412 CUCULIDJE. 



of the Corvidce* in Egypt and Barbary the species already 

 named being chosen as the foster-parents of its offspring, 

 but in Spain both the Pies of that country (Pica rustica and 

 Cyanopica cooki). It seems commonly to impose two of its 

 eggs on the bird whose nest it invades, and, though there is 

 evidence that it will on occasion destroy some of those of 

 the owners, there is none to prove that its progeny evicts 

 theirs the young of both parents having been several times 

 found to all appearance in peaceful occupation of the same 

 cradle. More than this, perhaps, cannot be safely averred, 

 and thus, notwithstanding the excelle'nt contributions to the 

 history of this species above cited, a good deal evidently yet 

 remains to be learnt. The eggs are of a pale greenish-blue, 

 blotched and spotted with light brown and dull lilac. Their 

 shell, generally thin, is not unfrequently beset with pimples 

 and rugosities, such as are often seen on. that of imperfectly 

 developed eggs. They measure from 1*28 to 1/18 by from 

 99 to -94 in.t 



The food of this species consists almost entirely of insects 

 in various stages, but Allen found a bit of egg-shell (pre- 

 sumably that of a Common Fowl) in the stomach of one 

 example, and there is other evidence, though perhaps not of 

 the strongest, as to its occasional oophagy. It is said to 

 have three distinct notes one, which has been syllabled 

 kee-ou, kee-ou, somewhat like that of the common Cuckow, 

 and possibly peculiar to the male, a short grating alarm-cry 

 cark, and an angry wurree, wurree, whence is doubtless 

 derived its Arab name " Burroo-burroo." 



* There seems to be a possibility (Ibis, 1859, p. 78 ; 1866, p. 282) of the 

 Southern Little Owl (Carine glaux) being also utilized for this purpose, as well 

 as the Syrian Jay (Garrulus melanocephalus), according to Canon Tristram. 



t The first eggs obtained by Canon Tristram's party, from nests of the Moorish 

 Pie, so curiously resembled those of the latter, that they were unsuspiciously 

 assigned thereto, and their real nature not recognized before they were unpacked 

 in England some months afterwards. That naturalist and his friends, practised 

 oologists as they were, were unaware of the treasures they were collecting until, 

 on emptying an egg supposed to be that of Pica mauritanica, the zygodactyl 

 structure of the embryo extracted revealed the truth (Ibis, 1859, pp. 78, 316, 

 317). The important bearing of this fact on the "assimilation" question in 

 regard to eggs of the common Cuckow should not be overlooked. 



