FOR NORTHERN INDIA in 



to this cuckoo. The sight of the koel affects a 

 crow in much the same way as a red cloth 

 irritates a bull. One of these cuckoos has but 

 to perch in a tree that contains a crow's nest 

 and begin calling in order to make both the 

 owners of the nest attack him. The koel 

 takes full advantage of this fact. The cock 

 approaches the nest and begins uttering his 

 fluty kuil, kuil. The crows forthwith dash 

 savagely at him. He flies off pursued by 

 them. He can easily outdistance his pursuers, 

 but is content to keep a lead of a few feet, 

 crying pip-pip or kuil-kuil, and thus he lures 

 the parent crows to some distance. No sooner 

 are their backs turned than the hen koel slips 

 quietly into the nest and deposits an egg in it. 

 If she have time she carries off or throws out 

 one or more of the legitimate eggs. When 

 the crows return to the nest, having failed to 

 catch the cock koel, they do not appear to 

 notice the trick played upon them, although 

 the koel's egg is smaller than theirs and of an 

 olive-green colour. Through the greater 

 part of June and July the koels keep the crows 

 busy chasing them. Something approaching 

 pandemonium reigns in the neighbourhood of 

 a colony of nesting crows : from dawn till 



