NESTING IN. WESTERN INDIA. 19 



The eggs, I cannot say how many are laid, are glossy spotless blue 

 in colour, darker or lighter in different specimens, They are roundish 

 ovals in shape, measuring 094 inches in length by 0*73 in breadth. 



The eggs can be distinguished from those of the Bush Babbler 

 by their spherical shape, and from those of the other Malacocerci 

 by their smaller size, but the only really authentic specimens are 

 those extracted from the oviduct of the female. A single egg, as a 

 rule, is laid in each nest, but Mr. Littledale once found two Cuckoo 

 eggs and one Babbler's in the same nest, but this was an exception, 

 and I am not aware of any other collector meeting with the same 

 luck. 



The eggs of the rightful owner of the nest are not destroyed by 

 the parent Cuckoo, but as the young Cuckoo is the sole occupant 

 of the nest, he probably makes away with his nest fellows as soon as 

 they are hatched. 



Mhou; October. H. E. Barnes, 



Deesa, June to August. 



Hyderabad (Sind), August. „ 



214.— THE KOEL. 



Eudynamis honor ata, Lin. 

 With the exception of Sind, where it is rare, the Koel is very com- 

 mon. It is usually a seasonal visitant only, but in some districts it 

 appears to be a resident. They lay their eggs in the nests of the 

 Common Crow, usually one in a nest, occasionally two, but I once 

 found three, but as these eggs differ from each other, they were 

 probably the produce of different birds. Mr. Davidson, C. S., on one 

 occasion found four eggs in a crow's nest, evidently from the markings 

 the eggs of two birds, but this was late in the year, after the Koel's 

 eggs had been persistently taken, and the number of crows which 

 had not hatched off was very few. 



Mr. Littledale also found four eggs in a nest, vide B. N. H. S. 

 Journal, p. 32, No. 2, Vol. I. 



I have never found the crow eggs broken, but others have ; in these 

 cases, I believe the eggs to have been broken accidentally. The visit 

 of the female Koel to the nest is a hurried one, and when her presence 

 is detected by the crows, her departure is still more so, and eggs 

 are fragile. 



