296 PET BIRDS OP BENGAL 



of the kind. But since then, so many ob- 

 servers have seen the female Koel actually 

 committing the felony that no ground for 

 doubt remains any longer. Dewar says, "1 

 consider it proven that the Koel undoubted- 

 ly destroys or tries to destroy some of the 

 crow's eggs it finds in the nest. My idea 

 is that, given the opportunity, the Koel will 

 destroy all the crow's eggs." It is not the 

 Koel alone that does this. Other cuckoos 

 also have the same habit. The Shah-bulbul 

 or the Pied Crested Cuckoo has also been 

 known to act similarly. At Durbhanga, 

 Lindsay Harvey once noticed a Babbler's 

 nest which contained three eggs of the 

 bird, all of which he marked with pen- 

 cil and retired to a distance to watch 

 another bird. Suddenly he heard the 

 Babblers making a tremendous noise. Tur- 

 ning round he saw a Coccystes jacolinvs 

 seated on a twig near the nest and the 

 poor owners of the nest hopping around 

 it, chattering. The cuckoo hopped on to 

 the nest and after a while flew down to 



