THE OOLOGY OF INDIAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS. 685 



refers, it would seem, to Cuculus poliocephalus. Mr. J, Davidson has 

 two reputed eggs of this bird in his collection — one which Barnes got 

 from Major Moon, taken near Darjesling, and a second taken in Natore, 

 Sikhim, on the 22nd June, 1885. The latter egg was taken from the 

 ,nest of florornis fortipes (the Strong-footed Bush- Warbler), and Mr. 

 0. Moller, who procured this egg, told Mr. Davidson that he had taken 

 similar eggs from the nests of Tribura luteiventris (The Brown Bush- 

 Warbler), Stacliyrhidopsis ruficeps (The Bed-headed Babbler) and Tesia 

 cyaniventris (The Slaty-bellied Short-wing), all above 5,000'. 



Both eggs are said to be " a sort of brick-dust-red, but this is owing 

 >to very close mottling on a reddish ground. " 



I think there can be no doubt that these are poliocephalus eggs. 



Again, the eggs described in Hume's Nests and Eggs as belonging to 

 ■this cuckoo seem, without doubt, also to belong to poliocephalus. Both 

 eggs were found in the nests of Stacliyrhidopsis ruficeps, and are described 

 as "a uniform pink, with a certain chocolate tinge in it, and with, when 

 closely examined, a few very minute, pale, claret-coloured specks, scarce- 

 ly darker than the ground .... It measures 0*8" by 0'62"." 

 This description, of course, exactly agrees in every detail with the egg 

 laid by poliocephalus in Mr. Osmaston's hand. 



It is probably one of these which is described by Eeid in the Catalogue 

 of Eggs. This is also shown in PI. II, figure 8, but is mistakenly made 

 -an oval egg instead of an ellipse and is also not pink enough. 



Although I have no oviduct egg of the Emerald Cuckoo, yet I have 

 one, the evidence concerning which satisfies me as to its identity, al- 

 though it cannot be accepted as altogether complete. 



On the 10th August, 1891, at Gunjong, North Cachar, and quito 

 •close to my bungalow, a Naga found a nest of the Black-throated Bab- 

 bler (S. nigriceps), at the entrance to which he set a noose of mithna 

 hair and went away. About an hour afterwards when he returned he 

 found an Emerald Cuckoo caught in the noose, and he at once brought 

 up nest, eggs and cuckoo to my bungalow. Examining the first, I found 

 it contained three eggs — two of the Stachyris and a third totally differ- 

 ent. This in ground colour is a very pale but bright pinkish-cream. It 

 is blotched, freckled and spotted with red-brown, some very dark, others 

 paler and more washed out. There are also a few short, scriggly lines of 

 deep umber-brown, which are almost entirely confined to the larger end. 

 The secondary markings consist of blotches and specks of pale neutral 



