Birds of the Indian Hills 



build no nests, neither do they incubate their 



eggs. 



In the Himalayas the common cuckoo vic- 

 timises chiefly pipits, larks, and chats, but its 

 eggs have been found in the nests of many 

 other birds, including the magpie-robin, white- 

 cheeked bulbul, spotted forktail, rufous-backed 

 shrike, and the jungle babbler. 



The eggs of Cuculus c a nor us display consider- 

 able variation in colour. Those who are 

 interested in the subject are referred to Mr. 

 Stuart Baker's papers on the Oology of the 

 Indian Cuckoos in Volume XVII of the Journal 

 of the Bombay Natural History Society. 



It often happens that the eggs laid by the 

 cuckoo are not unlike those of the birds in the 

 nests of which they are deposited. Hence, 

 some naturalists assert that the cuckoo, having 

 laid an egg, flies about with it in her bill until 

 she comes upon a clutch which matches her 

 egg. Perhaps the best reply to this theory is 

 that such refinement on the part of the cuckoo 

 is wholly unnecessary. Most birds, when seized 

 by the mania of incubation, will sit upon any- 

 thing which even remotely resembles an egg. 



Mr. Stuart Baker writes that he has not found 



that there is any proof of the cuckoo trving to 



84 



