182 NATURAL HISTORY. 



cuckoo {Ilierococcyx varius), and there were three old Babblers in 

 attendance. Nothing could induce the Cuckoo to leave the nest > 

 and finally the boy threw nest and all down and it still held on 

 with its claaws and bit at my finger. H. varius is very common 

 in the valley and on the hills above it, and its shrill cry " Pu- 

 pe-ha," " pu-pe-ha," re-echoes from every hill, and not one Babbler's 

 nest brought to me was without one of the round eggs of this bird. 

 In each case the ombrj r o Cuckoo was much further advanced than 

 the Babblers ; so it seems certain that the Cuckoo lays its egg before 

 the Babbler does, or that its period of incubation is less. Proba- 

 bly both are the case, as I remember once starting a Hawk-cuckoo out 

 of a small bush and finding in it a nest of M. malabaricus with a fresh 

 Cuckoo's eggj but no Babblers' eggs. I have litle doubt the bird 

 I disturbed had just laid this egg ; but as Coccystes jacobinus, which 

 lays very similar eggs, is common in the Satpuras where this occurred 

 I cannot be absolutely sure. During this visit to Kondabhari I neither 

 saw nor heard Coccystes jacobinus, so am sure that the Cuckoo's eggs 

 1 obtained all belonged to //. varius. 



A pair of Graculus macei was also apparently breeding near this 

 place. I could not however discover the nest, though I watched for 

 a lono time. I found a nest with two young in September last near 

 the same place ; but in thick jungle it is easy to overlook a nest placed 

 high up in a fork and of exactly the same colour as the bark. 



On my return to the bungalow I found, among other eggs collected 

 for me, two nests, each containing five eggs, of D. sylvatica and Cisticola 

 cursitans. The former is moderately common both on the Ghat and 

 in the Maidan above, but the latter never seems to enter the high 

 grass and jungle of the valley. 



Afterwards I had to leave and drive back to Sakri. On the whole 

 I found much fewer birds than I expected ; but of course no migratory 

 birds had arrived, and few young birds were flying. The only mam- 

 mal I saw was a Hare. There were fresh tracks of two Panthers and 

 a Hyena and a few four-horned Antelope, but I never came across any 

 of the animals themselves. 



Moths were common, but Butterflies were few. Of the Papilionulae, 

 the only one really common was Eratonius. I noticed a few specimens 

 of Polites, Agamemnon, and Nomius : the first two were fresh from the 

 chrysalis, and the last very battered. Caterpillars were however 

 abundant, and included several of the Sphingidae and two beautiful 

 Green Caterpillars of Actias selene. 



