97 [Vol. xlii. 



away on short coarse grass in the open. But the two 

 fosterers, though so widely different really, are very alike 

 superficially, and both build ground-nests of grass. Was 

 the Cuckoo deceived by this close resemblance ? I think not. 



Of the other series shown of this species of Cuckoo we 

 have one placed in the nests of the extremely common 

 Verditer Flycatcher, and no doubt there may have been 

 many nests we failed to find, for they are extremely well 

 hidden and sometimes in inaccessible places. The others, 

 however, are taken from the nests of the much less common 

 Trochiloides harterti, a little bird whose nest is always given 

 away by the parents^ behaviour, so that it can be found 

 directly the birds are seen. All three were taken on the 

 same stretch of hill-side, on mossy banks in Pine forest, and 

 there were certainly no other nests of this bird there. Nor 

 were any more eggs of this Cuckoo found that year either 

 in that area or in any other. Did this Cuckoo only lay three 

 eggs or, having no more fosterers available in that place, did 

 she go elsewhere ? 



An interesting box is No. 36, which shows series of eggs 

 of Clamator coromandus. Now the normal foster-parents of 

 this Cuckoo are the very common Garrulax moniliger -and 

 G. pectoralis in N.E. India, and the equally common 

 Grammatoptila striata in N.W. India. All lay blue eggs, 

 much the same in colour as that of the Cuckoo. Series, 

 however, are very difficult to follow up, as many individuals 

 of this species of Cuckoo breed in the same area ; two, 

 three, or even more, may place their eggs in the same nest, 

 and the bird itself is, in places, extremely common, and as 

 the eggs are all blue, the ownership is often hard to deter- 

 mine. The series shown were, however, taken in small 

 iireas where only one pair of Cuckoos were observed, and the 

 eggs appear to be laid by the same mother. Even here we 

 see that in all three instances nests of other, though closely 

 allied, birds have been employed as fosterers, whilst in some 

 nests more than one egg of the Cuckoo has been deposited. 



In each of the first two series a nest of Garridax gularis 

 has been made use of, and in the third case one of Dryonastes 

 ruficollis. 



