CENTHOCOCCYX. 403 



" On the 10th August I found another nest in the same neigh- 

 bourhood, domed, containing an addled egg and two half-fledged 

 young ones. The egg was so discoloured from incubation &c. that 

 I destroyed it. 



" On the 12th August 1 found another nest in a similar situation, 

 namely, at the top of a. dense thorny bush iu some bush-jungle, 

 containing two fresh eggs. I found several other nests at the end 

 of August and in September, some domed, some open at the top, 

 containing fresh and incubated eggs." 



Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes as follows: "I have notes of 

 only two nests of the Indian Coucal, and neither of them was in 

 the centre of a thicket. Both were found in Berar. One was 

 about 12 feet from the ground, among the lower outermost branches 

 of a large tamarind-tree. The whole time the birds were courting 

 and the nest building, the birds kept up an unceasing hooting to 

 each other, and once, when the moon was shining brightly, I heard 

 them at dead of night. On the 25th June the nest was found to 

 contain four eggs, of which two were taken. I expected, con- 

 sidering what a wary bird the Crow-Pheasant is. that the nest 

 would be deserted ; but, notwithstanding that the man who went 

 up left by mistake behind him a scarecrow in the shape of a most 

 forbidding piece of rag, half a yard long, the two remaining eggs 

 were incubated and hatched. The young birds left the nest long 

 before they could fly, when they were still absurdly small, and had 

 tails only 3 inches in length. It may be the common habit of 

 these birds to leave the nest thus early, and skulk about thick 

 hedges, avoiding observation, till they are fit to be seen ; but I 

 rather believe that, like Black Eobins, Boilers, and other birds 

 that are naturally shy about their nests, young Crow-Pheasants are 

 usually not introduced to society till they are scarcely distinguish- 

 able from their parents. 



" Nest Xo. 2 was found about the last day of June in a small 

 babool tree, and contained three eggs. Both nests were dome- 

 shaped and carelessly constructed." 



Miss Cockburn, writing from the Nilghiris, says : " These 

 birds build in large bramble-thickets, so that their nests are not 

 easily got at. They put a quantity of sticks together and form a 

 very spacious nest, the materials being placed all round except at 

 the entrance, and also forming a high canopy above much in the 

 style of the English Magpie. It uses every precaution to ensure 

 the preservation of its own progeny, as if it argued from its evil 

 propensities that ' what birds have done, birds may do,' and that 

 some clay its own abode might be invaded by its numerous feathered 

 neighbours towards whose domestic rights it has shown so little 

 respect. The Black-and-Eed Cuckoo builds in March and April, 

 and the hen lays three large white eggs." 



An egg which Miss Cockburn sent me was most abnormally 

 elongated, measuring 1-52 in length by only 0-98 in width ! 



Mr. A. Gr. Cardew, C.S., writes from Madras : " A nest with 

 eggs just ready to be hatched taken on 9th March ; and a 



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