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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 124. No. 1. March 2012 
The egg of the Shiny Cowbird (Fig. 1A) 
weighed 3.4 g and was 21.9 mm in length and 
17.3 mm in width. The estimated volume was 
3,342 mm 1 . The Shiny Cowbird egg was white 
and had irregular dark-brown spots concentrated 
in the rhomb pole without forming a crown. 
Only the female Cinereous Warbling Finch 
incubated the eggs. We observed the male bringing 
food to its partner during the building of the nest 
(n = I ) and during incubation (n = 2). The male 
would bring intact food in its beak and offer it to the 
female, which did not adopt a 'begging* behavior. 
We saw the female eject one of her own eggs 
from the nest on 24 October 2010. She held the 
egg with the beak in a manner that left no doubt 
the egg was already broken and then tlew from the 
nest dropping the egg on the ground under the 
nest. We found only two eggs in its chamber (1 
Shiny Cowbird and I Cinereous Warbling Finch, 
Fig. IB) on 25 October 2010. We searched for 
evidence in the surrounding area and found 
another Cinereous Warbling Finch egg on the 
ground, 1.95 m from the nest’s vertical projection 
to the ground. The pair of Cinereous Warbling 
Finches was not seen attending the nest on 27 and 
29 October 2010 and the two eggs, whose 
temperatures were equal to that of The environ¬ 
ment, remained in the nest, indicating the nest had 
been abandoned. The nest was empty but intact on 
3 November 2010 suggesting the eggs had been 
predated. We did not verify any further attempt of 
reproduction by the pair. 
DISCUSSION 
The placement of the nest by the Cinereou 
Warbling Finches was in an Australian pine whicl 
is exotic and invasive in Brazil (Santana an< 
Encinas 2008). The tree with the nest was shor 
with numerous forks and absence of its natura 
monopodial growth pattern, differing from othe 
Australian pines adjacent to it. The nest wa 
active from October to November, Overlappinj 
the reproductive period of the Black-cappet 
Warbling Finch (Oct to Jan) (Di Giacomo 2005 
and Ringed Warbling Finch (Oct to Feb) (Mez 
quida and Marone 2003). 
The nest of the Cinereous Warbling Finch wa; 
a low cup/Tork, following the classification o; 
Simon and Pacheco (2005). as il was huill wilh i 
branc O h W f “k''Th her0 Sh ° pe and ™ached .o „ 
F nchVSo Y ° f ,hc K**ed Warbling 
Warbling Finch which is a deep semi-sphere (high 
cup) (Di Giacomo 2005). The Black-capped 
Warbling Finch, like the Cinereous Warbling 
Finch, builds its nest with radicles, straw, and 
vegetal fibers but also with lichen and brown wool 
(Di Giacomo 2005). The Ringed Warbling Finch 
also uses grass; other materials include spider 
oothecas and silk (Mezquida and Marone 2003) 
The crown pattern of eggs of the Cinereous 
Warbling Finch is common in Einbenzidae (Sic* 
1997, Rodrigues et al. 2009), but not for th: 
Black-capped Warbling Finch (Di Giacomo 2005. 
De La Pena 2006). The frequency of egg laying 
by the Cinereous Warbling Finch of one egg/day 
is similar to that of the Black-capped Warbling 
Finch and Ringed Warbling Finch (Mezquida and 
Marone 2003, Di Giacomo 2005). 
The food offering by the male to the female 
Cinereous Warbling Finch was interpreted as 
courtship feeding. This behavior has been report¬ 
ed for the Ringed Warbling Finch (Mezquida and 
Marone 2003). 
The conspicuous occurrence of Shiny Cow- 
birds, the only brood parasite in the area 
(Vasconcelos 2007), allowed us to conclude the 
different egg in the nest belonged to that species. 
There are records of brood parasitism of the 
Cinereous Warbling Finch by the Shiny Cowbird 
(Friedmann and Kiff 1985); however, these 
records arc in Argentina, an area not included in 
the species’ range (Silva and Bates 2002). There 
arc also records of brood parasitism by Shiny 
Cowhirds for the Black-capped Warbling Finch 
(Salvador and Salvador 1984. Di Giacomo 2005 1 . 
We infer the cause of the ejection of the SSSJ 
and abandonment of the nest. We speculate a 
Shiny Cowbird. when placing its egg in the niN 
punctured two eggs of the Cinereous WaiWitk- 
Finch. This behavior has been described by Ho> 
and Ottow (1964) and Post and Wiley 1 
Nest abandonment suggests this is a strategy used 
to evade parasitism by the Shiny Cowbird a 
strategy also reported for the Black-capped 
Warbling Finch (Hoy and Ottow 1964). 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
This work was supported by the Brazilian Re*‘ lp - :i 
Council (CNPq) and ‘Funda^ao O Boticdrio de fVeaV' J 
Natureza'. MR received fellowships from t-NPq " Kl 
FAPEMIG (PPM). FMS received an undergraduau- 
scholarship from CNPq. We thank the administration 
Mangabeiras City Park and the Belo Horizonte 
Foundation for permission to work in Paredao da Setra “ 
Corral City Park. We also appreciate the reviews by D iemch 
