148 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 223 



female, only much paler whitish-grey. After its flight it proved itself a lazy, 

 thoroughly voracious bird. 



At this late date, it is impossible to learn if any other kinds of birds 

 that might have acted as foster parents were present in the same cage, 

 though it appears that there probably were some. Aviculturists 

 would hardly refer to a "bird-room" unless it were a sizeable enclosure 

 with many small birds in it. Probably an aviculturist as experi- 

 enced as Russ would have known his birds well, and hence it may be 

 inferred that a certain amount of nestling feeding was done by the 

 paradise widow hens. Unfortunately this brief statement remains 

 as the only evidence of "attentive behavior" for this parasitic species. 



Boosey (1956, p. 74) noted with justifiable skepticism that Reve 

 in Germany was said to have bred the paradise widow bird in his 

 "bird room," but Boosey gave no details. 



That more than one egg of a paradise widow bird may be laid in 

 the same nest of a host is indicated by a case reported by Belcher 

 (1930b, pp. 74-75), who found a nest of Pytilia afra at Nyambadwe, 

 Nyasaland, June 25, 1924, containing seven eggs, four of which he 

 considered attributable to the paradise widow bird. This set, less 

 one egg which was broken before Belcher took the picture, is shown on 

 plate 12. It is impossible to say how manj^ individuals were re- 

 sponsible for these eggs. 



Hosts 



The known hosts of the paradise widow bird are all weaver- 

 birds. Our data are still too meager to enable us to say that only 

 species of this family are regularly parasitized, but the evidence 

 available indicates that members of one genus of this family, Pytilia, 

 are the most frequently used hosts. Of all host records, including some 

 that are not too definite, but on which I have some data, three quarters 

 relate to two species of Pytilia. In the following list of hosts I have 

 included only those records that appear to be fairly clear with respect 

 to the identification of the parasitic eggs; however, even some of 

 these records are far from satisfactory. 



Cape sparrow: Passer melanurus (Miiller)" 



This record is hardly more than a guess. Jerome (1943, p. 100) 

 found a nest of a Cape sparrow in an old nest of a lesser striped swallow 

 (Hirundo ahyssinica unitatis Sclater and Mackworth-Praed *') con- 

 taining four eggs of the host, one of a didric cuckoo, and one pure 

 white egg. The pure white egg measured 18.5 by 12 mm. Jerome 

 thought that it was a shaft-tailed widow bird's egg, but A. Roberts 



" Loxia melanura P. L. S. MOlIer, Des Ritters Carl von Linng . . . vollstSndiges Natursystem , . ., 

 Supplement, 177t>, p. 153 (Cape of Good Hope). 



«• Hirundo puella unitatis Sclater and Mackworth-Praed, Ibis, ser. 10, vol. 6, 1918, p. 718 (Pinetov.-n, 

 Natal). 



