On the Nidif cation of Indian Birds, 257 



XIV. — Notes on the Nidification of Indian Birds not mentioned 

 in Hume's c Nests and Eggs' — Part II. By E. C. Stuart 

 Baker, F.Z.S. 



[Concluded from p. 113.] 



DlCIlURUS ANNECTENS. 



Oates, F. B. Ind. i. p. 312. 



1 have nothing to add to my description of the nesting of 

 this King-Crow, which is met with in our district in some 

 numbers throughout the breeding-season ; but we have found 

 a certain type of egg to be singularly dominant here, and 

 as it is one which seems different to that laid by the other 

 species of the genus, it deserves notice. 



The normal egg laid by the members of the genus Dicrurus 

 is a broad regular oval, not much compressed towards the 

 smaller end, and marked with spots, the most prominent 

 character of which is their roundness. The majority of 

 eggs of the Crow-billed Drongo, as taken in Lakhimpur, 

 are, on the contrary, long ovals, well drawn out and often 

 conspicuously pointed at the small end, whilst the markings 

 convey the idea of having been laid on in longitudinal 

 splashes. 



The colour of these eggs varies considerably : in some the 

 ground-colour is white, or white with a faint creamy tinge, 

 and the marks consist of spots and blotches of deep purple- 

 red or blood -red, with others underlying them of dark 

 reddish lavender. In this type of coloration the marks are 

 generally sparing everywhere, but less so at the larger end. 

 Another common type is of a comparatively dark brick-red 

 pink, profusely covered with small and large longitudinal 

 blotches of brick-red and red-brown and the usual underlying 

 pale lavender spots. Yet a third type has the ground 

 bright dark salmon-pink, with bold longitudinal blotches 

 of red -brown and lavender, sometimes dense evervwhere, 

 sometimes less numerous and shewing up the more boldly. 

 In the majority of eggs, however, the markings, though 

 more numerous towards the larger end, form no cap or 

 ring there. 



SEH. VIII. VOL. VI. Si 



