402 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. loe 



melanocephalus duboisi) may be parasitized by the didric in the 

 Bcls^an Congo. 



The Uganda yclIow-coUared weaver (Ploceus melanocephalus 

 dimidiaius) has been recorded, -without supporting data, as a victim of 

 the didric cuckoo. Distant (1897, p. 143) states that Jackson found 

 an Qgg "considered to be of this cuckoo" in a nest of this weaver. 



To the meager data previously available on Layard's spot-backed 

 weaver {Ploceus nigriceps) as a cUdric victim in southern Tanganjdka 

 Territorj' may be added that Benson (1953, p. 35) found it to be 

 parasitized in Nyasaland as well. 



In ray earlier account (1949a, p. 173) it was noted that Cabanis' 

 masked weaver (Ploceus intermedius cahanisi) had been reported as a 

 fosterer of the didric in South Africa by Roberts. Recently Lamm 

 (1955, p. 34) wTOte that this weaver appears to be the principal host 

 of this cuckoo in southern Mozambique. He also suggested that the 

 spotted-backed weaver {Ploceus spilonotis spilonotus) is probably a 

 frequent victim of the didric in that region. Previous data on this 

 bird as a host were all from the Union of South Africa. 



I have recorded (Friedmann, 1949a, p. 175) the spectacled weaver 

 {Ploceus ocularius ocularius) as not too certainly established as a 

 Icnown host of the didric cuckoo. A definite instance has smce been 

 recorded by Skead (1952, p. 9) at King WDliam's Town, Cape Province. 



Previously (Friedmann, 1949a, p. 176), I included Smith's golden 

 weaver {Ploceus suhaureus subaureus) as a victim of the didric only on 

 the strength of its being so listed by Patterson and by Sparrow, since 

 no specific instances were loiow^n to me at the time. Since then, 

 D. C. H. Plowes has infonned me that at Umkomaas, Natal, on Jan. 2, 

 1949, he collected a nest of this weaver containing two eggs of the host 

 and one of the didric cuckoo. 



New to our earher list of victims is the Zambesi brown-throated 

 weaver {Ploceus xanthopterus) . A young didric cuckoo w^as found in a 

 nest of this bird at Karonga, Nyasaland, on February 25 (Benson and 

 Benson, 1949, p. 165). 



Also new to the roster of the didric's hosts is the red-winged ana- 

 plectes (Anaplectes rubiginosus) listed in this capacity in Nyasaland by 

 Benson (1953, p. 35). 



The red bishop bird {Euplectes orix) was recorded earlier as a 

 frequent victim, but how frequently it suffers from the attention of 

 the parasite has recently been made clear by Reed (1953, pp. 138-140), 

 who found no fewer than 23 parasitized nests in the Transvaal. 



The Zanzibar red bishop bird {Euplectes nigroventris) may be a host 

 that previously was overlooked. Fischer (1880, p, 190) found a nest 

 of this weaver with a live female didric caught entangled on it. The 



