HIEROCOCCYX. 383 



Hierococcyx varius (Yahl). The Common Hawk-Cuckoo. 



Hierococcyx varius (Vahl), Jerd. B. 2nd. i, p. 329; Hume, Cat. 

 no. 205. 



Mr. Tver Macpherson writes from Mysore : " I send you an 

 egg which 1 believe to be that of this bird. 



" There can, I think, be no doubt that this Cuckoo selects the 

 nests of Crateropus griseus and C. canorus to deposit its eggs in. 

 In June 1878 I found a nest of the latter with one young bird 

 almost fully fledged and nearly filling up the whole nest. It was 

 certainly not a Babbler, and I don't know what other bird it could 

 have been, if not this Cuckoo. 



"Towards the end of last June Major Mclnroy, at Hunsur, 

 found a nest of C. griseus with five hard-set eggs, which he left. 

 On returning to it a few days after he found one young bird only 

 in the nest. At intervals of a few days he paid two other visits 

 to the nest, and was quite convinced in his mind that the solitary 

 inmate of it was H. varius. Unfortunately he left for England 

 before the bird was fully grown. 



"The egg I send you was found in the nest of Crateropus 

 canorus. The nest altogether contained five eggs ; four of the 

 usual size of those of C. canorus, the fifth was this large egg." 



Mr. E. Aitken remarks: "I later got an egg of Hierococcyx 

 varius, also in a nest of Argya malcolmi, which had even a thicker 

 shell than those of C. jacobinus, and a more highly coloured albu- 

 men. I see no mention of this bird in * Nests and Eggs.' The 

 egg I send you is an undoubted one. I compared it with one 

 Bingham had which he took out of a H. varius he shot in his com- 

 pound in the N. I. lines here, and it was at once recognized by 

 Capt. Cock : it is very deep in colour." 



The eggs are rather elongated, rather cylindrical ovals, very 

 blunt at both ends. The shell is fine and glossy. The colour is 

 a uniform, rather dark greenish blue. They are larger, more 

 elongated, and darker coloured than those of C. jacobinus. 



Another egg supposed to belong to this species is a moderately 

 elongated oval, rather obtuse at both ends, highly glossy, and of a 

 rather pale greenish blue. 



Four eggs supposed to be of this species measure from 0*95 to 

 1-15 in length by 075 to 0-82 in breadth. 



Hierococcyx nisicolor (Hodgs.). Hodgson's Hawk-Cuckoo. 



Hierococcyx nisicolor * (Hodys,), Jerd. B. Iiid. i, p. 330 ; Hume, Cat. 

 no. 206. 



* There are three closely allied species of Hierococcyx which occur in South- 

 eastern Asia. H. nisicolor of Hodgson, from Nepal and Sikhim down to Sin- 

 gapore, has a small bill, sharp wing, and very rufous lower plumage. H. fiigax 

 of Horsfield, from Malacca, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo, has a huge 

 bill, a blunt wing, and white lower plumage. H. hyperythrus of Gould, found 

 from Japan down to the Philippines, has a small bill, blunt wing, and uniform 

 rufous breast, contrasting with the white abdomen. The above comparisons 

 are drawn, of course, from fully adult birds. ED. 



