382 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL IVIUSEUM vol. loe 



bulbul (Andropadus imjportunus) with five eggs of the cuckoo and 

 two of the host, reported by Ivy (1901, pp. 23-24). It was to be 

 expected that the situation in the African population of this cuckoo 

 would prove to be similar to that in the Asiatic part, and this has 

 recently been found to be the case. Air. H. M. Miles of Salisbury, 

 Southern Rhodesia, informs me (in litt.) that nearby, at Plumtree 

 School, on Mar. 2, 1954, Mr. Ian Canncll found a nest of Layard's 

 bulbul containing seven eggs of the cuckoo and one broken egg of 

 the bulbul. He also found another nest of the same host with four 

 eggs of the cuckoo and one egg of the bulbul. 



Clamator levaillantii (Swainson) 



Stripe-breasted cuckoo 



Recently m South Africa, Milstein (1954, pp. 4-5) produced evi- 

 dence indicating that this cuckoo may \?iy pm-e white eggs as well as 

 the greenish blue and pinkish ones described in my book. The case 

 is as follows. He saw two stripe-breasted cuckoos perching in a 

 wild fig tree in which there was a nest of a yellow-vented bulbul. 

 The cuckoos repeatedly hopped towards the nest and the bulbuls 

 kept them at baj^, diving onto their backs, gripping, and literally 

 riding them to the ground. The intruders, fluttering wildly, never 

 retaliated even when one of the bulbuls yanked out a tuft of whitish 

 breast feathers from one of the cuckoos. Milstein watched this 

 repeated attack and counterattack for over an hour and a half. He 

 then left, but returned several hours later when he examined the 

 bulbul's nest for the first time. It contained tvro eggs of the bulbul 

 and four large white eggs, presumably of a cuckoo. The two bulbul 

 eggs and three of the parasitic eggs were snugly settled in the nest, 

 but the fourth v/hite egg, slightly pinkish (freshest?) was on the rim 

 of the nest, almost falling out. Milstein was inclined to assume that 

 the fresh egg had been laid during his absence by one of the stripe- 

 breasted cuckoos that had shown so much interest in the nest a 

 few hours earlier. The four white eggs measured, in millimeters, as 

 follows: 27 X 22.25, 26.6 X 21, 26.25 X 21.5, and 25.25 X 20.75. 

 In this respect they agree with Ivnown eggs of both the stripe-breasted 

 cuckoo and the pied cuckoo; in rolor they agree with authentic eggs 

 of the latter. It is to be hoped that fm-ther observations, including 

 allo\ving such eggs to hatch and develop into diagnostically feathered 

 chicks, may be forthcoming. 



To the stiU meager data on the breeding season of this cuckoo in 

 various parts of its range maj^ be added the fact that Verheyen 

 (1953, pp. 305-306) records that it breeds during the rainy season in 

 the Upemba Park, Belgian Congo, where males with swollen gonads 

 were collected on October 7 and March 15. 



