AVIAN GENUS CHRYSOCOCCYX 69 



dark olive-brown, slightly freckled with dark bro\Mi; in some the 

 dark color may be accentuated at the two ends of the egg, forming 

 indistinct bands. North (1912) merely described the eggs as dark 

 bronze with an olive or chocolate tone, with a few flecks at the obtuse 

 end. In C. m. minutillus the eggs are uniformly greenish olive or dark 

 bronze, like those of C. m. poecUurus. 



Measurements (in mm.) are given as follows by Schon wetter (1964, 

 p. 587): C. m. malayanus: length 18; width 12.8; weight of full egg 

 1.5 grams. C. m. poecUurus: length 19.6 (19.0-20.2); width 13.7 

 (13.3-14.7); weight of empty shell 0.12 grams; thickness of shell O.OS; 

 Aveight of full egg 2.0 grams; relative weight of shell to that of fuU 

 egg 6 percent. C. m. russatus: length 20.3 (19.8-21.0); width 1.36 

 (13.4-14.0); weight of full egg 2.02 grams. C. m. minutillus: length 

 18.9 (18.5-19.3); A\ddth 13.7 (13.2-14.2); weight of full egg 1.85 

 grams. 



2. C. lucidus: eggs monomorphic with some variation in the overall 

 tone, especially in the nominate race. Because the eggs of two races 

 (lucidus and plagosus) present slight differences, this general statement 

 needs to be amplified. In typical lucidus the eggs seen by most ob- 

 servers or authors (North, 1912) are imiformly olive-broAvn with a 

 somewhat bronze tone. However, years earlier Buller (1888) described 

 them as usually greenish-white to pale olive washed w^th b^o^^^lish 

 gray. This is probably the reason why Oliver (1955, pp. 533-536) 

 \n-ote that the eggs of lucidus are greenish or bluish white to olive- 

 brown or dark greenish-broAATi. In the Australian race, plagosus, the 

 eggs are also uniform, varying from yellowish olive-brown to greenish 

 olive-brown (like bronze) but sometimes with a more grayish tone. 

 Serventy and Whitell (1962, p. 269) WTote that the bronze-olive pig- 

 ment is soluble in water, leaving the washed egg light bluish. This 

 explains Oliver's description, and also recalls the similarly removable 

 part of the reddish-broA\Ti pigment in the eggs of C. osculans. 



In the case of plagosus there is little or no egg resemblance to the 

 eggs of the numerous hosts, but since many (though not all) of the 

 hosts build domed or globular nests, the lower level of the internal 

 illumination there may help to compensate for the lack of similarity. 



Schonwetter (1964, p. 587) gives the following measurements (in 

 mm.) for the eggs of the two races of C. lucidus: length 18.3 (17.2- 

 19.4) in plagosus, 18.9 (18.0-20.3) in lucidus; width 12.9 (12.0-14.2) 

 in plagosus, 13.1 (12.5-15.2) in Lucidus; weight of empty shell 0.095 

 grams in plagosus, 0.10 grams in lucidus; thickness of shell 0.065 in 

 plagosus, 0.06 in lucidus; weight of the full egg 1.66 grams in plagosus, 

 1.73 grams in lucidus; percentage of weight of empty shell to that of 

 full egg 5.7 percent in plagosus, 5.8 percent in lucidus. 



3. C. basalis: egg apparently monomorphic, white, minutely 



