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



Professor Burnett, of Hyderabad, Deccan, has found many eggs in 

 nests of Prinia socialis, and in some instances, has left the eggs to be 

 hatched, and watched the young bird until old enough to identify. 

 The following most interesting account was written by him for the 

 Journal and then generously handed over to me together with 

 some eggs : — 



" There is a very common parasitic Cuckoo in this neighbourhood 

 which answers, as far as one can judge from its habits and appearance 

 on the wing, to the description of Caccomantis passerinus given in the 

 ' Fauna of British India,' except in this respect, that its eggs, instead 

 of being ' a pale blue, blotched and speckled towards the large end. 

 with reddish brown and purple/ are normally of a pink or terra- cotta 

 colour and are unmarked by blotches or spots. This difference in 

 colour might be accounted for by their having been deposited, when- 

 ever I have happened to find them, in the nest of Prinia socialis with 

 its deep copper-coloured eggs. Last nesting season I found in my own 

 and neighbouring gardens seven of the Cuckoo's eggs. Three I took, 

 one was robbed, another was eaten by ants, and the remaining two 

 hatched out. Both the young birds, however, came to an untimely end 

 — one within three days of its being hatched, through some unknown foe, 

 the other when almost full grown through a cat which managed to get at 

 it in spite of a cage which had been specially made for its protection. 



" At other times I have come across three instances of Prinia 

 socialis feeding young Cuckoos of the same kind when full grown. 

 In two of these cases the Cuckoo was able to fly quite well and 

 appeared capable of looking after itself though ready enough to accept 

 the ministrations of its very small and fussy foster-parents. In the third 

 case the young Cuckoo had been placed, in a wicker-cage in a verandah, 

 and the foster-parents passed backwards and forwards through the bars 

 of the cage. 



" The circumstances under which the seven Cuckoo's eggs referred 

 to above were found, certainly seem to confirm what has now, I believe, 

 become the generally accepted view, viz., that Cuckoos lay their eggs 

 on the ground and then carry them to the nests of the birds they 

 victimize. 



" Prinia socialis in this neighbourhood affects both the types of nest 

 it is known to build, i.e., the tailor-bird type and the purse type. In 

 neither of these could Caccomantis passerinus lay an egg. 



