386 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. los 



chested cuckoo was heard caHmg near the nest. It was perched on a 

 small branch nearb}'. One of the chats was standing on the edge of 

 the nest in a threatening attitude. The next morning the nest con- 

 tained one of the original eggs and another much larger one that 

 measured 25.7X18.2 mm. It was ovate, deep cream in color, and had 

 a very rough shell texture. A week later the nest was found to be 

 empty when revisited. Benson (1951, p. 98) found another parasitized 

 nest of this robin-chat at Ketete, Nyasaland, on September 22. It 

 contained one egg of the host and one of the cuckoo. Near IMar- 

 andellas. Southern Rhodesia, Neuby-Varty has reported seeing a 

 young fledgling red-chested cuckoo with a Heuglin's robin-chat, 

 according to information received from Mr. Miles. 



Haydock (1950, pp. 149-150) records the following observation 

 suggestive of the possible utilization of a hole-nesting host, a starling, 

 by the red-chested cuckoo. He writes that on Dec. 17, 1948, a pair of 

 Lamprocolius sp. were seen feeding a 3'oung cuckoo recently out of 

 the nest. On close inspection (the bird was caught) the latter appeared 

 to be a red-chested cuckoo chick, having "the tj^pical yellow legs and 

 feet, and differing from C. gularis in being practically a uniform black, 

 though there were some traces of rufous on the thighs and marginal 

 tail feathers, and odd feathers of the breast were tipped with a dirty 

 white . . . ." The identification of the starling fosterer was im- 

 possible as the birds were not collected, but Haydock was inclined to 

 feel that the species probably was Lamprocolius chloropterus elisa- 

 beth, a form previously known to be nesting in the area. 



Aside from the uncertainty as to the species of starhng involved, 

 the evidence is not suflficiently conclusive to enable us to add it (even 

 as Lamprocolius sp.) to the list of birds definitely recorded as hosts of 

 this parasite. Merely seeing a bird feeding a fledged cuckoo is not 

 necessarily proof that it raised the latter. In tliis connection, it may 

 be pointed out that Harding (1948, p. 2) saw a young red-chested 

 cuckoo, out of the nest, being fed by a Fischer's slaty flycatcher 

 {Dioptrornis fischeri) . The next day he observed the same cuckoo 

 being fed by a pair of collared sunbirds (Anthreptes collaris). 



In their recent book, Mackworth-Praed and Grant (1955, pp. 318- 

 319) write that the white-winged scrub-robin (Erythropygia leucophrys 

 leucophrys) is a common victim of the red-chested cuckoo. Just 

 what data or how many actual instances of parasitism were known to 

 these authors is, unfortunately, not stated. In my earlier account I 

 listed but a single record under the name Erythropygia leucophrys 

 brunneiceps. This refers to the same bird, although it may be pointed 

 out that Mackworth-Praed and Grant use the name brunneiceps now 

 for a race of Erythropygia zambesiana, a species not yet found to be 

 imposed upon b}^ the red-chested cuckoo. 



