AFRICAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS — FRIEDMANN 393 



was such as would present no obstacle to ejection by the cuckoo. The 

 inference is that the young parasite (definitely identified as a black 

 cuckoo by its plumage when the feathers had grown out) tolerated, or 

 at least did not eject, its nest-mates for the first 48 hours. It is, of 

 course, unsafe to draw any hard and fast comparisons between a single 

 instance in this species with what is Imown in its relatives, the red- 

 chested cuckoo and the European cuckoo, but it may be pointed out 

 that the eviction of its nest-mates was delayed in the case of the black 

 cuckoo for at least 48 hours, as compared with less than 24 hours in a 

 similar situation involving the red-chested cuckoo, and about the 

 same in cases of the European cuckoo. 



Cuciilus poliocephalus Latham 



Lesser cuckoo 



Although this cuckoo does not remain in Africa during its breeding 

 season as far as known, some courtship feeding behavior of interest has 

 recently been recorded in Northern Rhodesia. Grimwood (in Smith- 

 ers, 1952, p. 107) watched five of these cuckoos at Danger Hill, 25 

 miles from Mpika. Of these birds, two "pairs were indulging in what 

 appeared to be courtship flights, chasing one another from perch to 

 perch, and on alighting going through a feeding behaviour, though no 

 food was seen to be transferred." While not surprising, it is of inter- 

 est to find still another parasitic cuckoo exhibiting this atavistically 

 revealing behavior pattern. 



dialcites cupreus (Shaw) 



Emerald cuckoo 



Additional data on this bu'd have to do with its host species and with 

 its courtship behavior. 



Host Records 



In 1949 I quoted a peculiar account (Friedmann, 1949b, pp. 516- 

 517) of the emerald cuckoo based on observations made on Principe 

 Island that were attributed to Keuiemans and published by BuUer 

 (1873, p. 76). Mr. F. Haverschmidt has since sent me a translation 

 from the Dutch of Keuiemans' (1866, pp. 363-401) observations 

 on the birds of Principe Island. There is no mention of the queer 

 story related by Buller, but merely Keuiemans' statement to the 

 eft'ect that he was told b}'' the inhabitants that this cuckoo deposits 

 its eggs in the nests of Cuphopterus Dohrni {^Horizorhinus dohrni) 

 and Parinia leucophaea (=Speirops lucophaea), which breed in the 

 summer, and that it probably deposits them in the nests of other 

 species as well. 



