MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 1331 



fresh cuckoo's egg. The nest was placed about 8 feet from the ground in 

 a small Deodar. There is some mystery about this nest as it contained no 

 Laughing-Thrush's eggs nor were the parents lurking round as they 

 usually do. In fact there had evidently been some tragedy recently 

 enacted for the nest contained besides the cuckoo's egg, a small 

 piece of fresh meat with a little skia and a few bedragled feathers 

 adhering to it. The nest, however, was not disturbed. When I found 

 the nest a cuckoo was calling persistently only 100 yards away. 



On 28th July I found another nest of the same Laughing-Thrush 

 about eight feet from the ground in a yoiing oak tree. It contained one 

 Laughiag-Thrush's and one cuckoo's eggs, both quite fresh. This time I 

 did not hear the cuckoo calling as on previous occasions. 



These three nests containing cuckoo's eggs were all found within a 

 quarter of a mile of one another, and on the many occasions on which I 

 hunted the locality I never failed to hear the cuckoo calling close round, 

 yet never heard the call of any other cuckoo. The elevation was about 

 8,200 ft. Though there is no absolute proof of their identity there is little 

 room for doubt, considering also that they agree with the authenticated 

 eggs obtained by Colonel Rattray. 



All three eggs are of the same colour and texture. They are pale 

 greenish-blue (almost exactly the same blue as the ground colour of the 

 Laughing-Thrush's eggs) and distinctly glossy. They are also traced by 

 distant corrugations and minute raised dots. Their shape is a narrow 

 oval compressed at the smaller end in two of the specimens, but not in the 

 third. The dimensions of the eggs are as follows : — 



Egg taken on 7th July 1912 . . . . 1-18" x -81" 



„ „ 18th July 1912 .. .. l-lU"x 81" 



„ 28th July 1912 .. .. l-ll"x-84" 



The eggs of the Laughing-Thrush are ordinarily spotted round the larger 

 end though occasionally unspotted eggs occur, but even in these rare cases 

 the cuckoo's eggs may be at once recognised by their glossiness, those of 

 the Laughing-Thrush being entirely without gloss, 



Naini Tal, 2lst August 1912. A. E. OSMASTON. 



No. XV.— QUESTION WHETHER GYPS FULVUS, Gmelin, 



THE GRIFFON, OCCURS IN THE HIMALAYAN 



DISTRICTS OF THE PUNJAB. 



Assuming that the Gyps fulvescens of Hume is identical with the Gyps 

 ■fulvus of Gmelin, the common Griffon of Europe, I should feel much obliged 

 if some Ornithologist would kindly let me know whether he has observed 

 this bird in the Himalayan districts of the Punjab, and, if so, at wha 

 places ? 



