PARASITIC WEAVERBIRDS 153 



Her eggs were larger than the infertile eggs of Melba Finches which were kept 

 for comparison. In a third nest of Melbas a third Paradise Whydah . . . was 

 hatched out. When they moulted out into the first summer plumage, there were 

 two hens and one cock. Mrs. Prinsloo M'atched the Paradise hen going into the 

 Zebra Finch nests. There was, as far as she was able to see, no attempt at destroy- 

 ing the eggs of the host. 



Yellow-winged pytilia: Pytilia hypogrammica Sharpe ** 



Serle (1957, p. 679) found a nest at Enugu, eastern Nigeria, on 

 January 18, 1955. It contained three eggs of the yellow-winged 

 pytilia and one of the paradise widow bird (of the race S. p. inter jecta). 

 The parasite's egg measured 17.2 by 13.3 mm., as compared with 

 14.8-15.2 by 11.5-11.9 mm,, the measurements of the host's eggs. 



Anotlier closely related species not yet definitely recorded as a host 

 but which was suspected of being one, is the red-winged pytilia, 

 Pytilia phoenicoptera.^ Writing of the race P. h. emini in the Uelle 

 District of northeastern Belgian Congo, Chapin (1954, pp. 514, 584) 

 considered it as probably a fosterer of the paradise widow bird (race 

 S. p. inter jecta), on the grounds that the breeding seasons of the two 

 appear to be synchronized in that area. 



In addition to the birds discussed above, one other species was sug- 

 gested as a victim of the paradise widow bird. Hoesch (1936, p. 10) 

 noted two Idnds of eggs in a nest of a masked weaver, Ploceus velatus,^"^ 

 in Damaraland; the unusual egg, he suggested, might have been laid 

 by a paradise widow bird. However, it is described as being pale gray 

 with broAvnish speckles and measuring 22 by 15 mm. Neither in 

 coloration nor in size does it agree with the eggs of the paradise widow 

 bird, and this suggested identification must be rejected. Apparently 

 Hoesch himself later doubted that it was a paradise wddow bird's egg, 

 as no reference is made to it in his later report (Hoesch and Nietham- 

 mer, 1940). 



Nestling Stage 



R. Neunzig (1929b, p. 5) pointed out, and indicated diagrammati- 

 cally, the close similarity in mouth markings between the nestlings of 

 the paradise ^\'idow bird and of its most frequently recorded host, the 

 melba finch {Pytilia melba). The nestling parasite was said to have a 

 single black spot on the roof of the mouth (palate) and black marks on 

 each side on both the maxilla and the mandible inside the gape 

 wattles — this pattern agreeing exactly with that of the melba finch. 

 Chapin (1954, p. 579) remarked that while the young of the yellow 

 back (P. afra) may also show this arrangement, the nestling of 



" Pytilia hypogrammica Sharpe, Ibis, n.s., vol. 6, 1870, p. 56 (Fantee, Gold Coast). 



»• Pytilia phoenicopiera Swatason, Birds of western Africa, vol. 1, 1837, p. 203, pi. xvl (Renegal). 



" Ploceui vdatM VleiUot, Nouveau dlctlonnalre d'histoire naturclle, vol. 34, 1819, p. 132 (Namaqualand). 



