J 22



Is the Pintailed Whydah Parasitic?



as in other Whydah’s nests, nestlings identified as those of V.

principalis inside (and for all we know to the contrary the parent

hen visiting and feeding the same) ; when also a typical Whydah’s

egg has been described as that of V. principalis by the highest

authority on African birds; it needs more than a negro proverb,

disparity of size in eggs, or the fact that V. principalis , like

hundreds of other finches, is an occasional egg-stealer, to con¬

vince one that it is parasitical in its habits after the fashion of

a Cowbird. Unless Dr. Stark actually saw the hens of V.

principalis visiting the nests, how could he be sure that they

belonged to that species ?


There is frequently considerable disparity in the size of

eggs laid in a single clutch by the various smaller members of

the Viduine Ploceidce. At the end of the year 1906 when I cleared

out the nesting-receptacle in which my pair of Gouldian Finches

had been sitting, I found eight eggs sufficiently recently laid for

me to be able to blow them without trouble ; the difference in

size between some of these is extraordinary, the smallest being I

should judge about one third less in bulk than the largest. I

have no proper measure handy or I would give the exact dimen¬

sions in tenths of an inch or in millimetres; but everyone who

has bred either Grassfinches or Waxbills must have noticed how

very inconstant to size the eggs of these birds are.


Of course now that the question has been raised, it will

have to be decided one way or the other by irrefutable evidence.

It seems a pity that this was not secured before Mr. Roberts

began to call in question the reliability of Dr. Stark’s observa¬

tions, he appears to have been unaware of Captain Shelley’s

confirmatory evidence.


If Mr. Roberts can bring forward convincing evidence

that V. principalis differs from all its relations in neither building

its own nest nor incubating its own eggs ; it will then become

necessary to discover what species of Whydah built Dr. Stark’s

nests and laid the spotted type of egg described by Captain

Shelley.



