150 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUIM BULLETIN 223 



iPloceus spekei (Heiiglin)) ^^ containing a most unusual assortment 

 of eggs — 1 infertile egg of Speke's weaver, 11 cutthroat eggs (5 slightly 

 incubated, 5 fresh, and 1 runt), and 3 white eggs attributed to the 

 paradise widow bird. No date or locality were given. 



Yellow-backed pytilia: Pytilia ajra (Gmelin) ^^ 



A. W. Vincent (1949, p. 696) found a nest of a yellow-backed 

 pytilia near Elisabethville, southern Belgian Congo, late in May. It 

 contained four eggs of the owner and two which Vincent distinguished 

 by their larger size and attributed to the paradise widow bird 

 (race S. p. ohtusa), this bird being fairly common in the vicinity. 

 The 4 eggs of the host measured 15.5-16.9 by 11,7-12.0 mm; the 

 2 of the parasite measured 18.2 by 13.1 and 17.9 by 13.0 mm. This 

 inferred identification is probably correct, but until a completely 

 certain record becomes known, this pytilia cannot be looked upon as 

 a proven host. Chapin (1954, p. 513) cited Vincent's record without 

 raising any questions as to its probability. Belcher (1930a, p. 330) 

 wrote that in Nyasaland nests of this pytilia and the melba finch 

 often contain larger eggs, "almost certainly those of the Paradise 

 Whydah, though this is not yet definitely established." In another 

 paper (1930b, pp. 73-75) he cited two instances of the yellow backed 

 pytilia serving as a host and illustrated the parasitized sets of eggs. 



Melba finch: Pytilia melha (Linnaeus) ^* 



The most authenticated host of the paradise widow bird is the 

 melba finch, but of even this host most of the records are inferential 

 rather than positive. 



Impressed by the coincidence of the ranges, both geographical 

 and ecological, and by the similarity of the mouth markings and 

 plumage of the young of the paradise widow bird and the melba 

 finch, R. Neunzig (1929b, pp. 12-13) suggested that the former was 

 parasitic on the latter. He had, however, no proof. Hoesch (1939, 

 p. 208), on the contrary, found that a fledgling paradise widow bird 

 did not show the correspondence in gullet markings with yonng 

 melba finches, that it had only a black speck near the end of the 

 palate and had none of the blue dots on the sides of back of the 

 palate, a characteristic said to bo common of J^oung melba fimches. 

 Possibly the young paradise widow bird was already old enough to 

 have lost these markings, which are of relatively short duration. 

 Hoesch and Niethammer (1940, pp. 363-365) noted that the blue 

 spots of the young melba finches remain visible for a fairly long time 

 after the birds leave the nest. 



'- Hyphaniornis spekei HcufjlLn, in retermann's Oeosraphische Mittheilungen, 1S61, p. 24 (Somali). 

 •3 FringiUa afra Omelin, Carolt a LInnfi . . . systema naturae, etl. 13, vol. 2, 1789, p. 905 (Angola). 

 " Fringilla melba Linnaeus, Systema natuao, ed. 10, vol. 1, 175S, p. 180 (China—Angola, ex Zedlltz). 



