NO. 4 AVIAN GENUS CLAMATOR — FRIEDMANN 53 



one white, the other bluish green. Of 13 eggs taken near Paramaribo, 

 6 were white, 6 were bluish green, and 1 was white with a bluish 

 tinge. In other words, in Tapera naevia we have a comparable trend, 

 but without geographic separation of the two types as in Clamator 

 jacobinns. Other examples, among nonparasitic birds, of two such 

 egg types sympatrically, are Diplootocus moussieri and Phoenicurus 

 ochruriis gibraltariensis, (Etchecopar, 1942). In this connection it 

 may be noted that Etchecopar (1946, p. 160) suggested that the 

 blue egg color might be a result of the greater humidity in the 

 more tropical areas. He cited no evidence in support of this notion, 

 and, indeed, it is not clear that the more equatorial birds do experi- 

 ence more humidity than do their more austral relatives. It is not 

 clear just what he had in mind when he referred to the ". . . grande 

 facilite la coquille a se tacher sous I'influence d I'humidite, il nait alors 

 de grandes macules bleu fonce tres particulieres a ces oeufs, . , ." 

 The blue eggs are not blue spotted; they are uniform in their blue 

 coloration. 



Clamator levaillantii 



The eggs of the stripe-breasted cuckoo are uniform, glossy, pale 

 bluish to greenish blue, somewhat pitted, and average 26 x 20.4 mm. 

 Most of the recorded eggs are of this type, but there is evidence of 

 some egg morphism in this species. Pale pink eggs, finely and faintly 

 speckled with slightly darker pink, attributed with strong presumptive 

 evidence to this cuckoo, have been taken in two nests at Kafanchan, 

 Northern Nigeria, by Serle (1939, p. 689) and at Balgowan, Natal, 

 by Bell-Marley (Friedmann, 1949a, pp. 44-45). Searle was of the 

 opinion that the pink eggs were an adaptation to the similarly pinkish 

 eggs of the local fosterer in Nigeria, Turdoides pleheja; no such seem- 

 ing adaptation was involved in the Natal records, where the host (two 

 cases) was the Cape robin chat, whose eggs were not pinkish, but 

 pale greenish blue flecked with brown. It is true that in some in- 

 stances the eggs of this bird are almost covered with light salmon- 

 pink flecks. 



To these two egg types we may add that it has been suggested in 

 print that this cuckoo may occasionally lay pure white eggs. The 

 evidence, if it may so be termed, is far from conclusive, but the 

 case may be given here. Milstein (1954, pp. 4-5) observed two 

 Clamator levaillantii showing much interest in a yellow-vented bulbul's 

 nest. They repeatedly came toward the nest and each time were 

 attacked by the bulbuls. The cuckoos, fluttering wildly, never at- 



