PARASITIC WEAVERBIRDS 117 



the young pintails insects as well. Chapin (1954, p. 577) saw a pintail 

 capture two winged termites in the air, and then eat them. Otherwise 

 he found only seeds to be used as food, usually seeds of wild grasses, 

 "but m one instance of Eleusine and in another of meal made from 

 that same kind of millet. " 



In captivity all pintails are egg eaters, according to James (1938, 

 p. 325), but I know of no such observation about pintails in the 

 wild state. 



The predominantly terrestrial feeding habits of this bird may be 

 carried over to aviar}' life. Buttncr (1959) noted that his captive 

 birds tended to scatter the seeds from the food container and then 

 pick them up from the ground of the cage floor, a way of feeding 

 which he assumed was more natural for the birds than for them to 

 pick the seeds out of a cup or dish. 



While not contributing to our knowledge of the normal diet of this 

 bird, it should be mentioned that Terroine and Barthelemy (1922) 

 used several examples of this species in their experiments on avita- 

 minosis and inanition. As is to be expected, they found that the 

 pintail showed the same disastrous residts from vitamin deficiency 

 as do mice and other, more ordinary laboratory animals. Terroine 

 and Trautmann (1927) also used examples of this species in their 

 studies of caloric production in homoiothermic animals in relation 

 to changes in external temperature. Their results showed that the 

 pintails need approximately twice (3,468) the number of calories per 

 day at 17° C. as compared with their need (1,646) at 40° C. In the 

 southern winter m South Africa the pintails experience significant 

 degrees of cold over considerable periods of time, but we do not have 

 accurate estimates of seasonal variation in the quantity of seeds 

 ingested daily or any analyses of the seeds in terms of their caloric 

 potential to apply this information to the dietary economy of the 

 species in the wild. 



Plumages and Molts 



The molts and plumages of the pintail are as follows: 



Male: 1. Natal dowm grayish dusky, generally, tinged with pale 

 yellowish on inner portions of wings, whitish on rump. 



2. Juvenal plumage is acquired b}^ a complete postnatal molt. 



Above: Head, hind neck, scapulars, interscapulars, back, and rump 

 Tawny-Olive, darker on the head, which is intermediate in color be- 

 tween Tawny-Olive and Saccardo's Umljer. Interscapulars and 

 feathers of back with somewhat dusky centers producing faintly 

 streaked appearance. Rump washed with Cinnamon. Upper tail- 

 coverts Fuscous, broadly edged, and tipped with Sayal Brown. Tail 

 feathers fuscous-brown, narrowly edged with Sayal Brown. Lesser 



526526—60 9 



