78 On the Nidification of certain Indian Birds. 



5th. That it is a common occurrence to find several Koel's 

 eggs as well as young ones in the same nest — the produce of 

 one or more parents. 



The eggs of this Cuckoo have certainly a very corvine ap- 

 pearance, and are well adapted to represent miniature eggs of 

 the foster-parent. All those in my collection are of one type, 

 and may be described as thickly blotched and spotted with 

 reddish brown on a dark green ground, somewhat confluent 

 at the obtuse end. They vary, however, in size and shape, 

 the longest measuring 14x '9, the smallest 1*1 x *9. Five, 

 generally, and perhaps sometimes six, is the number of eggs 

 laid by this bird. 



The young birds leave the nest in August, and are very 

 helpless for fully two months afterwards. While young Crows 

 follow their parents as soon as they can fly, young Koels seldom 

 leave the tree on which they have taken a stand, and are com- 

 pletely at the mercy of their foster-parents, demanding more 

 food and attention than their legitimate offspring. 



It is a mistaken idea to suppose that the ' ' female * Koel 

 watches the nest in which she has deposited her egg " &c. ; for, 

 according to my experience, she does not evince the slightest 

 anxiety for her progeny, and clearly delegates the care of her 

 young to the foster-parents. I never once observed these 

 " foundlings " receive the slightest attention from their " va- 

 grant" parents. 



The crop of a young bird recently examined contained slugs, 

 earthworms, and garbage. That the young of a bird which 

 is purely frugivorous in its habits should be reared and nou- 

 rished on carrion food, is one of the most remarkable facts in 

 connexion with the economy of this Cuckoo f. 



* Cf. 'Birds of India,' vol. i. p. 344. 



[t Mr. Layard, in his " Notes on the Ornithology of Ceylon " (Ann. & 

 Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 2, 1854, xiii. p. 451), gives a brief account of the 

 breeding of this species in Ceylon. It would appear to breed much earlier 

 there than in the N.W. provinces of India, viz. in February and March, 

 and to lay its eggs indiscriminately in the nests of both Corvns sjjletidens 

 and C. culminatus. — Ed.1 



