AFRICAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS — FRIEDMANN 387 



The Cape wagtail (Motacilla capensis) was previously listed as a 

 host of the red-chested cuckoo on the basis of two records. To these 

 may be added two more, a nest found in the Transkei, Cape Province, 

 containing one egg" of the cuckoo (E. Pike, in litt.), and a nest of the 

 race Motacillo capensis wellsi with three eggs of the wagtail and one of 

 the cuckoo found at Kabete, Kenya Colony, Apr. 26, 1944, by Wiley 

 (1948, p. 2). 



A second record of the dusky flycatcher (Alseonax adustus) as a 

 victim of this cuckoo comes to me from Walter Stanford (in litt.). 

 On Dec, 22, 1952, at Deep Gat, Somerset West, Cape Province, he 

 found a nest of this flycatcher containing one egg of its own and one 

 egg of the red-chested cuckoo. The nest was built in a little recessed 

 hollow in a tree trunk. On revisiting the nest two weeks later, Stan- 

 ford found that the cuckoo's eggs had not hatched, while the fl}''- 

 catcher's egg had done so and the young Alseonax was well feathered. 



A host overlooked when compiling my earlier account is the Cape 

 sparrow (Passer melanurus melanurus). C. J. Bergh (1942, p. 99) 

 writes from Belfast, Transvaal, that he has known the red-chested 

 cuckoo to lay its eggs in a "mossie's nest." The name "mossie" is 

 loosely used for several species of sparrows but is usually intended to 

 refer to the Cape sparrow. 



Evicting Instinct 



Considering the complete absence of any information on this topic 

 up to the time of the completion of my 1949 book, and, indeed, the 

 amount of evidence suggestive of the lack of such behavior, it is 

 gratifying that a number of detailed pertinent observations have since 

 been made. There can no longer be aiy doubt that the evicting of 

 nest-mates is commonly, perhaps regulrrly, done by newly hatched 

 red-chested cuckoos, but it still seems n-^cessary to quahfy this with 

 the statement that it seems to be less universal in this species than 

 in the European cuckoo. In the latter bird it is extremely rare to find 

 the young cuckoo tolerating any nest-mates. 



Aside from Pringie's account, which I have briefly described 

 (Friedmann, 1949b, p. 515), I now have data on three more instances, 

 all in nests of the Cape robin-chat (Cossypha cafra). Reed (1952, 

 pp. 14-15) has described one such instance, and has kindly supplied 

 me with fuller details, which are given here as they constitute a 

 better record of events than his condensed printed one. 



On Dec. 25, 1951, near Johannesburg, Reed discovered a nest of the 

 robin-chat with three eggs, one of which was a red-chested cuckoo's. 

 The nest was kept under close observation, and on the morning of 

 January 1 he found that the cuckoo's egg had hatched but that the 

 robin's eggs were still intact in the nest. By 7 a. m. of January 3 



