PARASITIC WEAVERBIRDS HI 



Fawn-breasted waxbill: Estrilda paludicola Heuglin '2 



At Entebbe, Uganda, on November 11, 1917, Belcher found a nest 

 of this waxbill (nominate race) containing four eggs of the waxbill 

 and one of the pintail. This record has appeared at least three times 

 in the literature (Jackson, 1938, p. 1515; Bannerman, 1953, p. 1485; 

 and Chapin, 1954, p. 539). 



Black-cheeked waxbill: Estrilda erythronotos (Vieillot) '' 



A single record, unfortunately without further detail, seems to be 

 all that is available on this waxbill as a host of the pintail. V. G. L. 

 van Someren (1918, pp. 281-282) once found an egg of the pintail in 

 a nest of the Kenya race of this waxbill {E. e. delamerei). 



Streaky seedeater: Poliospiza striolata (Ruppell) '* 



V. G. L. van Someren (1956, pp. 501-503) listed this seedeater as 

 a victim of the pintail "to my certain knowledge," but gave no fur- 

 ther details. Van Someren's notes refer to the Kenya race P. s. 

 affinis}^ In a subsequent letter, he wrote that he knew of a nest 

 of this seedeater in a certain thick bush and saw a female pintail 

 fly out of the bush. Thereupon he looked in the nest and found 

 that it contained three eggs of the builder and one of the pintaU. 

 This record is the only one known to me. 



Golden -breasted bunting: Emberiza flaviventris Stephens '' 



V. G. L. van Someren found a parasitized nest on his grounds at 

 Ngong, Kenya, near the similarly victimized nest of the streaky 

 seedeater described above. These two records are the only ones 

 known where the pintail laid in open, cup-shaped nests. Van 

 Someren wrote me that there was no doubt about the pintail eggs 

 in either and that he was amazed at the time. 



Unverified host records: The following birds have appeared in 

 the literature as hosts of the pintail, but the evidence is not sufficient 

 to establish them even as "probable." There is no inherent reason 

 why these species could not be parasitized, but so far there are no 

 valid data available. 



Cheesman and Sclater (1935, pp. 615-619; 1930, p. 194) recorded 

 three species of grass warblers of the genus Cisticola (brunnescens, 

 cantans, and galactotes) as hosts of the pintail in northwestern 

 Ethiopia. However, all of these records pertain to the cuckoo finch 



" Estrilda palvAicola Heuglin, Joum. Omith., vol., 1863, p. 166 (middle course of Bahr el Ghazal). 



" Fringilla erythronotos Vieillot, Nouveau dictlonnalre d'histoire naturelle, vol. 12, 1817, p. 182 (India= 

 Kurrlchane, western Transvaal). 



I* Pyrrhula striolata Ruppell, Ncue Wlrbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinlen gehorlg, entdeckt und 

 beschrieben. Vogel, 1840, p. 99, pi. 37, fig. 1 (Halal and Simen, Abyssinia). 



•• Crithagra striolata affinis Richmond, Auk, vol. 14, 1897, p. 156 (Kilimanjaro). 



•♦ Emberiza flaviventris Stephens, In Shaw, General zoology, vol. 9, 1815, p. 374. 



