THE OOLOGY OF INDIAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS. 77 



have seen none of the semi -spherical or elliptical shape which is so 

 often typical of cuckoos' eggs. The texture is somewhat coarser than it 

 is in the egg of any other of the Cuculinse known to me, and though it 

 is sometimes close and may exhibit a very faint gloss, it never has the 

 b3;iutifnl satiny texture of some cuckoos' eggs or the fine gloss of some 

 of the others. 



Tne ground colour varies between pale-stone, pink or yellowish, and all 

 the lighter shades of grey, olive, olive-yellow, olive-brown and brown, 

 and the markings seem, as a rule, to follow the general tone, though of 

 course much darker, of the ground colour. Thus, an olive-green ground 

 colour will probably be profusely spotted with various tints of olive- 

 brown and brown, a grey will be blotched and spotted with grey-brown 

 and purple-brown, a pink or yellowish ground colour with speckles of 

 reddish and reddish-brown. As a rule, I have found that the more 

 sparse the markings, the paler the ground colour. 



All eggs, nearly, in addition to the primary markings, have secondary 

 ones of a pale-purple, grey or inky character. 



In the great majority of eggs the character of primary markings is 

 rather indefinite and very seldom at all bold ; they consist for the most 

 part of speckles, spots and tiny blotches, heavy blotches being un- 

 common, and are distributed fairly evenly all over the egg, in a few 

 cases being more numerous at the larger end and, on still more rare 

 occasions, forming a ring or cap. 



The most common Indian type — vide Davidson, Rattray and Buch- 

 anan, &c. — is one which is, on the contrary, most uncommon in English 

 eggs. The ground colour is a pale clear cream, pink or yellow stone 

 colour ; and the markings are very sparse and indistinct, consisting of tiny 

 freckles, specks, and spots of reddish with underlying ones of grey. In 

 most cases the markings are pale and scattered over the whole surface of 

 the egg ; in a few they are bolder and darker, and are more numerous 

 towards the larger end where they may form a ring. The boldest marked 

 egg in my collection is one taken by Col. Rattray from the oviduct of a 

 female and very kindly given to me. This is shown in Plate I, fig. 4. 



Figs. 5, 6, PI. I, show types of the most common-coloured form of 

 Indian-taken cuckoos' egss. 



Dresser gives the average size of eggs as "88" by -65". The Museum 

 collection specimens vary between *76" and *98" in length and '57" to 

 •73" in breadth. 



