PLAYING CUCKOO 113 



of eggs in the nest constant. I merely added the koel's 

 egg to those already in the nest. 



But I have put my theory to a much more severe test. 

 In a certain crow's nest containing two eggs I put a 

 large fowl's egg. This was cream-coloured and fully 

 three times the size of the crow's egg, yet within ten 

 minutes the crow was sitting comfortably on the 

 strange egg. She did not appear to notice the con- 

 siderable addition to her clutch. She subsequently 

 laid three more eggs, so that she had six eggs to sit 

 upon, five of her own and the large fowl's egg ! Day 

 after day I visited the nest and watched the progress of 

 the strange egg. On the twentieth day the chick inside 

 was moving, but when I went to the nest on the twenty- 

 first day I discovered that some one had climbed the 

 tree, for several branches were broken. Two young 

 crows had been taken away and the fowl's egg thrown 

 upon the ground. There it lay with a fully formed black 

 chicken inside ! I have that chicken in a bottle of 

 spirit. Subsequent inquiry showed that the dhobi's son 

 had taken it upon himself to spoil my experiment. 

 However, it went sufficiently far to prove that crows 

 may one day become birds of economic value ; why 

 not employ them as incubators ? Had the crow come 

 across that chick's egg anywhere but in its nest, it 

 would undoubtedly have made its breakfast off it. 



I repeated the experiment in another nest. This 

 time the chick hatched out. When it appeared the 

 rage of the crows knew no bounds. With angry 

 squawks the scandalised birds attacked the unfortunate 

 chick, and so viciously did they peck at it that it was 



