106 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 223 



number of young spot-backed weavers brought was a nestling pintail. 

 Grote concluded that the parasite lays its eggs in nests of this weaver 

 occasionally. It appeared more likely that this chick was raised in 

 such a nest than that his native assistants had gotten it elsewhere 

 and had mixed it up with the Ploceus nestlings brought to him at the 

 same time. The possibility of confusion, however, makes this unique 

 record uncertain. 



Red-collared whydah: Coliuspasser ardens (Boddaert) *• 



A nest containing a single egg of the owner and one of the parasite 

 was found at Kilgobbin, Natal, on March 19. The eggs are now in 

 the collections of the Transvaal Museum (A. Roberts, 1939, pp. 

 106-107). This record refers to the nominate race of the host. 



Magpie mannikln: Lonchura fringilloides (Lafresnaye) *' 



A nest was found containing five eggs of the host and one of the 

 parasite, at Zimbiti, near Beira, Mozambique, October 24. The 

 eggs are now in the Transvaal Museum (A. Roberts, 1939, pp. 106- 

 107). 



Bronze mannikin: Spermestes cucuUatus Swainson ^i 



The eastern race S. c. scutatus^^ has been recorded occasionally 

 as the host of the pintail. Jackson (1938, pp. 1525-1528) wrote 

 that he and his assistant Baraka found several parasitized nests of 

 this mannildn in Kenya. H. W. Bell-Marley collected a set of five 

 eggs of this mannikin and one of the pintail at St. Lucia Lake, Zulu- 

 land, April 4, 1929. This set is now in the U.S. National Museum. 

 At Verulam, Natal, November 26, a nest containing four eggs of the 

 builder and one of the parasite was collected for the Transvaal 

 Museum (A. Roberts, 1939, pp. 106-107). V. G. L. van Someren 

 (1956, pp. 501-503) reported that in Kenya he once found two eggs 

 of the pintail in a nest of this mannikin. In northwestern Ethiopia, 

 Cheesman {in Cheesman and Sclater, 1936, p. 194) saw a female 

 pintail going into a nest of this mannikin, but did not have the chance 

 to examine the nest itself. Winterbottom (1951, p. 37) listed this 

 mannikin as an occasional host of the pintail. 



Cape fire finch: Estrilda rubricata (Lichtenstein) »' 



Haagner and Ivy (1907a, p. 81) reported a nest of this finch with 

 eight eggs, some of which were larger than the others, and which 



*» Fringilla ardens Boddaert, Table des planches enlumln6ez d'histoire naturelle, 1783, p. 39 (Cape of 

 Good Hope). 



•» Ploceus fringilloides Lafresnaye, Mag. Zool., 1835, pi. 48 (Indian Liberia). 



•' Spermestes cucullatvs Swainson, Birds of western Africa, vol. 1, 1837, p. 201 (Senegal). 



•2 Spermestes scutatm Heuglin, Journ. Omith, vol. 11, 1863, p. 18 (Dembea, Abyssinia). 



» Fringilla rubricata Lichtenstein, Verzeichniss der Doubletten des zoologischen Museums . . ., 1823, 

 p. 27 (Kafflrland). 



