876 



ADDITIONAL CUCKOO NOTES. 

 By 



E. C. Stuart Baker, f.z.s. 



(In continuation of the paper on ll The Oology of Indian Parasitic 

 Cuckoos" from page 696 of this Volume.) 



CUCULUS CANORUS. 



The Common Cuckoo. 



In my original article on this bird I said that Cashmere was the 

 home of the Cuckoos par excellence, but when I wrote this I had not 

 stayed in Shillong for a hot weather, and I must now retract what I 

 said, for, as a home of Cuckoos generally, I do not think there can be 

 any place to compare with the Khasia Hills. During the present season 

 I have taken and had brought to me no less than 59 eggs of Cuculus 

 canorus and have made notes on 56 of these, with the result that much 

 must be modified that I have already written in the article referred to. 



About the 25th March this year (1906) the Cuckoo began to call, and 

 within a week a dozen birds might sometimes be heard calling together, 

 their melodious notes resounding in every ravine and on every hill 

 alike. This went on steadily throughout April and May and the early 

 part of June. About the middle of this month their cries lessened con- 

 siderably and often the notes were discordant, and, by the latter part of 

 the month, most birds who still continued to call had their voices 

 cracking. 



They were, however, to be constantly heard up to the 23rd, then 

 they ceased almost entirely, though a casual bird would be heard at 

 long intervals up to the 28th June, and the last Cuckoo call heard was 

 on the 3rd July. 



The following table shows the nests selected by the Cuckoo in which 

 to place its eggs, the dates on which they were got, and the size of the 

 eggs :— 



381. — Cistico 7 a cursitans. 



1 



2 



'6 



4 



X 



