214 Whydahs. 



broii.yht to Heu.L;lin in Abyssinia " (he writes) and ascribed by 

 him to the present species is, " from the description, obviously 

 that of one of the African Tailor-birds. 



Since the above was written more light backed by more 

 fact has been thrown on the question of this bird's parasitism 

 by some recent observations by Mr. van Someren in British 

 East Africa. These, which would seem to settle the question 

 once and for all, are contained in a letter to the A.M. for 1917. 

 (p. 2i<S). So interesting- and so important are they in this 

 connection, that I will quote the part which deals with this mat- 

 ter in extenso. In reference to Mrs. Anningson's success in 

 breeding the Pintail, he writes : — 



" This is interesting, for, in tliis country (the latter is written from 

 " Nairobi. B. K. A.) V. principalis is parasitic — that is the female lays htv 

 " eggs in other finches' nests, either one or two eggs in the nest of each 

 " host. I have never come across more than two eggs. The eggs are 

 " pure white when blown. The most common bird to be victimised is the 

 " small waxbill, Estrilda estrilda massaica, but I have also taken the eggs 

 " or young from the nests of E. paludicola, E. dclamerei, E. rhodopyga, 

 " ;ii'>l from the small fire-finch, Lagonosticta ruberrima. At this ve-y 

 " moment there are two young Pintails being fed just outside my aviaries 

 '^v a pair of waxliills. In my aviaries these birds have deposited theii 

 " eggs in a nest of the African sparrow. Passer rufocinctus, but this is no 

 " doubt due to the fact that no other birds except the sparrow and the 

 " pintails were nesting at the same time. 



" Did Mrs. Anningson's birds build a nest of their own, were the eggs 

 " laid in another bird's nest, or did Mrs. Anningson find them on the floor 

 f)f ti'e cage and put them under another bird to be incubated? 



" The voung of V . principalis do not resemble the adults in any way. 

 " They are uniform hair-brown above, buff below, and with blackish-brown 

 " bills." 



In the same letter the writer says that he has kept four 

 other East African Whydahs and that they have nested in his 

 aviaries, but owing to over-crow'ding have never been able to 

 incubate or rear their young. He says all are easily caught and 

 travel well, so should be introduced to home aviculture without 

 much difficulty. These are Coliustnithus coiicolor, hartlaubi, 

 and cqiics. and Diatvopiira progne. 



(To be continued). 



