44 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I46 



nests of Spreo bicolor in South Africa, many of the hosts' eggs were 

 found to be pecked prior to the hatching of the parasites, and hence 

 this damage, comparable to egg removal, could only be attributed to 



6 7 8 9 



Number o( Corvut cggi per not 



Fig. 11. — Distribution of Clamator glandarius eggs in Corvus nests in sub- 

 Saharan Africa, and the number of instances of each particular combination of 

 egg numbers. 



the cuckoo. In the case of the long, narrow tunnels of the Spreo 

 nesting sites it might be difificult for the parasite to remove the eggs, 

 and pecking them may be a "substitute" behavior. To this extent it 

 is evidence of the basic egg-removing habit in sub-Saharan glandarius. 



