PARASITIC WEAVERBIRDS 95 



Mozambique: Zimbiti, October 24, egg. Said to breed March to June. 

 Southern Rhodesia: Marandellas, March 24, April 2, eggs. Said to breed 

 February to May. 



Nyasaland: Said to breed December to April. 



Transvaal: November 27 to February 26, eggs. 



Natal and Zululand: November 26 to April 4, eggs. 



Cape Province: April 15, female with egg ready to be laid. April 18, eggs. 



Songs and Calls 



The vocalisms of the pintail are not remarkable. The usual call 

 notes are weak, high, but sharp tsips. When a band of birds call 

 simultaneously and rapidly, they produce a light twittering chorus. 

 The song proper is a rapid but slightly modulated repetition of the 

 call note, and usually consists of from 5 to 10 syllables, occasionally 

 up to 15 or even more. The song is given in flight as well as at rest. 

 Bates (1909, pp. 53-54) referred to a vigorous twittering given during 

 courtship flight. Skead (in litt.) wrote that the call of the male is a 

 quiet, rather wispy peetzy, weetzy, and also a single thwee whistled 

 note. He also wrote that the female gives a plaintive peet-peet note. 

 In the eastern Belgian Congo, Collias (in litt.) observed that the hen 

 often gives a low-pitched, harsh "threat" note when approached by 

 the cock. Usually, I found that the notes in the two sexes sounded 

 alike. 



Courtship 



Courtship is commonly indulged in by the pintail. In this respect, 

 it and the other parasitic viduines are more like the cowbirds than 

 the cuckoos and, especially, the honey-guides. 



The courtship display of the male pintail has been seen and described 

 by many authors. I also have observed it many times in many places. 

 The first time that I witnessed it was on December 1 at Woodbush, 

 in the northern Transvaal. The male flew up from the ground where 

 it had been feeding with a female (a bird in the "sparrowy" plumage), 

 and hovered about 2 feet in the air directly over her, with his body 

 feathers slightly ruffled and his wings beating rapidly. With each 

 wing beat the four long rectrices were jerked violently and were caused 

 to stream boisterously over the hen, much like the cascade type of 

 tail display of the red-throated whydah, Coliuspasser ardens,^^ and 

 the long-tailed widow bu'd Diatropura progne.^ 



On another occasion, in Kenya, I saw a male display to a female 

 perched in a thorn tree. The display was similar to the one described 

 above. The male hovered about the same distance above the hen. 



82 Friagilla ardens Boddaert, Table des plancbes cnlumlnfiez d'histoire naturelle, 1783, p. 39 (Cape of 

 Good Hope). 



«' Emberiza proffne Boddaort, Table des planches enluminfeez d'histoire naturelle, 1783, p. 39 (Cape of 

 Good Hope). 



