384 CUCULID^E. 



An egg of this species, which was extracted from the oviduct of 

 the female (so Mandelli told me distinctly) on the 5th June, is a 

 broad oval, scarcely at all pointed towards the small end, and a 

 little obtuse at the large end. 



The colour is a uniform olive-brown, and round the large end 

 there is an indistinct zone of a darker shade ; the shell is firm and 

 smooth, but there is very little gloss on the egg ; it measures 0'89 

 by 0-64. 



Hierococcyx sparverioides (Vig.). The Large Hawk-Cuckoo. 



Hierococcyx sparverioides (Vig.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 331; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. $ E. no. 207. 



A single egg of the Large Hawk-Cuckoo, brought me from the 

 Nilghiris by Mr. Davison, is a perfectly pure white, moderately 

 glossy, and very like the eggs of Coracias indica ; his authority 

 was Mr. E. H. Morgan, of the Madras Forest Department, who 

 averred that he had watched the bird build the nest and had then 

 taken the eggs, of which four were laid. If there be no mistake 

 about this egg, the fact that the Hawk-Cuckoos build their own 

 nests is interesting. 



The egg measures 1*39 by 1*05 inch. 



Mr. Hodgson's MSS., however, tell a very different story ; his 

 notes are to the following effect : " This species occurs both in 

 the hills and plains ; in March or April they arrive in the central 

 hills, and remain till about August, when they begin to descend 

 the hills, rarely more than a pair is seen together. They may very 

 often be seen sitting on the naked branch of a tree darting at any 

 passing insect, seizing it in their bills and returning to their perch 

 to devour it. Sometimes they descend to the ground in search of 

 insects, soon, however, returning to the branch. When the breed- 

 ing season arrives in March and April, the pair may often be seen 

 seated upon some high branch, repeating continually their loud 

 call (chuck dol-dol) or again uttering a note like that of the Koel, 

 or another cry which exactly resembles the cough of a human 

 being. These varied cries are continually repeated not only during 

 the day, but also during parts of the night, until the end of June 

 or the early part of July. Then they stea] and devour the eggs 

 out of the nests of other birds, laying their own instead, which 

 these other birds duly incubate ; thus quite recently a Trochalo- 

 pterum nigrirtientum was observed feeding a bird of this species 

 which must have been nearly a year old, and again we obtained 

 another young one about two months old in the act of being fed 

 by a male Ixops nepalensis" 



Miss Cockburn has furnished me with the following very inter- 

 esting note from the Nilghiris : " On Saturday, April llth, 1874, 

 I sent two servants (good nest-finders) to a small swamp at an 

 elevation of about 4000 feet, where there were a few pairs of 

 White-breasted Water-hens (Gallinula phcenicura\ to seek for 

 their eggs. Not finding any their attention was drawn to a clump 



