THE OOLOGY OF INDIAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS. 



Two eggs wero taken in tlio nest of a fly-catcher of some sort — I. think, 

 Niltava macgrigorioe (The Small Niltava)— a third in the nest of N. 

 sundara, (Rufous- bellied Niltava), and the fourth, which I have given to 

 Mr. Osmaston, was also taken in the nest of N. macgrkjorice. One 

 of my eggs is a perfect ellipse ; the others are very blunt ovals, the 

 texture. &c, being identical with those taken by Mr. Osmaston. The 

 colour is a bright pale chocolate-pink, exactly like the eggs of Cettia 

 orientalis (Eastern Bush- Warbler), but when taken they were rather 

 darker. One egg when closely examined has a faint ring round the 

 larger end of minute purple-grey specks, all coalescing, with equally 

 minute specks of reddish scattered over the whole surface of the egg. 

 The second egg is similar, but has the ring rather better defined and the 

 reddish specks oven more sparse and fine. The third egg shews no 

 specks unlsss examined under a magnifying glass, when this. too. shews 

 the same fine purple-grey powdering. They measure "82" by *56", 

 •84" by '57" and -79" by -59". They were all taken, in July 1893, at 

 an elevation between 4,000' and 0,000'. 



Effffs similar to Mr. Osmaston's have been taken this year, 1904, by 

 Ool. A. E. Ward, in Kashmir, who informs me that he has twice taken 

 eggs of this type, and once the young cuckoo from the nest of 

 Pratincola maura (The Indian Bush-Chat). 



Again Mr. C. lnglis has been so fortunate this year, 1904, as to secure 

 the rare red egg of C. poliocephalus in the equally rare nest of Oligura 

 castaneicoronata, (The Oh est nut-headed Short-wing), together with the 

 eggs of the latter bird, and, in addition to this, captured the Oligura en 

 the nest with a butterfly net. 



The egg was taken on the 6th of July near Darjeeling at an elevation 

 of about 6,000'. It was compared with Mr. Osmaston's eggs and found 

 to correspond exactly. This undoubted egg is now in my collection, 

 Mr. lnglis, with great generosity, having given it to me. It measures 

 •89" X -6". 



Very different in colour to these, but agreeing in all other respects, are 

 the eggs taken from the oviduct by Col. Rattray who wrote to me late 

 in 1 903 : ■-" I this year took no eggs of Cuculus poliocephalus from nests, 

 but on the 24th of June and 26th July I shot females containing eggs 

 ready for expulsion ; both were broken, but were easily seen to be in 

 colour a pure white without spots, corresponding wJth eggs taken by 

 Buchanan. Wilson and self in 1899." 



