Ornithological and Other Oddities 



by reason of the heat in any case, even the 

 nightingale might be voted a nuisance. The 

 koel really is a delightful bird, however, if one 

 does not get too much of him, and it is unjust 

 to mix him up with the brain-fever bird, as 

 is not unfrequently done. 



The brain-fever bird is known in the books 

 as the hawk-cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius). It 

 is not so common as the koel, nor so frequently 

 seen. Indeed, it is probably often passed un- 

 identified even if perceived, as its plumage and 

 flight exactly resemble those of the commonest 

 Indian sparrow-hawk, the shikra (A slur badius). 

 Our cuckoo is fairly like a hawk, but the re- 

 semblance is not to be compared with that 

 exhibited in the Indian bird, which mimics its 

 model not only in the grey and barred adult 

 plumage, but in the brown and streaked nestling 

 livery. The hawk-like plumage of the old bird 

 is effectual in scaring away the babbling-thrushes, 

 in whose nests the hawk-cuckoo deposits her 

 eggs, and these eggs are unspotted blue, like 

 those of the babblers themselves. So far, so 

 good ; but it seems that in some cases babblers, 

 which are very clannish birds, will stand up to 

 the real hawk ; and in any case it is hardly 

 likely they would be conciliated by seeing the 

 hawk-like plumage of their foster-nestlings, which 

 they rear nevertheless. Thus it seems that all 



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