NESTS and eggs of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 587 



Koels' eggs are rare items in coOections. As stated iu the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the Liunean Society of New South Wales, ' vol. ii, 2ud series, 

 p. 554 (1S87), Mr. George Masters first obtained an egg of the Koel at 

 Gayudah, Queensland, on the 25th November, 1870. He shot at and 

 woimded a female, aud while pursuing her she dropped an egg. A 

 photogiaph of this egg, sent by Dr. George Bennett, was exhibited at 

 the meeting of the Zoological Society of Loudon, Juuc, 1873. 



However, the first normal egg was discovered, under highly interest- 

 ing circumstances, by Mr. S. W. Jackson, at South Grafton. I quote 

 from a copy of his printed remarks (dated 3rd January, 1895), which 

 he thoughtfully forwarded to me; — "On Wednesday evening, 31st 

 October, 1894, I was going out about three miles from South Grafton 

 into the bush, in the hope of getting a few beetles, &c., but before I 

 had gone two miles from the town, I was much attracted by a great 

 noise made by a pair of Koels, male and female, which were in an 

 apple tree (Anyophora), sometimes called a mahogany. On going up 

 to the tree I saw the female Koel sitting on a limb, near the nest of the 

 Oriole (0. viridis). I at once climbed the tree, and found the nest 

 contained three eggs of the latter bird, so I came down and sat in the 

 shade of a gum tree, and watched the female Koel. Slie first called 

 the male Koel, and both sat near the Oriole's nest. After five minutes 

 the male Koel flew away, and the female went on to the Oriole's nest. 

 I did not move from the spot where I was sitting, so after fifteen 

 minutes I got up and hit the tree, to frighten the Koel off the Oriole's 

 nest, but she would not go. I felt certain she was laying. After a 

 time I again hit the tree, and off the female Koel flew, accompanied by 

 the male Koel, who had in the meantime retiu-ncd. I was delighted 

 at this, and once more ascended the tree, and found the nest contained 

 four eggs — three of the Oriole and one of the Koel (Eudynamix cyano- 

 ceplmla). A description of the latter I have already given." 



Mr. Jackson forwarded his rare find to the Australian Musemn, and 

 Mr. North described it in the " Proceedings of the Linncau Society, 

 New South Wales" (1895), concluding with the following remark:- — 

 " It will be obsei-ved that the egg of Flinders Cuckoo is the same size 

 (^.bout) of those of the Green-backed Oriole, although, as a nile, the 

 eggs of AustraUan Cuckoos are larger than those of the birds in whose 

 nests they are deposited. In the choice of a foster-parent for its young, 

 Flinders Cuckoo has, however, exercised great discrimination in select- 

 ing a species that, hke itself, depends entirely on fruits and berries for 

 its subsistence during the spring and summer months." 



Probably the food of the Koel is not entirely frugivorous, because 

 Mr. Carl Lumholtz recorded that, at Gracemere ((.Queensland), he 

 observed foiu- Wood Swallows ( Artamus sordidus) feeding a young 

 Koel, which he shot, at the same time bringing down one of the Wood 

 Swallows. 



Mr. Ed. Cornwall, writing to me from Townsville (Queensland), 

 23rd November, 1896, reports: — 



" I have taken what I believe to be the egg of Flinders' Cuckoo. 

 I took it, on October 15th. from the nest of the Hclmeted Friar Bud; 

 and as the Cuckoos were verj' plentiful here, and were evidently mating. 



