THE OOLOGY OF INDIAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS. 359 



The texture, however, is much as it is in the eggs of the birds just 

 mentioned, especially the latter, that is to say, it is very soft, smooth and 

 satiny to the touch, of very fine, close grain, and, though it possesses a 

 faint gloss, it is quite different to the hard China-gloss of some of the 

 Garrulax eggs. The shell is decidedly fragile for the size of the egg, 

 •although the texture is so close. 



Of the fiftoen eggs whose measurements I have taken the average 

 is -92" full by -70" barely. 



The greatest and the least length is '98" and *87", respectively, and 

 greatest and least breadth "73" and '66". 



The call of this tine cuckoo is perhaps one of the best known of bird's 

 ■sounds in North-Eastern India and the other parts to which it extends. 

 Its two most popular names — " Bo-kata-ko " in Bengali and the 

 " Broken Pekoe " bird in English — are two of the best representations 

 •of its call. 



: Nnflang-kaiko (who stole the fish) in Cachari also well simulates the 

 four notes to which it gives utterance. The call is very melodious and 

 distinctly cuckoo-like in sound, but the bird reiterates it with so great 

 perseverance that it becomes very monotonous. In " Stray Feathers " 

 Hume says that he shot the female calling Bo-kata-ko, but I have only 

 shot males making the call. 



The Indian cuckoo has been found practically everywhere in India, 

 except the driest portions of the North-West, and it doubtless breeds 

 more or less over the whole of its habitat, ascending higher up during 

 the breeding season and migrating locally at this time from places where 

 there are no suitable forests or hills. It extends right away through 

 Burma into Malaya and again through Northern Burma into Central 

 Asia, China, Siberia and Japan, breeding in all these countries, though 

 the eggs thence which have been hitherto ascribed to this form are 

 exceedingly doubtful. 



Genus Hierococcyx. 



As already pointed out, the difference between this genus and the 

 typical Cuculus consists only of the difference in comparative length of 

 the inner wing quills. In Cuculus the secondaries in the closed wing 

 only extend to half the length of the primaries, whilst in Hierococcyx they 

 always extend to at least two-thirds the length of the closed wing. 



The genus contains four species, three of which are more or less com- 

 mon where found, and the fourth, nanus, is rare within our limits. 



