72 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 265 



Baker gives the dimensions of nine eggs of the violet cuckoo as 

 averaging 17.31 X 12.25 nun., the largest eggs measuring 17.9 X 12.0, 

 and 16.1 X 13.3, the smallest ones 15.8 X 12.6, and 16.2 X 11.2 mm. 

 Schonwetter's figures are as follows: length 17.2 mm. ; width 12.5 mm., 

 weight of full egg 1.40 grams. 



AU known eggs of the violet cuckoo are of the nominate race. 



7. G. klaas: eggs poljonorphic, seven main types, plus variations 

 that do not agree closely with any of them. The main types are: 

 1. white with numerous flecks of Indian red (oviduct egg, taken by 

 Lynes, 1934, p. 56). 2. cream-colored flecked over all with grayish and 

 brownish ("Passer'' type of Schonwetter, 1964, p. 567). 3. pale blue 

 wTith round speckles of reddish-browTi and violet (found in nests of 

 Chalcomitra, Prinia, and Cisticola) ; also one oviduct egg reported by 

 Chapin (1939, p. 201). 4. pale green, with a loosely formed ring of 

 dusky, narrow markings found in a nest of a sunbird, Chalcomitra 

 senegalensis. 5. light, buffy chestnut or creamy chestnut with markings 

 of pale, but bright, chestnut, found in nests of Prinia subflava (Pitman, 

 1957, pp. 3-6). In this instance it is worth noting that at Broken Hill, 

 Zambia, Pitman examined 100 nests of the Prinia and found 

 7 of them to contain eggs of klaas. The cuckoos' eggs were all of 

 one type: "bluntly ovato and a handsome light buffy chestnut on a 

 creamy chestnut with pale markings of bright chestnut .... In 

 no instance does the cuckoo's egg mimic the wavy markings, scrawls 

 and straggling hair lines of this Prinia; otherwise they can be con- 

 sidered an excellent imitation of many of the rufous buff and buffy 

 chestnut eggs of Prinia. This suggests a possible preponderance of 

 rufous buffy eggs of Prinia, or rather that this variety of egg is pre- 

 dominant, which, however, is not the case . . . ." The Prinia eggs 

 are very variable, and Pitman found no apparent preference by klaas's 

 cuckoo for any one type, "though it is interesting that the blue type 

 appears to be avoided . . . ." 6. pinkish white, heavily spotted with 

 darker pink, all in nests of Batis capensis. (MacLeod and Hallack 

 [1956, pp. 2-5]). 7. uniform, dark chocolate-brow^n, recorded so far as 

 I know only by Pitman (1957, pp. 3-6) from a nest of Anthreptes 

 collaris, at Malindi on the Kenya coast. This egg phenotype is of 

 particular interest in that it reflects (or appears to reflect) the con- 

 dition found in osculans and, to a lesser extent, in lucidus and in 

 malayanus. 



Variants, apparently fairly close to type 4, taken in Uganda, have 

 been described as greenish- white speckled with broAvn and slate; others 

 nearer to our type 3 have been reported as verditer blue spotted with 

 red-brown. 



Pitman's observations on the lack of precise, adaptive host-egg 

 similarity in klaas eggs laid in Prinia nests are further corroborated 



