PH@NICOPHAIN®. 131 
or arrow-shaped on the breast, and transverse on the abdomen,’ 
thigh-coverts, and under tail-coverts. 
The young female has the white spots and marks much tinged 
with rufous; and the young male has a good deal of white on 
his plumage. 
The Indian Koel is very common throughout the district, 
excepting Sind, where it appears to be somewhat rare. Some 
of them at least are permanent residents, but during the breed- 
ing season they are everywhere more common; at this season, 
too, they are excessively noisy, seo much so as to become a 
positive nuisance. They lay their eggs in nests of the common 
crow, sometimes a single egg only, but as often as not two 
will be found, and I have on two occasions found three Koel 
eggs in a single nest. I much doubt whether the Koel de- 
stroys the crow eggs before depositing her own, as I have always 
found them intact ; they may do so im other districts, but my 
experience is a wide one, extending through Guzerat, Raj- 
pootana, Central India, Sind, and the Deccan. 
The eggs vary surprisingly in color; pale sea-green, dingy 
stone-color, and olive-green and brown, are all met with; the 
markings also are diversified ; specks, spots, streaks and clouds 
of olive and reddish-brown and dull purple are all represented. 
The eggs measure about 1:19 inches in length by 0-92 in 
breadth. The bird has not inaptly been named the Brain Fever 
Bird by some waggish godfather. 
SUB-FAMILY, Phceenicophaine. 
Bill moderate or longish, ridge curved; orbital region gene- 
rally naked ; wings short ; tail long, graduated. 
Genus, Rhopodytes. 
(Zanclostomus ), 
Bill much compressed throughout, curved both at the culmen 
and lower mandible; nostrils basal, oval, pierced in a slight 
depression in the horny substance; wing short, rounded, with 
the fourth, fifth and sixth quills nearly equal and longest; tail 
much lengthened, graduated ; tarsus moderate or longish; hallux 
very short; claws well curved, sharp. 
_ Rhopodytes viridirostris, Jerd. 
216.—Zanclostomus viridirostris—Jerdon’s Birds of India, 
Vol. I, p. 346; Butler, Deccan; Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, 
p. 389. 
THE SMALL GREEN-BILLED MALKOHA. 
Length, 15; wings, 5:25; tail, 10; tarsus, 1:3; bill at front, 1. 
Bill bright apple green ; naked skin around the eyes cobalt- 
blue ; irides blood-red ; legs blackish green. 
Above, dusky cinereous, with a tinge of glossy green; wings 
