50 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 23 



one of the cuckoo finch near the Hunyani River about 18 miles from 

 Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, on March 5, 1944. Neuby-Varty 

 (in litt., December 28, 1950) saw a fledgling cuckoo finch cared for 

 by a pair of tawny-flanked longtails at Umvukwe Ranch, Banket, 

 Southern Rhodesia, in February 1945. Winterbottom (1951, p. 21) 

 noted that the tawny-flanked longtail was a host of the cuckoo finch. 

 Whether he had data additional to the cases listed above, however, 

 is not clear. 



Black -chested longtail: Prinia flavicans (Vieillot) ** 



A. Roberts (1917, pp. 259-262) found a nest of the black-chested 

 longtail near Pretoria, Transvaal, on January 24, and it contained 

 one of its own and one young cuckoo finch. This record was the first 

 evidence that the cuckoo finch was a brood parasite, and to date 

 no one has found another of the black-chested longtail serving as 

 host. Chapin's inclusion of the black-chested longtail among the 

 hosts of the cuckoo finch (1954, pp. 407-410) was undoubtedly based 

 on this record. 



Unverified host records: Mackworth-Praed and Grant (1955, 

 pp. 1000-1001) wrote that the cuckoo finch is parasitic on, among 

 other birds, quail finches {Ortygospiza atricollis). Unfortunately, they 

 gave no supporting evidence or documentation, and I have not been 

 able to learn of any. The same authors (p. 873) stated, in their ac- 

 count of the Kenya rufous sparrow. Passer rufocinctus, that "pale 

 blue eggs with faint spots . . . often in these bu-ds' nests . . . are 

 believed to be those of . . . Anojnalospiza imberbis . . . but it would 

 be of interest to establish this." To date no proof has been oft'ered. 

 The statement appears to have been originated by Paget-Wilkes 

 (1938, p. 129), who wrote that he twice found such eggs in nests of 

 this sparrow, and that he once saw a cuckoo finch coming out of such 

 a nest; he raised the question whether the strange eggs might be due 

 to this parasite. Inasmuch as Belcher (1949, p. 19) once recorded 

 eggs of Klaas' cuckoo {Chalcites klaas) from a nest of the Kenya rufous 

 sparrow, the record, uncertain to begin with, is made quite unusable. 



V. G. L, van Someren (1918, pp. 282-283) found a nest at Kisumu, 

 Kenya, June-July 1912, containing young ''quite unmistakable" 

 cuckoo finches. "The nest resembled somewhat that of Quelea 

 cardinalis, being slung between grass stems and composed of fine 

 grass." This record was made before it was known definitely that 

 the cuckoo finch was a parasite, and it seems that van Someren nat- 

 urally assumed that the nest belonged to the cuckoo finch. No one 

 has since reported Quelea cardinalis as a host, so this record must 

 be left unverified. 



M Sylvia flavicans Vieillot, EncyclopMie m^thodique . . ., vol. 2, 1820, p. 438 (Soutli Africa, Namaqualand, 

 ex Levalllant). 



