me. How about "The song consists of a series of short notes of increasing frequency, followed by a complex buzz that is sometimes completed by a number of clicks."
  • Several paragraphs start with "This". I'm not sure if it is grammatically incorrect, but combined with the other sentences that start similarly, it adds a subtly monotonous feel. Perhaps these could be mixed up a bit for variety?
  • "The genus name, Phedina, is derived from the Greek phaios (φαιός) "brown" and the Italian rondine "swallow",[4] and the species name commemorates Italian-born French explorer Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, later to become governor-general of the French Congo,[5] who collected the type specimen.[6]" Suggest this sentence be split into two. Link governor-general?
  • what is the argument for the suggestion that this species be moved to its own genus?
  • "The current Association of European Rarities Committees (AERC) recommended practice" needs a hyphen before recommended (as a compound adjective modifying "practice")?
  • link/gloss vent
  • ""The square tail averages 46.8 mm (1.8 in)" long? wide?
  • "the black bill averages 8.5 mm (0.33 in)." ditto
  • link buff; subspecies; bird song; breeding season; courtship display; fledging
  • "end of a typically 50 cm (20 in) tunnel." needs to be hyphenated (adjectival)
  • what colour are the eggs?
  • I've followed all your suggestions with these edits, except the fact that the eggs are white is stated twice already. Thanks for ce and review Jimfbleak - talk to me? 19:27, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. Meets FA criteria. Sasata (talk) 21:51, 18 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Many thanks for support

Support Comments by Ben MacDui

This looks in very good shape to me and I only have a few comments.
  • several streaked African Hirundo species
Does this mean 'species of the Hirundininae subfamily'? - 'Hirundo' is not otherwise explained.
  • The song is similar to that of Banded Martin, and does not resemble Mascarene Martin, suggesting unresolved taxonomic problems
Missing 'the's before the species name?
  • known to breed in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of the Congo, and in northern Angola.
Does not need the first 'and'.
'Gabon' could be linked.
  • The Helm dictionary of Scientific Bird Names uses a capital 'd' in Dictionary on its front page.
Action??
  • In the lead - it does not appear to be facing any serious short-term threats.
I am sure individuals experience threats on a daily basis and "the species does not appear to be facing any serious short-term threats." might be better. A shade pedantic perhaps - it is obvious what is meant but it read a little oddly on first sight. Ben MacDui 20:09, 15 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks for reveiw and comments, I hope they are all as painless as this (: Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:17, 16 December 2012 (UTC) [reply]
  • Two PSs.
    • Image licences look fine to me.
    • There is no explanation of the Eng. lang name. It may have a connection with Brazzaville - do we know? Ben MacDui 10:22, 16 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Named for Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza. See first section of taxonomy. Chris857 (talk) 17:16, 16 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry to be dense. Ben MacDui 21:21, 16 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I recommend a wee dram to get you back up to speed (; Jimfbleak - talk to me? 06:51, 17 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Comments - reading through now. pending minor style issue below. Casliber (talk · contribs) 19:37, 26 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Any reason why Congo Martin is still bolded in Taxonomy section?

Other than that, little to complain about....Casliber (talk · contribs) 19:49, 26 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Source review - spotchecks not done

  • Be consistent in how multi-author sources are notated
  • Location for de Klemm?
  • FN22: check for consistency with templated citations. Nikkimaria (talk) 02:47, 8 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • I suspect that Nikki's first point relates to say FN2 ("Turner & Rose") and FN6 ("Sharpe & Wyatt") vs. FN13 ("Mills, Michael S L; Cohen, Callan") -- I prefer to see the latter style (semi-colon rather than ampersand) in the citations as it matches the style in the reference section. Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 13:21, 8 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • Actually, though your amended version is fine, the original inconsistency pointed out by Ian was okay too because it was a difference between shortened and full citations, rather than between citations of the same type. What I was referring to (still inconsistent) is that in the Cited texts section the first source does not include commas in the listing of authors after first author (Barthel P H; Bauer H-G...), whereas all other entries (and full citations in footnotes) do. By the way, someone's added an error in FN5, and your updated citation style doesn't match FN14 (which still uses the old style). Oh, and FN22 is still short a few periods. Nikkimaria (talk) 15:56, 8 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • Ah, I've reverted to ampersands rather than have to list all the authors at FN14. I've sprinkled full stops everywhere they could possibly go in FN22. There ought to be a template for X in Y where Y is an on-line rather than real book or journal Jimfbleak - talk to me? 16:59, 8 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • You probably could use a book template for this situation if you could figure out how to deal with the lead/topic/normal editor distinction. Anyways, all looks good now. Nikkimaria (talk) 19:24, 8 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Support (can't comment on finer ornithological details, but those are covered by previous reviews). The article appears to cover all noteworthy facts, is well-structured and sourced.

  • I'm not completely happy with the range map, as an occasional reader may not immediately identify the African region - the map is zoomed in, so the African coastline is only partially visible. Tried to improve the caption a bit, but if you have any better ideas, feel free to revert. GermanJoe (talk) 10:59, 9 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • Thanks for support, Joe. I've added an inset map of Africa to clarify location Jimfbleak - talk to me? 13:27, 9 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]


The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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