122 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



on its foster-brethren. It soon increases this start, 

 as it grows very fast, and is ready to fly before the 

 earliest feathers of its foster-brothers are out of their 

 sheaths. 



It does not, however, leave its foster-parents when 

 able to fly. It sits on the edge of the nest and makes 

 laudable, if ludicrous, efforts at cawing. The crows 

 continue feeding it long after it has left the nest, looking 

 after it with the utmost solicitude. A young koel is 

 somewhat lacking in intelligence ; it seems unable to 

 distinguish its foster-parents from any other crow, for it 

 opens its mouth at the approach of every crow, evidently 

 expecting to be fed. 



The natives of the Punjab assert that the hen koel 

 keeps her eye on the crow's nest in which she has laid her 

 egg or eggs during the whole of the time that the young 

 cuckoo is in it, and takes charge of her babe after it 

 leaves the nest. This assertion appears to be incorrect. 

 I have never seen a koel feeding anything but itself. 

 Moreover, the koel lays four or five eggs, and these are 

 not usually all deposited in one nest. It would therefore 

 be exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, for the hen to 

 keep an eye on each of her eggs. 



In view of the hatred which crows display towards 

 koels in general, naturalists have expressed surprise 

 that the young koels are not mobbed directly they 

 leave the nest. Their plumage differs in no way from 

 that of the adult. It has been suggested that young 

 koels retain the crow smell for a considerable time after 

 they are fledged. This I cannot accept. The olfactory 

 organ of birds is but slightly developed. Indeed, I am 



