Ornithological and Other Oddities 



steady level flight. Unlike most cuckoos, the 

 koel is frugivorous ; but this does not prevent 

 her choosing crows, of all birds, as the foster- 

 parents of her young. Of the two common 

 Indian crows, the big black country crow (Corvus 

 macrorhynchus) and the smaller grey-headed town 

 or house crow {Corvus splendens), she mostly 

 favours the latter, as its laying season coincides 

 better with her own. 



These crows know perfectly well that they 

 have an account against koels, and hunt them 

 vindictively on any possible occasion, an animosity 

 which the cuckoos appear to turn to some practical 

 account. They cannot frighten the crows away 

 from their nests, so that another plan has to be 

 adopted ; while the crows are hunting off the 

 male bird, the female slips in and deposits her 

 egg in safety. The egg once laid, the crows 

 appear to accept the situation ; it is very like 

 their own clutch, except for its rather smaller 

 size, and crows are supposed not to be good at 

 arithmetic, so that an addition to the number may 

 not puzzle them. It must, however, ultimately 

 dawn upon them that the little egg has produced 

 a very curious kind of crow ; but they get re- 

 conciled to it, for they continue to feed it even 

 when it has become full-fledged and left the nest, 

 as I have myself seen. 



The nestling has been stated to be black at 



34 



