94 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 65 



night after leaving the nest, may be extended by the observations of 

 R. A. Reed in the Transvaal, who kindly sent me the following (in 

 Hit). 



At 5:45 p.m. on March 13 a fuUy fledged didric chick in a red 

 bishop nest was about to leave the nest as I touched it. At 6:30 

 a.m. on March 15 when I revisited this nest the chick had left. 

 On March 19 I found this bird lustily uttering its hunger call 

 close to the nest, accompanied by a red bishop. This chick I kept 

 under daily observation. By March 21 it had moved approxi- 

 mately 50 yards downstream from the nest and by March 22 

 it had estabhshed itself in some shrubbery approximately 80 

 yards from the nest, where it remained for the rest of the period 

 during which I had it under observation. . . . The bird was seen 

 on March 22 sitting quietly for 15 minutes at a time; occasionally 

 preening; black sunbirds. Cape sparrows and streaky-headed 

 seedeaters close at hand in same tree but the chick ignored them ; 

 immediately it heard a red bishop call it assumed the begging 

 attitude — drooping wings a-shiver and high-pitched twitter- 

 ing — before the foster parent arrives beside it. A moment later 

 the female red bishop ahghted beside it and fed it with food 

 apparently from its throat or crop; feeding the chick in a series 

 of regm"gitations before flying off. The chick continued to twitter 

 weakly and to shiver its drooping wings for several seconds after 

 the foster parent had left. . . . On March 25 it was stiU utter- 

 ing its hunger call and was attended by the female red bishop. 

 On this occasion it flew after its foster parent across the shrubbery. 



At 6:30 a.m. on March 25, 1955 a didric chick was stiU occupy- 

 ing another nest of a red bishop approximately 150 yards down- 

 stream from that described above. At 6:30 a.m. on March 26 

 it had flown from the nest, being fuUy fledged. I continued to 

 record the presence of only one didric chick in the shrubbery 

 until April 3 when two juveniles were caUing quite close to one 

 another. On April 4 both juveniles were present in the same tree. 

 This was the last occasion on which I recorded two juvenile 

 didrics together in this area. I continued, however, to record a 

 single juvenile which, on April 6, after being fed by a female red 

 bishop with 44 regurgitations from its crop or throat, flew in 

 swift pursuit of its foster parent, twisting and weaving for ap- 

 proximately 100 yards to a mulberry tree. Watching this bird 

 on April 9 I noted that it was stiU being fed by its foster parent, 

 which it vigorously pursued after each feeding although still 

 remaining in the close vicinity of the shrubbery patch. On April 

 11 I recorded that tliis chick now appeared very green — not 

 coppery — on the back and was still begging vigorously from the 

 female red bishop. April 12 was the last date on which I saw 

 this bird, which never, during my observation of it, had strayed 

 more than 200 yards from its original nest site. As will be noted, 

 this bird could have originated from either of the two red bishop 

 nests recorded in this area so that the maximum post-nestling 



