ii8 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



popular name. This cry is peculiar to the cock. The 

 second note is, to use the words of Colonel Cunningham, 

 "an outrageous torrent of shouts, sounding like k!ik,k2h~i, 

 kihi, kiiu, kiiu, kiifi, repeated at brief intervals in tones 

 loud enough to rouse the ' Seven Sleepers.' " The koel 

 is nothing if not impressive. He likes to utter this note 

 just before dawn, when all the world is still. As the 

 bird calls chiefly in the hot weather, when it frequently 

 happens that the hour before sunrise is almost the only 

 one in the twenty-four in which the jaded European can 

 sleep, this note is productive of much evil language on 

 the part of the aforesaid European. 



The koel's third cry is well described by Cunningham 

 as a mere cataract of shrill shrieks — heekaree, karees. 

 This is heard mostly when the hen is fleeing for dear 

 life before a pair of outraged crows. So much for the 

 voice of the koel, now for a description of the singer. 

 The cock is a jet-black bird with a green bill and a red 

 eye. The hen is speckled black and white, with the eye 

 and beak as in the cock. Add to this the fact that the 

 koel is a little larger than the " merry cuckoo, messenger 

 of spring " which visits England, and it is impossible not 

 to recognise the bird. 



This cuckoo, like many of its relatives, does not hatch 

 its own eggs. It cuckolds crows. This is no mean 

 performance, for the crow is a suspicious creature. It 

 knoweth full well the evil which is in its own heart, and 

 so, judging others by itself, watches unceasingly over its 

 nest from the time the first egg is deposited therein 

 until the hour when the most backward young one is 

 able to fly. Now, a koel is no match for a crow in open 



