CENTROCOCCTX. 401 



seen projecting outside the nest. When in this position the bird 

 is about as defenceless as the traditional Ostrich which hid its 

 head in the sand; but iu Australia the Coucal (C. phasiami^) 

 manages these things far better. There, we are told : — 



" The nest, which is placed in the midst of a tuft of grass, is of 

 a large size, composed of dried grasses, and is of a domed form 

 with two openings, through one of which the head of the female 

 protrudes ^^■hile sitting, aud her tail through the other." 



On the other baud, the Southern Chinese Coucal, which Swinhoe 

 declares to be identical with ours, goes a step further and gets rid 

 of the dome altogether. " I have never found," remarks Mr. 

 Swinhoe, " the nest domed as is that of C. viridis. It is shaped 

 like a long narrow basket, made almost entirely of fresh grass, 

 suspended in the centre of a thick hedge, and usually contains 

 four pure white eggs, ovate aud not roundish as those of its small 

 ally. This Crow-Pheasant is a resident bird in South Chiua, 

 ranging a few hundred miles above Foochow, not quite so far 

 north, I think, as Niugpo." 



But even in India the nest is not always domed ; I have seen 

 fifty nests at least, and all were so, but my friend Mr. F. E. 

 Blewitt, a most accurate observer, gives me the following note on 

 the subject: — " Breeds, as far as I have been able to ascertain, 

 from June to August. My experience goes to prove that it does 

 not always, as related by Jerdon, select ' dense and inaccessible 

 thickets ' for its nest. I have found it high up on tamarind and 

 other trees fully exposed to view ; the only difficulty was in getting 

 to the nests, which generally were placed at the further end of a 

 branch, between two or three forks. The nest is large in size, 

 formed of various kinds of twigs and leaves of the dhak, jamoou, 

 siris, neem, &c. No other material was used in the nests. The 

 nest in structure is not always dome-shaped. Of six nests, two 

 only were domed at the top ; the other four, formed of twigs aud 

 leaves, were simply nests about the size of a very large rouud 

 plate, with a depression in the centre for the eggs. I may add 

 that the thickness at the base and sides, of the twigs and leaves 

 which are both used in the building of the nest, varies from 8 to 

 10 inches. I did not find more than three eggs in any one nest, 

 though I have reason to believe that four is the maximum number. 

 They are pure white and in shape oval. The exterior of the 

 shell is, as it were, covered with a soft chalk-like substance, easily 

 scratched with the nail.'' 



]Ma'. AV. Theobald makes the follo\\iug remarks on the breeding 

 of this bird in Monghyr : — " Lays in June and August ; eggs, four 

 iu number, oval, measuring from 1'30 to 1'47 inch in length, 

 and from 1-09 to 1-21 inch iu breadth ; colour, pure wliite ; nest 

 placed in dense trees, a neat but loose structure of twigs, domed, 

 and with aperture in the side, lined with dry leaves." 



Dr. Jerdon states that " it makes a large nest of twigs or grasses 

 of green flag-leaves domed at the top, aud the aperture on the 

 side, and Uned with dried leaves. It is usually placed iu the most 



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