COBTUS, 11 



the first. The old birds thought it time now to stop operations, 

 and frequented the ofliee no more. 



" I am told by a gentleman in the ' Mail ' ofhce that the Crows 

 have built in that verandah regularl}' for five or six years past, but 

 nobody seems to have watched the nests. I am, therefore, hopeful 

 that the attempt will be repeated this year, in \\hich case 1 will 

 keep a diary of all that takes place."' 



He writes subsequently : — " I sent you a long story in my last 

 batch of notes about two eccentric Crows that succeeded in building 

 a nest upon the narrow ledge of a pillar in the verandah of my 

 office, several months after all well-conducted Crows had sent out 

 their progeny to battle with the \Aorld. I mentioned to you that 

 they were said to build in that unnatural place every year, and I 

 said that 1 \^'ould watch them this year. 



'• Well, would you believe it ? on the 26th July, when every other 

 Crow's nest in Madras had hard-set eggs, or newly-hatched young 

 ones, these two indefatigable birds set methodically to work to 

 construct a nest on the south pillar — the one where all their earlier 

 efforts were made last year, but not the one on which they suc- 

 ceeded in fixing their nest. They worked all the 26th and 27th, 

 putting up sticks as fast as they fell down, and then desisted till 

 the 4th August, when they began operations on the opposite (north) 

 pillar with redoubled energy. Meeting with no better success they 

 left off operations after a couple of days' fruitless labour. Yester- 

 day (after a delay of five weeks) they set to work on the south 

 pillar again and succeeded in raising a great pile, which, however, 

 was ignominiously blown down in the afteruoon. Today they are 

 continuing theii" work indefatigably." 



Mv. J. E. Cripps has the followiug note in his list of birds of 

 Purreedpore, Eastern Bengal; — " Very common, and a permanent 

 resident, affecting the haunts of man. They build and lay in May. 

 The Koel lays its eggs in this bird's nest. In April, 1876, I saw 

 two nests iu the compound of the house in which I lived at 

 Ho^^■rah, which were made entireh/ of galvanized wire, the thickest 

 piece of which was as thick as a slate pencil. How the birds 

 managed to bend these thick pieces of wire was a marvel to us ; 

 not a stick was incorporated with the wires, and the lining of the 

 nest (which was of the ordinary size) \Aas jute and a few feathers. 

 The railway goods-yard, which was alongside the house, supplied 

 the wire, of which there was ever so much lying about there." 



Typically the eggs may, I think, be said to be rather broad ovals, 

 a good deal pointed towards the small end ; but really the eggs vary 

 so much in shape that, even with nearly two hundred before me, 

 it is difficult to decide flhat is really the most typical form. 

 Pyriform, elongated, and globular varieties are common ; long 

 Cormorant-shaped eggs and perfect ovals are not uncommon. As 

 regards the colour of the ground, and colour, character, and extent 

 of marking, all that I have abo\e said of the Eaven's eggs applies to 

 those of this species, but varieties occur amongst those of the latter 

 which I have not observed iu those of the former. In some the 



