HIEROCOCCYX. CTJCULUS. 105 



An egg taken by Whitehead in Borneo, and attributed by him to 

 Horsneld's Hawk-Cuckoo, is of a blunt oval form, moderately 

 glossy, of a white colour, marked, chiefly in a zone round the broad 

 end, with specks and spots of pale brown and lavender. It measures 

 88 by '65. Nehrkorn describes the egg of this species as being 

 dark bluish green. 



1. Mt. Kina Balu, Borneo, 29th April Crowley Bequest. 

 (/. Whitehead : with two eggs 

 of Culicicapa 



Genus CUCULUS, Linn. 



Cuculus canorus, Linn. 



Cuculus canorus, Thien. Fortpflanz. ges. Vog. p. 82, tab. xv. fig. 1, a-e 

 (1845-54) : Baedeker, Eier Eur. Vog. tab. 50. fig. 5 (1855-63) ; 

 Hewitson, 'Eggs of Brit. Birds, i. p. 251, pi. Ixiii. figs, i & ii (1856) ; 

 Dresser, Birds Eur. v. p. 199 (1878) ; Seebohm, Brit. Birds, ii. 

 p. 378, pi. 20 (1884) ; Oates ed. Hume, Nests $ Eggs Ind. Birds, ii. 

 p. 379 (1890) ; Shelley, Cat. Birds B. M. xix. p. 245 (1891) ; Hey in 

 Marshall's Zool. Vortrdge, Heft xi. (1892) ; Bidwell, Butt. B. O. C. 

 v. p. xxix (1896); id. Ibis, 1896, p. 394 ; Seebohm, Eggs of Brit. 

 Birds, p. 174, pi. 49. figs. 1-5, 9-13 (1896) ; Hey, Eier Vog. Mitteleur. 

 p. 93, taf. 30 & 31 (1900) ; Sharps, Hand-l. ii.' p. 158 (1900). 



The eggs of the Common Cuckoo are usually of a blunt oval 

 form, but occasionally they are nearly elliptical in shape. They 

 exhibit a moderate amount of gloss. The shell is thick and hard, 

 and weighs considerably more than the shell of any egg of a 

 Passerine bird of the same si/e. The eggs are very variable in size, 

 measuring from '76 to '98 in length, and from '57 to *73 in 

 breadth. 



The eggs of the Common Cuckoo also vary much in colour and in 

 the character of the markings, but the great majority resemble the 

 eggs of the Skylark (Alauda arvensis] and Meadow-Pipit (Anthus 

 pratensis), and are subject to the same variations as the eggs of 

 those two species. The ground-colour varies from greyish white to 

 pale green on the one hand, and from pale stone-colour to greyish 

 brown on the other. The markings are densely disposed over the 

 whole shell as a rule, and consist of smears, blotches, spots, and 

 streaks of various shades of brown, greyish yellow, olive-brown, 

 lavender, and lilac, and frequently of blackish dots. 



As eggs of the above type, with their numerous slight variations, 

 constitute the bulk of the Cuckoo's eggs in the Collection, it will be 

 unnecessary to attempt to describe them in any further detail. In 

 the following remarks, therefore, only those eggs will be described 

 which differ from this common type. 



