The quailfinch indigobird (''Vidua nigeriae'') is a small

songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 5000 ...

. It is a resident breeding bird in

The Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

. It occurs in isolated localities, especially on river flood plains. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the variable indigobird, ''Vidua funerea''. It is a brood parasite which lays its eggs in the nest of the

African quailfinch The African quailfinch, spectacled quailfinch, or white-chinned quailfinch (''Ortygospiza atricollis fuscocrissa''), is a common species of estrildid finch found in eastern and southern Africa. Some taxonomists consider it to be conspecific with ...

, ''Ortygospiza atricollis'', a slightly unusual host since it is only a distant relative to the firefinches parasitised by most

indigobird __NOTOC__ The indigobirds and whydahs, together with the cuckoo-finch, make up the family Viduidae; they are small passerine birds native to Africa. These are finch-like species which usually have black or indigo predominating in their plumage. ...

s. It does not destroy the host's egg, but its own eggs are added to those already present. The adult male quailfinch indigobird has greenish-black plumage, and the female resembles a female house sparrow, with streaked brown upperparts, buff underparts and a whitish supercilium. Many of the indigobirds are very similar in appearance, with the males difficult to separate in the field, and the young and females near impossible. A helpful pointer is the association with the host species, the quailfinch. The diet of this species consists of seeds and grain.

References

R.B. Payne & L.L. Payne, Song mimicry and species status of the indigobirds ''Vidua'': ''Ibis'' 136 (1994): 291-304 {{Taxonbar, from=Q1924786 quailfinch indigobird Birds of West Africa quailfinch indigobird