112 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 223 



and are discussed fully in my account of that species. As is often the 

 case with errors, these records were cited in a few places in the litera- 

 ture before the error was detected, but these references may be dis- 

 regarded. 



Scaly weaver: Sporopipes squamifrons (Smith) " 



One record of an egg attributed to the pintail refers to a nest of a 

 scaly weaver by C. H. Jerome, and the tentative identification was 

 confirmed by A. Roberts (1943, pp. 100, 102). This record is dis- 

 cussed in my account of the scaly weaver as a host of the shafttail, 

 Vidua regia, where 1 believe it belongs. 



Grosbeak weaver: Amblyospiza albifrons (Vigors) i' 



Calder (1944, p. 77) found a nest at Hillcrest, Natal, in the tall reeds 

 of a reed bed, on December 14. It contained one fresh egg of the 

 grosbeak weaver, the broken shell of another similar one, and also one 

 small white egg (14.5 by 12 mm. as compared with 23.5 by 16.5 mm. 

 for the host's egg). Nine days later he found another nest of this 

 species with one small egg and none of the host's. He suggested that 

 the small eggs were those of the pintail, which is not uncommon in the 

 district, but rightly wondered why should it choose so large a host when 

 waxbills are common there. 



These two instances are at best uncertain. There are many small 

 weavers that use nests of other species and then take care of their eggs 

 in these adopted nests, and therefore cannot be ruled out as possible 

 alternate identifications. Furthermore, Calder himself informed me 

 that the dusky combassou occurs in the area, and might have been 

 responsible for the parasitic eggs. 



Long-tailed whydah: Diatropura progne (Boddaert) i" 



Masterson (1916, pp. 138-139) found a nest of Humansdorp, Cape 

 Province, with five eggs of the builder and four assumed to be of the 

 pintail. This record is poorly written, and is at best very doubtful. 

 The data are given under Vidua principalis (= F. macroura) as follows: 

 "Very common. I found a nest of the latter with nine eggs, five 

 of the usual size and four slightly larger and rounder; the four I 

 took to belong to the Whydah." The word "latter" appears to refer 

 to the preceding species in his list, which is Diatropura progne; however, 

 the eggs of the pintail are known to be much smaller, not larger and 

 rounder, than those of the Diatropura. 



" EsUelda squamifrons A. Smith, Report of the expedition for exploring central Africa . . ., 1836, p. 49 

 (South Africa). 



« Pynhula albifrons Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1831, p. 92 (Algoa Bay). 



" Emberiza progne Boddaert, Table des planches enluminCez d'histoire naturelle, 1783, p. 39 (Cape of 

 Good Hope). 



