380 Animal Life 
evidently proved an ample means of protection where there was no chance of shuffling. 
Indeed, in Yarkand, Golden Orioles (Oriolus kundoo) have been seen to drive off a hig 
Jungle-Crow as boldly as the friar-birds which their shabby relatives copy. 
As a further instance of the essentially fortuitous character of these resemblances, 
attention may be profitably directed to the particularly beautiful one of the Brain- 
Fever-Bird to the Shikra. We can see why it pays this cuckoo to look like the 
hawk, but there is a very curious little point which makes the fortuitousness of 
the “mimicry” almost certain. Many hawks have a little tubercle just imside the 
nostril, and this is reproduced in the brain-fever-bird. But setting aside the 
improbability of a terrified bird stopping to notice whether the object of its fear had 
‘tubercles in the nostrils or not—in which case, too, it could not fail to see the 
different beak—it so happens that the shikra itself does not possess this little 
nasal prominence! Thus the possession thereof by the cuckoo is a mere chance 
coincidence, and if this be the case with such a small detail why may not the 
resemblance of plumage and form be so likewise ? 
As a matter of fact, the cuckoos as a family are very prone to show resemblances 
to birds of prey. For instance, a common Indian non-parasitic ground-cuckoo 
(Centropus sinensis), whose want of resemblance to a hawk when adult may be judged 
from its popular name of ‘“ Crow-Pheasant,” is usually, when young, barred across with 
black and white and black and brown, and with its strong curved bill and bright 
eyes distinctly recalls a young bird of prey. Birds also appear to notice the resemblance, 
for when once in the Calcutta bazaar I approached a cage of guinea-fowls with 
such a young cuckoo perched on my hand they shrieked hysterically and _ stared 
shrinkingly at it in such a way as to leave no doubt that they regarded it as a 
dangerous raptorial character. When I took the “crow-pheasant” home I found that 
it created much excitement among the 
crows at my quarters, although when placed 
on the verandah balustrade they dared not 
attack it, but retreated when it charged at 
them. Here, then, we have the requisites 
for a case of mimicry. Not all young 
crow-pheasants have the barred plumage ; 
some are black with brown wings,—simply 
duller editions of thei parents—and if it 
were advantageous for this strong and plucky 
bird to resemble a bird of prey, no doubt 
these precociously- 
plumaged youngsters 
would be killed off 
and only the barred 
ones survive, until 
the barred young 
plumage was the 
only one found. As 
this is not the case, 
we may assume no 
mimicry is necessary. 
It should, how- 
ever, be observed 
uy that there is no 
TROUPIAT, (S. America). gradation between 
