Introduction

The Cardinal Quelea was collected by Emin Pasha, a Ottoman-German physician, naturalist, and governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria on the upper Nile. He collected a large number of birds in Uganda and Sudan.

Emin collected a large number of male and female Cardinal Queleas around Lado in July to August 1879. The specimens were sent to Germany and through exchanges there are syntypes in various museums, including Berlin, Bremen, Bristish Museum and the American Museum of Natural History.

Emin's diaries have been published, and he wrote a little over a page about the Cardinal Quelea. He noted that water was important and flocks flew to drink in the mornings and evenings. While drinking, birds also fed on insects, while they fed on grass seeds during the day. Emin also found nesting colonies in trees and noted the clutch size as 2-4.

The first illustration of the Cardinal Quelea was of the type, but published in the year following the description. The second illustration for the species was published by Sharpe (1890), also showing the two previously described quelea species.

Scientific citation

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Type specimens

Distribution. The Cardinal Quelea occurs in South Sudan, noth-eastern DRCongo, Uganda, western Kenya, Tanzania and eastern Zambia (see map right, based on Birds of Africa).

No subspecies are currently recognised, although some have been proposed.

Habitat. The Cardinal Quelea inhabits rank grass or tall wooded grassland, especially in dry areas rather than marshes. It is ecologically intermediate between the Red-billed Quelea which inhabits relatively arid country, and the Red-headed Quelea which occurs in high rainfall areas. It often appears after rains, especially in normally drier regions. The Cardinal Quelea is highly gregarious, often being found in large flocks but also in smaller groups. Large flocks break up into smaller groups when breeding begins.

Food. The Cardinal Quelea forages on the ground, feeding on seeds, especially grass seeds, but also takes nectar. It is a pest of agricultural crops in some parts of its range. The nestlings are fed on insects, especially caterpillars, and regurgitated seeds.

Breeding. The Cardinal Quelea is polygynous. Colony size varies from large, dense colonies to small groups of nests, to sometimes solitary nests. Colonies of several hundred nests may form in areas where they were previously unknown.

The nest is a domed structure, tightly woven of grass, with a large side entrance, and no porch. It is lined with finer grass. The nest is placed between the vertical stems of grass or other vegetation, or is rarely attached to the branches of a shrub. The male builds the nest, and may complete in a day, although some nests are abndoned before completion. If a female accepts a nest, the male may construct another nest as a roost site.

2-4 eggs are laid, and they are whitish, blue or greenish and finely spotted or mottled with reddish brown or greyish mauve. Nests may be parasitized by the Diederik Cuckoo Chrysococcyx caprius.