774 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVII. 



and found that it did not mind in the least contact with foreign bodies, or 

 with its fellow nestlings. 



On July 6th we found, from the fact that the branches we had arranged 

 were broken, that some one had been up the tree, and one of the youn^ crows 

 had disappeared. The nest now contained the koel and three crows. I was 

 most annoyed since the tree in which this nest was situated grows on the lawn 

 in front of the bungalow in which I was living. It was therefore apparent 

 that some of the servants living in the compound had taken the young crow. 

 A protracted inquiry, in which the police were called in, elicited the fact that 

 the son of the sweeper of the Principal of the College had swarmed up the 

 tree and taken the young bird ! The boy confessed. Had he been an English 

 boy I should have boxed his ears and thus settled matters then and there ; but 

 I knew that if I dared to lay hands on a native boy, there would probably be a 

 tremendous uproar; that telegrams would, as likely or not, be sent to the Viceroy, 

 that Messrs. Keir Hardie and other pillars of the Empire would ask questions 

 in the House of Commons, and that I should run the risk of being informed 

 that, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, I had " failed to maintain the 

 high traditions of the Civil Service"; so, although the boy was only about 

 ten years old, an enquiry had to be held, and (the boy's guilt being proved) 

 I gave the father the choice of three alternatives — of having his boy prosecuted 

 •criminally for " mischief," of being dismissed by his master, or of giving his 

 son a shoe beating. He, as I expected, chose the last alternative, which was 

 carried out in my presence to the tuneful accompaniment of the culprit ! 



I mention this ridiculous incident because it shows the difficulties under 

 which my experiments were conducted and because there is a sequel, of which 

 more anon. 



I may say at once that there was no further tampering with this nest, and 

 the young koel and three remaining crows grew up amicably together and left 

 the nest in due course. 



By July 8th the young koel looked quite presentable. His tail (it was a 

 cock) was two inches long, the feathers of his neck were glossy black, the 

 others were brownish black, some of them having reddish brown tips. These 

 were not nearly so conspicuous as they were in the young koel in nest number 

 VIII. 



In both these cases it was only the first feathers to appear that had the 

 lighter bars at the tip. Those that subsequently appeared had no reddish brown 

 tips. The following entry occurs in my diary of July 12th anent this nest : — 



" The koel is in a very dirty condition. The young crows have evidently 

 been sitting upon him (I used the word literally), and some of them have left 

 their cartes de visite on his plumage. The webs of the wing feathers of the 

 two bigger crows are just beginning to emerge, but their eyes are not yet fully 

 open." 



We thus see that the young koel does not object to very close contact with 

 its foster brethren, and that it develops very much more rapidly than they do. 



