NO. 4 AVIAN GENUS CLAMATOR — FRIEDMANN lOI 



of heavy parasitism the magpies seemed to be thriving. He and his 

 party found some 50 occupied nests in 1956. That there is some 

 variation in the demographic relations of the two species is suggested 

 by Wadley's notes (1951, p. 75) made in central AnatoHa, in Asiatic 

 Turkey. He found that the great-spotted cuckoo was well distri- 

 buted there, but the total population was quite small, although the 

 magpie was numerous throughout. 



Mountfort's experience seemed to indicate that parasitism was 

 generally fatal to the magpie eggs and young, as he wrote that "... 

 in only one nest did we ever find the young of both species together, 

 and this was only a very brief period. The nest in question at one time 

 contained three eggs of each species, two of those of the Magpie being 

 dented. The remaining Magpie egg hatched three days after those 

 of the Great-Spotted Cuckoo. Two days later the nestling Magpie 

 had disappeared, presumably having been either smothered or starved. 

 Herein lay the crux of the matter, for the incubation period of the 

 Great-Spotted Cuckoo is only fourteen days whereas that of the 

 much larger Magpie is seventeen to eighteen days. Unless therefore 

 the young Magpies can hatch out from eggs laid well in advance of 

 those of the parasite, they can have no hope of survival . . ." 



Garrulus glandarius (Linnaeus) Common Jay 



In my earlier account (1949a, p. 15) I mentioned that Tristram 

 (1866, p. 282) considered it probable that this jay was parasitized in 

 Palestine, but he listed no actual records. Yet, on this basis, several 

 authors have repeatedly referred to this jay as a fosterer of the 

 cuckoo. Since then, Makatsch (1955, p. 152) definitely reported two 

 parasitized nests of the jay in Asia Minor, of the subspecies, G. g. 

 krynicki, collected by Kriiper, one on May 9, 1882, and the other on 

 May 6, 1901. Each had an egg of the great-spotted cuckoo. I am 

 not aware of any other instances of parasitism on this jay. 



Ptilostomus afer (Linnaeus) Piapiac 



Recorded without data, as a victim of the great-spotted cuckoo, 

 by Mackworth-Praed and Grant (1952, p. 505). 



Acridotheres tristis tristis (Linnaeus) Common ULyaah 



This mynah, introduced into South Africa, has recently been 

 found to be parasitized by the great-spotted cuckoo at Estcourt, 

 Natal, where Godfrey Symons (1962, p. 343) observed a parasitized 

 nest, containing four eggs of the mynah and one of the parasite. 



