of some South- African Birds. 23 



Avith three of the typical pink-cream speckled eggs of that 

 bird. 



In the same month of the same year I found a nest of 

 the Red-winged Starling {Amydrus morio) placed on a ledge 

 on the face of a krandah, 12 feet from the ground. The 

 nest, which was cup-shaped, and made of fibres and roots, 

 supported on a mud base, contained a young Great Spotted 

 Cuckoo. I kept this bird in a large well-lighted room, 

 feeding it on larvae and chopped meat. It developed its 

 feathers and began to fly about two weeks after I found it. 

 It resembled the adult bird, except that the grey of the back 

 was much darker and the buff of the chest more intense. 

 The bird became very tame, flying to my shoulder on my 

 calling to it, and often taking journeys outside my room. 

 In April it became very restless, dashing against the walls 

 and windows, and finally died about the middle of the 

 month. 



I have seen a pair of old birds of this species with five 

 young all flying together late in February. 1 believe that 

 the old birds collect their broods previously to migrating. 



14. CoccYSTEs jACOBiNUs (Bodd.) ; Shelley, Cat. B. xix. 

 p. 217. 



This bird was seen by Mr. F. Pym to leave the nest of a 

 Bulbul [Pycnonoius tricolor) in the Belmont valley, near 

 Grahamstown. On examination the nest was found to con- 

 tain one Cuckoo's egg (white) and two of the BulbuFs 

 (spotted with pinky red). In November 1894 I found a 

 nest of Andropadus importunus, containing two of the usual 

 eggs (white with brown and purple marbling) in addition to 

 five large Cuckoo's eggs. These all together more than filled 

 the small cup-shaped nest, the rightful occupants of which 

 were flitting about in an excited state. Close by three 

 Cuckoos [Coccystes jacobinus, Coccystes serratus, and Cuculus 

 clamosus) were observed, and from the diflPerent sizes and 

 shapes of the eggs I believe that all these thiee Cuckoos had 

 utilized the one tiny nest. 



On another occasion I found an egg of this bird in the 



