80 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



waddle on to the nest. For more than an hour and-a-half I kept the 

 spot in view. During all this time the cuckoo sat quiet on the nest, so 

 that there could be no further doubt in my mind that it was sitting on 

 its own eggs. 



" Until the 25th May I left the cuckoo to sit undisturbed. On the morn- 

 ing of that day I visited the spot again, and, on the bird flying off, found 

 to my great joy a young cuckoo in the nest." 



In Europe the foster-parents selected, cover a large assortment, rang- 

 ing from the Fire-crested Wren to the larger shrikes. Dr. Key gives 

 a list of 146 such. 



CuCULUS SATUKATUS. (Hodgson.) 

 The Himalayan Cuckoo. 



Cuculus saturatus. Blyth, J. A. S., XII, p. 942 ; Blanford, Fauna 

 of B. I., Ill, p. 207 ; Reid, Cat. of Eggs, B. M., Ill, p. 114 ; Sharpe, 

 Hand. L., II, p. 158 ; Dresser, Pal. Birds, p. 470. 



C. himalayanus. Jerdon, B. of I., I, p. 323. 



C. striatus. Hume, S. F., II, p. 190 ; IV, p. 288 ; XI, p. 70; id. 

 Gat. No. 200 ; Blyth, B. of Burm., p. 79 ; Hume and Davis, S. F., VI, 

 p. 156 ; Scully, S. F., VIII, p. 254 ; Davison, S. F., X, p. 359 ; Oates, 

 B. of Burm., II, p. 105 ; id., Ibis, 1889, p. 356. 



C. intermedins. Shelly, Cat. B. M., XIX, p. 252 ; Oates, Nests and 

 Eggs, 2nd Ed., p. 381 ; Stuart Baker, Jour., Bom. N. H. Soc, X, 

 p. 365. 



The first authentic egg taken of this species was one extracted from 

 the oviduct of a female Himalayan Cuckoo by Brooks who shot the bird 

 at Ruttun Pir in Kashmir on the 17th June. This egg is described by 

 Oates (in he. cit.) as follows: — " Is a very perfect elongated oval, a shade 

 narrower at one end. The ground colour is a pure white, with a slight 

 gloss. The markings, which are every where very sparse, are somewhat 

 more numerous towards the larger end, and consists of minute specks and 

 tiny lines, not more than 0*05 in length, of dingy olive-brown and very 

 pale inky-purple or purplish-grey. 



" The egg measures 0'8F; by 0*6 inch." 



An eo-o- in the British Museum is described as " pinkish- white colour, 

 thickly freckled with purplish-grey. It measures "67 in breadth." This 

 is probably wrongly ascribed to this cuckoo and is more likely a canorus's 

 egg. 



