CHALCOCOCCTX. 387 



of Prlnia inuniata were brought to me containing an egg somewhat 

 like that of P. iiwrmtttt, but much larger, in fact exactly like that 

 described and sent by Miss Cockburu. I accused the boys of 

 having taken the eggs from some other nests, but they maintained 

 that they had not done so. I did not believe them then, but I do 

 now." 



Mr. E. Thompson says : " In the Dehra Doon I have found 

 the young one in a nest of the Pyctorhis sinensis. On another 

 occasion 1 found a young one in the nest of Lanius cry thro not us. 

 It is a common breeder in these parts, and breeds here in May and 

 June." 



^Sometimes this species lays in the nest of Molpastes bengalemis 

 as one was snared near Darjeeling on a nest of this Bulbul. 



The eggs of this species (one of them, a broken one, taken from 

 the oviduct of the female), which I owe to Miss Cockburn, of 

 Kotagherry (Nilghiris), are elongated ovals, occasionally more or 

 less cylindrical. The shell is very fine and smooth, and is fairly 

 glossy. The ground-colour is a delicate pale, greenish blue, blotched 

 and spotted boldly but sparsely, and almost exclusively towards the 

 large end of the egg, with reddish or purplish brown and pale 

 reddish purple. The markings seem generally to form a very 

 imperfect and irregular, but still more or less conspicuous zone 

 round the large end. 



The eggs vary from O78 to 0*81 inch in length, and from 0*53 

 to 0'57 inch in width. 



Chalcococcyx maculatus (Gin.). The Emerald Cuckoo. 



Chrysococcyx liodgsoni, Moore, Jerd. . Ind. i, p. 338. 

 Chrysococcyx maculatus (Gm.} t Hume. Cat. no. 211. 



On the 1st of June Mr. Mandelli obtained a nest of Stachyrld- 

 dopsis rujiceps containing three fresh eggs of the usual type, and one 

 very much larger of a nearly uniform pale pinkish chocolate. 



On the 12th of July another nest of this same species was found 

 at Lebong, which also contained three fresh eggs of the Stachyrlii- 

 dopsis and another similar reddish egg. It is quite certain to my 

 mind that the egg is that of some Cuckoo, and in my opinion the 

 only Cuckoo to which it can belong is Chalcococcyx maculatus. It 

 might of course be the egg of Cuciilus sonnerati, but it is, I think, 

 too small, and differs too essentially from the Cucidus type. It is 

 certainly not the egg of Cacomantis passer inus, the only other 

 small Cuckoo that occurs in the neighbourhood of Leoong. 



The egg is a very regular oval, scarcely, if at all, smaller at one 

 end than the other. The shell, though small, has only a very 

 faint gloss. The colour is most peculiar a uniform pink with a 

 certain chocolate tinge in it, and with, when closely examined, a 

 few very minute, pale claret-coloured specks, scarcely darker than 

 the ground, scattered about its surface. 



It measures 0-8 by 0-62. 



25* 



