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THE OOLOGY OF INDIAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS. 



By E. C. Stuart Baker, f.z.s. 



(With Plate 1.) 



Part I. 



(Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 25th January 190(3.) 



To those who follow Indian Oology either as a hobby or as a science 

 there cannot well be a more interesting branch of it than that pertaining 

 to our parasitic Cuckoos. It is one in which lam specially interested, and 

 I have long been very anxious to collect all the information obtainable 

 and compile it into one article, such as would be easy for reference to. 

 our collectors. It is only, however, during the last few years that 

 information of a sufficiently sound character and of sufficient volume has 

 been obtained to make it worth while putting into print. Even now 

 the following article is intended more to induce people to take the 

 subject up and try and fill some of the numerous existing gaps, than 

 it is to shew how much is already known. 



The great difficulty to be overcome in collecting Cuckoos' eggs is not 

 so much to get hold of eggs which are Cuckoos' beyond all doubt, but 

 to obtain proof as to what particular Cuckoo they may belong to. 

 For this reason it is absolutely necessary to get eggs direct from the 

 oviduct of the female, and, because Cuckoos' eggs vary so much, it is 

 no use getting one only, but series are required. We already know 

 how enormously the eggs of the Common English Cuckoo (Cuculus 

 canorus) vary, and our knowledge, as far as it goes, shows that some of 

 our Indian Cuckoos vary to a greater extent still. 



Those who would get oviduct eggs must also avoid the mistake made 

 by a friend of mine who shot every Cuckoo he heard calling during the 

 breeding season and was grievously disappointed to find he got no 

 eggs. Of course, with the majority of Cuckoos it is the male only 

 who is so persistently noisy, but, though it is no good shooting the 

 callino- bird itself, the call may often show that a female is somewhere near. 



I owe to Colonel R. Rattray, Major Buchanan, Messrs. B. B. 

 Osmaston, Chas. Inglis, Bell, Colonel Wilson and others thanks for all 

 they have done to help in this article, not only in supplying me with 

 notes, but also, in many cases, for giving me specimens of eggs and birds. 

 Colonel Rattray's success in the collection of authentic eggs must stand 

 almost, if not quite, without parallel, "and to him I owe special thanks 



