406 CUCULIDTE. 



taken three eggs belonging to the Water-hen. In every other 

 instance the nest was a domed one, in clumps of grass out in the 

 water, and made about 3 feet over water-level, or about 2 feet 

 over the usual high-water level." 



The eggs sent me by Mr. Doig are very similar to those of C. 

 rufipennis, but, as might be expected, run larger. Some are very 

 spherical, others rather elongated cylindrical ovals, but all are 

 extremely blunt at both ends ; they are pure white, with a certain 

 amount of gloss in places, dependent on a thin, slightly yellowish 

 glaze, which, when first laid, covers the whole egg, but which soon 

 and easily wears off and scratches away, leaving a snow-white 

 rather chalky shell below. 



The eggs' vary from 1-3 to 1'53 in length by 1-08 to 1-23 in 

 breadth. 



Centrococcyx "bengalensis (Gm.). The Lesser Coucal. 



Centropus viridis (Scop.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 350. 



Centropus bengalensis (Gm.}, Hume, Eouyh Draft N. 8f E. no. 218. 



Colonel Tytler, in his ' Avifauna of Dacca,' tells us that he 

 " obtained the nest and egg of this bird (the Lesser Coucal) during 

 the month of June \ the eggs are pure white and very round in 

 formation. The nest, which \vas composed of straw and grass, 

 resembled a large ball supported on sticks, with a hole in the side 

 for the bird to enter ; the nest was well concealed, and was with 

 great difficulty discovered." 



Dr. Jerdon says : " I have had the opportunity of seeing this 

 species at Dacca, where it is certainly very abundant. I also ob- 

 tained two nests, the one with two, the other with four white eggs. 

 The nests were in both instances formed by the living grasses 

 rudely bent down among the thorny twigs of a bush to form a 

 seat for the eggs, and then continued upwards, forming a dome 

 over the nest." 



Captain E. E. Shopland, I.M., writes : " Took a nest contain- 

 ing three eggs on 24th July, in long coarse grass, of the leaves of 

 which it was composed, the ends of the grass being turned down 

 and then up ah 1 round ; the nest was 12 inches long and 8 broad. 

 There was only one hole, but as I came suddenly on the bird, 

 which was in the nest with its tail out of the hole, it made a clean 

 dive through the other side, and had I been sharp enough I might 

 have caught the bird in my hands, as it took a few seconds to get 

 clear to the other side. The eggs are of the same shape as those of 

 the Common Coucal, but much smaller and rather glossy. This 

 nest was taken at Calcutta within 200 yards of Bishop's College, 

 between it and the Botanical Gardens." 



Prom Sikhim Mr. Gamrnie wrote in 1875 : " I have only found 

 the nest of this Coucal up to 3500 feet, but have occasionally seen 

 it during the breeding-season as high as 5000 feet, so that it pro- 



