86 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 223 



followed a pattern: It lighted on a perch over and in front of the nest, 

 then rose to the full height of its legs without leaving the perch, and 

 then dropped down to the entrance and looked in. Occasionally, the 

 female fire finch appeared to repel the intruder, but not regularly or 

 violently. At 1:35 p.m., the blackwing came to the nest, slowly 

 entered it, remained inside a few minutes, and then left. Examination 

 of the nest just after this visit revealed one egg of the parasite together 

 with those of the host. The egg was laid in the presence of the in- 

 cubating host. While the domed character of the nest prevented 

 Morel from observing the act of ovulation or of any interaction 

 between the birds, the end result indicated a complete tolerance of the 

 intruder by the fire finch. 



Nestling Stage 



As in the other parasitic weavers, the black-winged combassou 

 nestling grows up together with its nest mates and not at their ex- 

 pense. The case already cited and the illustration (plate 6) supplied 

 by G. Morel support this inference. In captivity with the red-bellied 

 fire finch as the host, according to Olsen (1958), the nestling stage 

 lasted 18 days. 



Young Out of the Nest 



As was mentioned in our discussion of the red-bellied fire finch as 

 a host of the black-winged combassou, V. G. L. van Someren saw a 

 fledgling of the latter begging for food in a small flock of the former 

 species. Hopkinson's Gambia record also showed that the fosterers 

 continued to feed their parasitic fledgling after it had left the nest. 

 G. Morel and M. Y. Morel (1955) recorded young black-winged com- 

 bassous with groups of equally young fire finches, which continued to 

 be fed by the male red-bellied fire finch after they had left the nest. 

 It is not known, however, how long after quitting the nest the 

 young parasite is attended and cared for by its foster parents. 



Food and Feeding Habits 



I watched black-wing combassous feeding on the ground by pick- 

 ing up what seemed to be smaU seeds from the grasses and other low 

 vegetation. All of the birds collected had only small seeds in their 

 gizzards. One individual had at least a hundred such seeds. In the 

 French Sudan, Bates (1934, pp. 709-710) found this combassou feed- 

 ing on the seeds of a particular plant, Eleusina coracana, but I did 

 not note a preferred food source in my field notes. These combassous 

 drink water regularly. A. L. Butler (1905, p. 316) saw them at 

 Khartoum occasionally entering house verandahs to drink from the 

 large earthenware filters. 



