CUCTTLUS PASSEBINUS. 237 



assembles in small parties and roosts in thick bushy trees. I found it in considerable numbers once on the 

 Kimbulana-oya, an affluent of the Dedura-oya, flying in and out of the trees growing on the banks ; the birds 

 were very wary, and it was with difficulty that I could get within shot of them. It is usually not very prone 

 to allow of a near approach, being of a restless disposition ; but when met with alone is not nearly so shy as 

 when associating together. It feeds on caterpillars, Coleoptera, and other large insects, and may often be seen 

 taking them on the ground ; its stomach is villous in a high degree. 



Concerning its note, which is so well known in India, Jerdon writes that it is " a plaintive call of two 

 syllables, the last one lengthened out, which Mr. Elliott made loin, ivhew — whi whew whew, and which may be 

 written as ka-veer, ka-vee-eer, and to which the bird, by pointing his head in different directions as he sits 

 calling, gives a most ventriloquistic effect." I would remark, it is by a similar means that the Hawk-Cuckoo 

 imparts such a singular sound to its call. 



Nidification. — This little Cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of Wren- Warblers, the Yellow-eyed Babbler 

 (Pyctorhis sinensis), and also in that of the Grey-backed Shrike [Lanius erythronotus). Miss Cockburn, a lady 

 who has done much towards furthering our information on the oology of the South of India, is, according to 

 Mr. Hume, the only person who has identified its eggs, having found them in the nest of the Common Wren- 

 Warbler {Drymoipus inornatus) on the slopes of the Nilghiris. I subjoin the following note from her, which 

 Mr. Hume gives in ' Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds': — " On the 17th of September, 1870, the nest of a 

 Common Wren-Warbler, which had two small eggs, and a third, which was much larger, but of something the 

 same colour. A few hours after another Common Wren-Warbler's nest was found, which also contained two 

 small eggs, one of which was broken, and a large egg. These two nests were not far from each other ; I took 

 them both. On the 22nd September another nest of the same Warbler was found, which also contained a 

 large egg and two small ones. 



" The same day one of my servants, seeing a Plaintive Cuckoo sit very quietly on a hedge, shot it. On 

 examination it was found to contain an egg ready to be laid, of the same colour and spots as those found in 

 the little Warblers' nests. On the 26th September, a Common Wren-Warbler's nest was found, which had 

 only a Cuckoo's egg in it. The Cuckoo was seen near the nest, and the little Warblers in a great fright ; for 

 the appearance and flight of the Cuckoo very much resembles that of a small hawk. On looking in the nest 

 there was the egg. It was left for two or three days ; but on going to the spot the nest was found to be 

 deserted, so the Cuckoo's egg was brought away. 



"On the 5th October, 1870, another Common Wren -Warbler's nest was found; but this time it was 

 occupied by a young Plaintive Cuckoo, which entirely filled the wee nest, and had the boldness to peck at my 

 finger every time I tried to touch it. The nest had no young Wren- Warblers. Whether the young Cuckoo 

 had pushed the little Warblers out, or whether no other egg, except the Cuckoo's, was hatched, it is impossible 

 to say. I regret not having seen the nest till at this stage of the young Cuckoo's existence. A week after it 

 had left the nest, but was caught among the bushes close by. Considering the smallness of a Common Wren- 

 Warbler's nest and one of the Warbler's eggs having been found broken in one of the nests, as mentioned 

 above, there can, I think, be little doubt but that this bird, like its European namesake, must carry her egg 

 in her mouth and drop it into the nest." 



The eggs thus found were of " a delicate pale greenish blue, blotched and spotted boldly but sparsely, and 

 almost exclusively towards the large end of the egg, with reddish or purplish brown and pale reddish purple. 

 The markings seem generally to form a very imperfect and irregular, but still more or less conspicuous, zone 

 round the large end." 



In size they varied from 0'78 to - 81 inch in length, and from 0'53 to - 57 inch in breadth. 



