NO. 4 AVIAN GENUS CLAMATOR — FRIEDMANN 39 



of the cuckoo, and, all in all, multiple eggs of the latter were three 

 times more frequent than single ones. 



In the Iberian Peninsula it is definitely established that crows are 

 only infrequently parasitized and that magpies are the principal hosts. 

 In Egypt, and in Africa south of the Sahara there are no magpies, 

 and the various species of Corvus are regularly victimized. Judging 



2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 

 Number of ne>i> 



Fig. 8. — Frequency of multiple Clai)iator eggs in nests of Corviis. 

 O, In sub-Saharan Africa. X, In Mediterranean area. 



from all the records available it appears that multiple eggs of the 

 great-spotted cuckoo in Mediterranean lands are found more fre- 

 quently in the nests of magpies than in those of crows. Thus, in 

 Spain, Lilford (1866, p. 184) found a magpie nest with eight eggs 

 of the cuckoo and five of the host, while Saunders (1869, p. 401) 

 reported others with four and six cuckoo eggs in them, although he 

 noted that other magpie nests had only one or two of the parasitic 

 eggs apiece. As mentioned above, Mountfort (1958, pp. 54-56) 

 found eight parasitized magpie nests in Spain. The number of eggs 

 or young of the great-spotted cuckoo in these were as follows : One 

 nest had six ; two had five ; two had three ; and two had two. 



In reply to my inquiry, J. D. Macdonald very kindly sent me the 

 data on 28 parasitized sets of the magpie, all taken in Spain, and now 



