THE OOLOGY OF INDIAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS. 355 



einen Kranz bilden. 18-20 by 14-15." He does not give the nests from 

 which they were taken, and the eggs, of course, do not agree in the least 

 with our Indian eggs. 



The Small Cuckoo during the breeding season is found principally in 

 the Himalayas from 4,000' upwards and in the Sub-Himalayan ranges 

 of Assam, where it descends a good deal lower ; thence it extends through 

 North Central China to Japan, where also it would appear to breed freely. 

 Curiously enough, it has not yet been recorded from Burmah, though it 

 must occur in that province, for it is found throughout the Malay Penin- 

 sula, Java and Borneo. Like saturatus this cuckoo would appear to be 

 more or less resident in the latter countries. 



In the cold weather it may be found practically anywhere in India 

 and Ceylon, and is more than probable, as time goes on, it will be found 

 breeding in the Southern Hill ranges, as well as the Sub-Himalayas. 



Its call is a dissyllabic note twice repeated, but it has a variety of notes 

 and is a rather noisy bird, and, though some of its notes are more or less 

 musical, others are quite the reverse. 



CUCULUS MIOROPTERUS. (Gould.) 

 The Indian Cuckoo. 



Cuculus micropterus. Jerdon, B. of I., I, p. 326; Hume, S. F., II, 

 p. 191 ; id., Cat. No. 203 ; Fairbank, S. F., IV, p. 255 ; Davidson and 

 Wen, ibid., VII, p. 79 ; Ball, ibid., p. 207 ; Cripps, ibid., p. 264 ; Vidal, 

 ibid., IX, p. 55 ; Bingham, ibid., p. 167 ; Butler, ibid., p. 388 ; Legge, B. 

 of Ceylon, p. 288 ; Davidson, S. F., X, p. 359 ; Oates, B. of Burm., 

 II, p. 104 ; Barnes, B. of Bom., p. 125 ; Davidson, Jour., Bom. N. H. 

 Soc, I, p. 180 ; Shelly, Cat. Birds B. M., XIX, p. 241 ; Nehrkorn, Cat. 

 der Eier, p. 170; Stuart Baker. Jour., Bom. N. H. Soc, X, p. 367 ;■ 

 Blanford, A. of B. I., Ill, p. 210; Dresser, Pal. Birds, I, p. 473. 



Cuculus striatus, Jerdon, B. of I., I, p. 328. 



This, the excessively common Bo-kata-ko Bird, or Broken Pekoe Bird, 

 of Anglo-Indians, known to almost every man, woman or child, who has 

 passed a hot weather or two in India, is yet one of the few remaining 

 cuckoos about whose egg there is no absolute certainty. I use the word 

 absolute, for as yet no one has taken an oviduct egg or seen the egg laid ; 

 on the other hand, Col. Rattray has, I think, fairly well settled the 

 matter for us, and we may take it for granted that his eggs have been 

 properly identified. In one of his earliest letters to me on. the subject - 

 13 



