of certain Indian Birds. 75 



Crow's nest, and mostly, but not always, destroys the eggs of 

 the Crow at the time of depositing her own;" but he is correct 

 in stating that the nest of the Common Crow (Corvus splendens) 

 is the one almost exclusively used as a nursery for the found- 

 lings, — this, however, not because the Koel can be said to 

 have any partiality for this Crow in particular, but because 

 the other species (C. culminatus) does not lay simultaneously 

 with herself. I firmly believe that if both species nested at 

 the same time, they would be equally in demand as foster- 

 parents. C. culminatus lays,* as a rule, in February and 

 March ; and I have sometimes, though rarely, seen them do so 

 as late as May and June ; C. splendens, on the other hand, 

 does not generally commence to build till June, which suits 

 the Koel to a nicety. 



Subjoined is a list of the Koel's eggs taken in my presence 

 at Futtehghur during the year 1871 : — 



No. 1. Three Koel's and four eggs of C. culminatus, 27th 

 May. This nest was built in a tree at my garden gate, and 

 was watched by me in. course of construction. I frequently 

 observed male and female Koels darting in and out of this 

 shady tree, and during the heat of the day sitting in close 

 proximity to, and on terms of perfect friendship with, the 

 rightful occupants of the nest. On the 24th May the nest 

 contained one Crow's and one Koel's egg ; on the 25th I was 

 agreeably surprised at finding that each species had laid a 

 second egg ; but on the following day, the 26th, I was amazed 

 when my tree-climber from aloft reported that both birds had 

 again done their duty. On the 27th I removed the contents 

 of the nest, which contained the number above stated. The 

 Crow on this occasion was on her nest, and the man who went 

 up informed me that one of the small eggs (meaning the 

 KoeFs) was placed above the other six, forming, as it were, 

 the corner tier. 



The following eggs and young Koels were all taken from 

 the nests of C. splendens : — 



No. 2. Two KoeFs and one Crow's egg, 8th June — all per- 

 fectly fresh. 



No. 3. One KoeFs and one Crow's egg, 19th June — all 

 perfectly fresh. 



