134 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 223 



Young Out of the Nest 



Hoesch (1934, p. 338) A. Roberts (1939, pp. 109-110) reported 

 seeing fledged young shafttails in company with the fledged young 

 Granatinas, in whose nests they probably had been raised. How long 

 the young parasites remained with their former nestmates is not 

 known. Roberts wrote that "at later dates young shafttails were 

 seen with flocks of adults of their own species." 



Food and Feeding Habits 



The shafttail feeds largely upon small seeds mostly of grasses. 

 I have watched them feeding on or near the ground, and have seen 

 the birds pick up bits of gravel as well as seeds. The stomach contents 

 of two birds examined contained only small grass seeds. Holub (in 

 Holub and Pelzeln, 1882, p. 123) recorded this species as eating 

 small insects as well as seeds, but did not give any details. 



Plumages and Molts 



Adult male in breeding plumage: Forehead, lores, small sub- 

 ocular area, crown, occiput, back, upper wing-coverts, inner second- 

 aries, and upper tail-coverts Black. Broad band across the hind neck 

 between Light Ochraceous-BiifT and Pale Ochraceous-Buff. Prim- 

 aries and outer secondaries Natal Brown to Olive-Brown. All but 

 four median rectrices blackish. (I have yet to see an individual with 

 all the lateral rectrices like this. In most birds examined, apparently 

 in full nuptial plumage, some, not always the same ones, of the lateral 

 rectrices are Natal Brown, fairly broadly tipped, and lateroterminally 

 edged with white. Possibly the black lateral rectrices are the last 

 feathers of the nuptial plumage to be acquired and the first to be shed, 

 and thus the time of their presence is reduced.) Four median rectrices 

 very elongated and, except for their terminal 50 mm., reduced to mere 

 shafts, blackish. Terminal "flags" also blackish, and becoming as 

 much as 12 to 15 mm. broad. Chin, cheeks, throat, breast, sides, and 

 anterior abdomen Pale Ochraceous-BufT tinged, especially posteriorly 

 and laterally with Ochraceous-Buft\ Thighs, extreme posterior 

 abdomen, and under tail-coverts black. Under wing-coverts whitish 

 tinged with Light Ochraceous-Buft". Iris dark hazel. Bill and feet 

 Coral Red. Wing 69-76 (73.5) mm. Tail 44-47 (45.5) mm. Long 

 rectrices 180-235 mm. Culmen 9-10.5 (10) mm. Tarsus 15-16.5 

 (16) mm. 



There may be some geographic variation in this plumage. Four 

 specimens from Bulawayo (in the American Museum of Natural 

 History) are much more intensely colored below and on the cheeks 



