HOST RELATIONS OF PARASITIC COWBIRDS 177 



Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 



Muscivora forficata (Gmelin) 



As far as I have been able to learn the scissor-tailed flycatcher has 

 been recorded only twice as a host of the bronzed cowbird. Merrill 

 (1877) wrote that a soldier at Fort Brown brought him a bronzed 

 cowbird egg which the soldier said he had found in a scissor-tail's nest. 

 A parasitized set taken in Lee County, Texas, May 20, 1887, now in 

 the Chicago Natural History Museum, is the only other record. Both 

 records refer to the nominate race of the cowbird. 



Vermillion-crowned Flycatcher 



Myiozetetes similis (Spix) 



A set of 4 eggs of this flycatcher with 1 of the bronzed cowbird 

 (race milleri), taken at Presidio, Sinaloa, Mexico, May 15, 1881, by 

 A. Forrer (the set is now in the A. M. Ingersoll collection), is the only 

 record for this bird as a host. The host subspecies here involved is 

 M.S. primulus. 



Kiskadee Flycatcher 



Pitangus sulphuratus (Linnaeus) 



Owen (1861, pp. 61-62) wrote that at San Geronimo, Guatemala, 

 eggs of the bronzed cowbird (race T.a. aeneus) were found occasionally 

 in the nests of this flycatcher. Salvin and Godman (1886, p. 452) list 

 the kiskadee as a host, probably on the basis of Owen's statement. 

 An indication of how little has been observed of this host-parasite 

 situation may be seen in the fact that no further data have been 

 placed on record in the century since Owen's observation. The 

 Guatemalan race of the kisadee is P.s. derbianus. 



Green Jay 



Cyanocorax yncas (Boddaert) 



Dr. Travis C. Meitzen (m litt.) collected two parasitized nests of 

 the green jay, at Mante, Tamaulipas, one on May 28, 1948, and 

 another on May 21, 1952. The first one contained 3 eggs of the 

 host and 1 of the bronzed cowbird; the second one held 3 eggs of 

 the jay and no less than 6 of the bronzed cowbird. It is very 

 unusual to find so many eggs of the parasite in any one nest, but the 

 record appears to be reliable. 



Bent (1958, p. 462) notes that Skutch found a nest of the green jay 

 near Matias Romero, in the Isthmus of Tehuan tepee, Oaxaca, on July 

 8, 1934; the nest contained a young bronzed cowbird, almost ready to 

 fledge, together with two young jays. 



The Tamaulipas records refer to the race vivida of the jay and 

 aeneus of the cowbird; the Oaxaca one involves the race luxuosa of 

 the jay and assimilis of the parasite. 



