108 U.S. NATIONAL MTJSEUM BULLETIN 223 



be the most frequent fosterer of Hypochera, so when any discrepancy 

 of size is noticed among the eggs it will be wise to allow them to 

 hatch and to study the nestlings closely." 



Yellow-bellied waxbill: Estrilda melanotis (Temminck) 98 



Two races of this waxbill have been found parasitized — the nomi- 

 nate race in South Africa (two records), and race E. m. kilimensis^^ 

 in Kenya (one record). In the collections of the Transvaal 

 Museum is a set of four eggs of this waxbill with one of the pintail, 

 taken at Karkloof, Natal, December 20 (A. Roberts, 1939, pp. 106- 

 107). Pope-Ellis (1951, p. 126) reported seeing two fledgling pin- 

 tails attended and fed by one of these waxbills near Mont-aux- 

 Sources, in the Drakensberg Mountains, in Natal. The lone Kenya 

 record is of a nest with an egg of the parasite, reported without 

 further data by V. G. L. van Someren (1956, pp. 501-503). 



Common waxbill: Estrilda astrild (Linnaeus)' 



The common waxbill has been more frequently reported and is 

 undoubtedly more frequently parasitized by the pintail. No less 

 than six of the geographic races of this waxbill have been so recorded 

 among 44 actual instances on which data are available. In addition 

 to these cases, there are numerous statements in the literature by 

 various observers that indicate a much larger number of other, 

 individually unrecorded instances. The races definitely known to 

 be parasitized are : £". a. astrild, cavendishi,^ minor,^ massaica,* nyanzae,^ 

 and occidentalis.^ Other races will undoubtedly be found to be im- 

 posed upon as well. 



The number of cases is sufficient to enable us to summarize the 

 situation rather than to merely list them. In 32 out of the 44 cases, 

 only a single egg of the parasite was found in one nest, with from 

 2 to 7 eggs of the host. In six instances there were two eggs of the 

 pintail with from one to five eggs of this waxbill. In two nests there 

 were three eggs of the pintail with two and six eggs, respectively, of 

 the host. In each of three nests, one reported by A. Roberts (1939, 

 pp. 106-107), and two collected at Karkloof, Natal, by R. E. Symons 

 (these two sets are now in the Museum of Comparative Zoology), 

 there were five eggs of the pintail. In the case reported by 



99 Fringilla melanotis Temminck, Nouveau recueil dc planches coloriees d'oiseaux, livr. 37, vol. 3, 1823, 

 pi. 221, flg.l (Pays des Cafres, i.e., eastern Cape Province). 



so Coccopygia kilimensis Sharpc, Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum, vol. 13, 1890, p. 307 

 (Kilimanjaro). 



' ioartnostriZd Linnaeus, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 173 (Canaries, America, Africa= Capetown). 



' Estrilda cavcndiahi Sharpe, Ibis, ser. 7, vol. 6, p. 110 (Mapicuti, Cheringoma District Mozambique). 



' Habropyga minor Cabanis, Joum. Ornith., vol. 26, 1878, p. 229 (Voi River, Kenya). 



* Estrilda astrild massaica Neumann, Joum. Ornith., vol. 55, 1907, p. 596 (Njoro, Kenya). 



» Estrilda astrild nyanzae Neumann, Joum. Ornith., vol. 55, 1907, p. 596 (Bukoba, Lake Victoria). 



' Estrilda occidentalis Jardine and Fraser, in Jardine, Contributions to ornithology, 1851, p. 156 

 (Fernando Po). 



