360 Mr. Gordon Dalgliesh,


the male does direct the female to the spot. Cuckoos, as is well-

known, in flight so closely resemble a Sparrow Hawk that only

a practised eye can distinguish the two. Now all small birds

naturally regard the Sparrow Hawk as their worst enemy and

never let slip an opportunity for mobbing it on every possible

occasion, (this by the way may be a special provision of nature to

enable the Hawk to catch its prey the easier, for sometimes the

Hawk will turn round and itself become the master of the situation

and carry off one of its tormentors), and seeing a male Cuckoo

would not be able to distinguish it from a Hawk and in conse-

quence mob it. Now let us suppose the male Cuckoo has found a

-suitable nest of say a pair of Pied Wagtails. He will haunt the

spot until the}'- catch a sight of him and promptly pursue him.

Now the female's chance comes ; while her mate is leading off the

Wagtails on a " wild goose chase," she, finding the coast clear,

deposits her egg- The Indian Cuckoo, the Koel alluded to above

deposits its eggs in the nest of the House-Crow (Corvus splendens).

These Cuckoos are not coloured alike as in our bird, but on the

■contrary are totally different in plumage, the male being coal

black, the female being brown and spotted. Every resident in

India who has ever paid any attention to bird life there cannot

Iiave failed to see how cordially detested is the male Koel by

the Corvine tribe, though no notice is taken of the female. The

male in this case leads off the Crows while the female deposits

her egg.


It may be as well to state that a typical Cuckoo's egg is a

trifle smaller than that of a Skylark, and though differing greatly

in colour is pretty uniform in shape and may be described

as a blunt oval. Specimens I have personally handled showed

little or no gloss, but this was probably due to their being fresh ;

incubated eggs are often exceedingly glossy and those of the

Nightingale in particular. Dresser gives the average size of a

Cuckoo's egg as •88ins. + '651118. For the size of the bird the

egg is very small, thus of course rendering transit in the bill

an easy matter.


Does the influence of the male have anything to do with

the colour of the egg? Mr. Milburn {Countryside, Vol. III., No.

67), sa}'s : " That the male bird has some influence in the colour



