THE OOLOGY OF INDIAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS. ::69 



far more green in tone and in having a distinct ring of reddish freckles 

 round the bigger end. - 



DO 



On the 8th of May and 14th September two eggs were brought in to 

 me with nest and eggs of Arachnothera longirostns (The Little Spider- 

 hunter) and Niltava which are exactly alike one another and differ a little 

 from all the others I have. The ground color is a dull olive grey or 

 stone color, and the whole surface is covered with freckles, smudges and 

 specks of dull reddish, the markings are numerous everywhere, but 

 more so towards the larger end. These eggs measure *91" by "61", and 

 •91" by '60" respectively. They are the two dullest, most dirty looking 

 eggs in my collection. One of these eggs is depicted in PI. II., 

 Fig. 7. 



A rather common type of egg is one with a bright olive-green ground 

 color, sometimes very pale and never dark, with reddish specks and freckles, 

 sparse everywhere else, but forming a dense ring about the larger end. 

 Two such eggs taken on the 3rd June, 1903, from the nest of Cyornis 

 hyperythrus (The Rufous-breasted Blue Flycatcher) and on the 14th 

 May this year (1904) from the nest of Cyornis rubeculoides, measure 

 respectively, -96" by : 62" and I'Ol" by -61". 



The only other egg calling for description is one taken on the 3rd 

 May, 1903, from the nest of Turdimdus exul (The Squamated Babbler), 

 which contained one egg of the fosterer and this one. It has the same 

 pale olive-green ground color as those last described, but it is thickly 

 blotched all over with freckles and small blotches of reddish brown. In 

 this egg there are faint indications of sub-blotches of purple grey, more 

 especially in a zone about the larger end. This is the only egg I have 

 in which secondary markings are discernible. This egg is shewn in 

 PI. II, Fig. 9. 



All my eggs are the same in shape, viz., long ellipses, and in one case 

 only is one end distinctly smaller than the other. The texture is the 

 same in all, but in one very sparsely marked egg there is a decided 

 gloss. The shell is about normal for its size, neither particularly fraoile, 

 nor particularly stout. They average in size # 91" by -62", the measure- 

 ments of the extreme are given in the eggs mentioned above. 



Eggs have ber n taken from the nests of Niltava sundara, Pellorneum 

 mandelli, Alcippe nepalensis (The Nepal Babbler), Alappe phayrii (The 

 Burmese Babbtar) and Drymocataphus assamens/s (Austen's Babbler) 

 in addition to those enumerated already. 



