778 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY , Vol. XVII 



and found in it the koel and two crows, one young crow was found lying dead 

 on the road, and there was no trace of the other. I think that the aforesaid 

 sweeper's son can, if he should choose to do so, explain what became of the 

 crow. I am quite certain that the koel was in no way responsible for the 

 disappearance of the one bird or the ejection of the other. 



On July 8th the nest still contained the koel and two crows. I take the 

 following extract from my diary of that date : — " The crows are much more 

 vociferous than the young koel, which is very quiet and appears to be 

 exceedingly timid. It is, however, much more advanced than the crows, its 

 feathers being a long way out of their sheaths, while all the feathers of the 

 crows still have the form of tiny bristles." On July 9th it was apparent 

 that the koel was a hen, as her plumage was largely barred with white. 



On inspecting the nest on July 18th, we found that the koel had left the 

 nest while the crows were of course still in it. The koel was sitting on a 

 branch within a yard of the nest. 



On the 20th, when my chaprassi swarmed the tree, the young koel took fright 

 and flew to the next tree, where it got caught in by its wings between two 

 branches, but managed eventually to right itself. Meanwhile the parent crows 

 swore lustily at my climber and tried to attack him. 



When I returned from the Hills on July 30th the young koel was still sitting 

 in the tree, and both the young crows had left the nest and were in the tree. 

 When the young koel caught sight of us she flew quite strongly to a neigh- 

 bouring tree. The fact that the young crows were unable to fly, kept the koel 

 in the neighbourhood of the nest. 



Nest Number III. 



This contained one crow's egg on the 14th June, and an additional egg was 

 added daily until the 18th, but on that day instead of there being five eggs 

 there were only four, the one laid on the 16th having disappeared between the 

 morning of the 17th and the morning of the 18th. This disappearance of a 

 crow's egg in nests in which there was no koel's egg happened several times; 

 and I do not believe that in most cases they were removed by human agency. 

 Either the egg may cling to the feathers of the sitting bird and thus be taken 

 out of the nest, or there may be a scuffle with a koel in the nest, which causes 

 an egg to fall out, or a tree-pie or some other creature may have caught the 

 crow napping and breakfasted off one of the eggs. I may here say that, thanks 

 to the ants, all traces of a fallen egg are removed from the ground within half 

 a day of its fall. 



On June 28feh I found a nest containing a young koel and a crow's egg, 

 and, as the nest was some way from my bungalow, I took out the young koel 

 and put it in nest number III, which now contained only three eggs, that which 

 I had found in it on the 14th having disappeared. The crows did not appear 

 to resent the sudden arrival of the young stranger, for it was all right the 

 next day and being well fed. On July 1st the young koel was going strong 

 and the crow's eggs were still in the nest. I did not inspect on the 2nd July 



