PARASITIC WEAVE RBIRDS 49 



Striped grass warbler: Cisticola natalensis (A. Smith) '» 



One record, was kindly sent to me by the observer, C. J. Vernon, 

 who flushed what seemed to be a cuckoo finch from a httle clump of 

 vegetation along the Marimba Kiver, near Salisbury, Southern 

 Rhodesia, on February 28. Inspection revealed a nest of the striped 

 grass warbler with a whole and a broken egg of its own and a 

 whole one of the cuckoo finch. Since the striped grass warbler is 

 prone to desert its nest very easily, and might well have done so be- 

 cause of the damaged egg, Vernon collected the two whole eggs in the 

 set. Both proved to be fresh, unincubated eggs. Whether the para- 

 site had broken the second egg of the host accidentally or deliberately 

 cannot be determined. The record referred to the nominate sub- 

 species of the host. 



Tinkling grass warbler: Cisticola tinniens (Lichtenstein)^" 



Two races of the tinlding grass warbler have been reported as 

 victims of the cuckoo finch — the nominate race and the Kenya race, 

 C. t. oreophila van Somercn.*^^ Two definite records are at hand for 

 the southern, nominate race. A. Roberts (1913, p. 37) wrote that 

 many years earlier, his brother shot a young cuckoo finch being fed 

 by a pau- of tinkling grass warblers, and that "Mr. Noome" informed 

 him of the type and cotype of Heliospiza noomei (i.e., young cuckoo 

 finch) also shot while being fed by some tinkling grass warblers. 

 Roberts' record was the fu'st hint of the cuckoo finch being a parasite. 

 Many years later Roberts (1939, p. 117) collected a fledgling cuckoo 

 finch being fed by a pair of tinkling grass warblers at Potchefstroom, 

 Transvaal, and two others on other occasions also attended by grass 

 warblers (of unidentified species). ]N euby-Varty (in litt., December 

 28, 1950) found a similar fledgling attended by tmkling grass warblers 

 at Torre, near Marandellas, Southern Rhodesia, in either late Decem- 

 ber 1948 or early January 1949. One unsupported statement referring 

 to the Kenya race oreophila suggests that it is also victimized. Chapin 

 (1954, pp. 407-410) listed the tinkling grass warbler as a fosterer of 

 cuckoo finches, probably on the basis of Roberts' Potchefstroom 

 record. 



Tawny-flanked longtail: Prinia subflava (Gmelin)^* 



Two records refer to race P.s. affinw (Smith). ^^ O. Payne (1944, p. 

 235) found a nest with four eggs of the tawny-flanked long-tail and 



»» Drymoica natalensli A. Smith, Illustrations of tlie zoology of South Africa . . ., vol. 2, Aves, 1843, pi. 

 80 (Port Natal, i.e., Durban). 



60 Malurus tinniens Lichtenstein, Verzeichniss einer Sammlung von . . . VSgeln aus der Kaffemlande . . ., 

 1842, p. 13 (Kaffirlami). 



" Cisticola tinniens oreophila van Someren, Nov. Zool., vol. 29, 1922, p. 214 (Mount Kenya, 7,000 feet). 



"2 MotaciUa suhflara Gmelin, CaroII a Linnfi . . . systeina naturae, ed. 13, vol. 2, 1T89, p. 982 (Senegal). 



" Drymoica affinis A. Smith, Illustrations of tlic zoology of South Africa . . ., vol. 2, Aves, 1843, pi. 77 

 (interior of South Africa, Kustenburg apud Roberts). 



