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



Col. Rattray took othei' eggs of this Cuckoo of the pure white type 

 from the nests of Acanthopneuste occipitalis (The Large Crowned Willow- 

 Warbler). These he describes as " pure white and glossless ; the shape is 

 peculiar — along narrow egg, very blunt at both ends, more like a cylinder 

 with rounded ends. Size '85" hy '58". The nests were in. amongst the 

 roots, in one case, of a fallen pine ; how the bird got in I do not 

 know as 1 had to tear away a lot of roots and earth to get at the nest." 



An egg sent me by Major Buchanan as belonging to this Cuckoo agrees 

 with the above. It was taken from the nest ;of Acanthopneuste trochiloides 

 (Blyth's Crowned Willow-Warbler), and in the forwarding letter Major 

 Buchanan informed me that he had taken another exactly similar egg out 

 of the nest of Lophophanes melanolopthus (The Crested Black Tit). 



Col. Wilson also very kindly forwarded three eggs for inspection, all 

 agreeing exactly with the above. They were all taken from nests of 

 Acanthopneuste occipitalis. 



Similar eggs were taken by Mr. J. Davidson from the same fosterers 

 in Sonamurg. 



Herr Kushel in epistola notes that " the eggs of Cuculus poliocephalus 

 are white with tiny specks of yellowish-brown.'*' He is uncertain, 

 however, of their identity, and adds, " the eggs of C. poliocephalus from 

 Japan are dark-reddish-brown, as are the eggs of the foster-parents, Cettia 

 cantans", a curious confirmation of Osmaston's and Ward's eggs. [Since 

 the above was written I have obtained from Alan Custan, Yokohama, a 

 magnificent series of seven eggs of this species, all of which were taken 

 from the nest of Cettia cantans^ with whose eggs those of the Small 

 Cuckoo closely agree in colour. They correspond in all details with 

 the eggs taken by Osmaston, Inglis, and Ward, but are rather richer in 

 colour on the whole. — E. C. S. B.] 



The 22 eggs which have passed through my hands average '83" by 

 '58". In length they varied between *78" and '92" and in breadth be- 

 tween '54:" and '62". Others which I have not seen, but about which 

 their owners have been so good as to give me full notes, agree entirely 

 with the above descriptions. All the eggs appear to have been taken in 

 June and July, the latter end of June and July being the time in which 

 most were found. 



Nehrkorn in his catalogue of eggs, in his own collection, describes eggs 

 sent to him from Madagascar as follows : — " Weiss mit violetten und 

 dunkel-braunen ziemlick grossess Flecken, welche am stumpfen Ende 



