; THE OOLOGY OF INDIAN PARASITIC CUCKOOS. 691 ' 



Eggs have been taken from the nests of Argya malcolmi (The Large 

 Grey Babbler), A. caudata (The Common Babbler), A. earlii (The 

 Striated Babbler), Crateropus canorus (The Jungle Babbler), C. griseus 

 (The White-headed Babbler), C. striatus (The Southern Indian Babbler), 

 C. somervillii (The Rufous-tailed Babbler) and C. rufescens (The 

 Ceylonese Babbler). 



In colour the eggs are much the same in tint as the eggs of Argya 

 malcolmi, that is to say, a rather dark green-blue, a good deal darker 

 than what is known as hedge-sparrows' egg blue. The colour varies very 

 little in intensity. Typically the eggs are broad ellipses, both ends being 

 perfectly equal, and abnormal eggs tend towards spherical, culminating 

 in the spherical egg taken by myself and already remarked upon. 



The surface is remarkable for its extreme smoothness, which is even 

 greater than it is in poliocephalus and saturatus eggs. The texture is 

 very fine and close, and the surface often highly glossed, but, though the 

 shell is thick and strong, it is not hard and is decidedly porous. 



The eggs which have passed through my hands and those which are 

 recorded already in various other places, besides those of which I have 

 received notes from the owners, vary in length between *9" and 1*01" in 

 length and between *7" and '%5 V in breadth. I have only records of cne 

 effff exceeding '98" in length, and I am rather inclined to think that this 

 was coromandus, though it is rather dark in colour for that bird's egg. 



This cuckoo is practically found throughout India and Burma, its 

 Eastern boundary being the Irawaddy River. It does not extend further 

 South in Burma than Upper Pegu, but is common in Ceylon. Outside 

 India it is obtained throughout Southern and Central Africa. Its flight 

 is slow, but fairly direct. It haunts indifferently the loftiest of trees, 

 secondary growth and small saplings or mere scrub jungle. Its call is a 

 very loud metallic double note, too harsh to be called a whistle. In the 

 early part of the season, before its voice has fully formed, its cries are 

 particularly harsh and disagreeable, and the second note, which should be 

 the same in tone as the first, often goes off at a tangent. Later on in the 

 year, though it becomes more noisy than ever, its notes are rather musical. 



Coccystbs coromandus (Linn). 

 The Red-ioinged Crested Cuckoo. 

 Coccystes coromandus. Jerdon, B. of I., I, p. 341 ; Hume, S. F., Ill, 

 p. 82; ibid., XI, p. 76; id., Cat. No. 213; Hume and Davis, S. F., 



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