386 CUCULID^E. 



Miss Cockburn, the only person, so far as I know, who has 

 secured the eggs of the Indian Plaintive Cuckoo, gives me the 

 following note on the subject (she writes, I may add, from the 

 Nilghiris) : 



" I have long been unable to find the eggs of this bird, and 

 thought it most likely that it did not breed on these hills. At 

 last, on the 17th September, 1870, the nest of a Common Wren- 

 Warbler (Prinia inornata) was found, which had two small eggs, 

 and a third which was much larger, but of something the same 

 colour. A few hours after another Common Wren- Warbler's nest 

 was found, which also contained two small eggs (one of which was 

 broken) and a large egg. These two nests were not far from each 

 other ; I took them both. On the 22nd September another nest 

 of the same Warbler was found, which also contained a large egg 

 and two small ones. 



" The same clay, one of my servants, seeing a Plaintive Cuckoo 

 sit very quietly on a hedge, shot it. On examination it was found 

 to contain an egg ready to be laid, of the same colour and spots as 

 those found in the Common Wren-Warbler's nest ! The egg was 

 unfortunately broken, but the pieces were sufficient to identity those 

 found in the little Warblers' nests. On the 26th September a 

 Common Wren-Warbler's nest was found, which had only a 

 Cuckoo's egg in it. The Cuckoo was seen near the nest, and the 

 little Warblers in a great fright (for the appearance and flight of 

 the Plaintive Cuckoo very much resembles that of a small Hawk) ; 

 on looking into the nest, there was the egg. It was left for two 

 or three days, but on going to the spot again the nest was found 

 to be deserted, so the Cuckoo's egg was brought away. 



" On the 5th October, 1870, another Common Wren-Warbler's 

 nest was found, but this time it was occupied by a young Plaintive 

 Cuckoo, which entirely filled the wee nest, ami had the boldness 

 to pick at my finger every time I tried to touch it. The nest had 

 no young Wren -Warblers. Whether the young Cuckoo had 

 pushed the little Warblers out, or whether no other egg except 

 the Cuckoo's was hatched, it is impossible to say. I regret not 

 having seen the nest till at this stage of the young Cuckoo's ex- 

 istence. A week after it had left the nest, but was caught among 

 the bushes close by. Considering the smallness of a Common 

 Wren- Warbler's nest, and one of the Warbler's eggs having been 

 found broken in one of the nests, as mentioned above, there can, 1 

 think, be little doubt but that this bird, like its European name- 

 sake, must carry her egg in her mouth and drop it into the nest. 



" The mouth of the Plaintive Cuckoo always struck me as being 

 uncommonly large for the size of the bird. When opened it is of 

 a beautiful orange colour." 



Mr. Adam remarks : " Miss Cockburn's interesting note on the 

 breeding of this species fully explains what I thought at the time 

 to be a case of fraud on the part of some of our native fellow- 

 subjects. Towards the end of September 1866, when in Lucknow, 

 1 had small boys collecting nests for ine, and on two occasions nests 



