THE KOEL. 115 



that the hen crow awakes to the fact that she has 

 been " sold again," maternal afEection— that powerful 

 force which makes cats foster rats, and wolves babies 

 — ^has asserted itself to such an extent that she cannot 

 bid the intruder begone. 



It is sometimes stated, however, that the real 

 parent hangs about, so as to be ready in such a 

 contingency, and certainly there seems to be some 

 feeling of propriety among Koels, in spite of their 

 disreputable family connexions. I ha ve seen the ma le 

 take the trouble to feed the females with berries 

 plucked ofi the trees on which both were sitting ; 

 and I am not aware that even so small an act of 

 courtesy as this is has been recorded of the home 

 cuckoo. It is possible therefore that care of offspring 

 as well as attention to the conjugal tie is a Little more 

 in evidence in the Indian bird. 



Both our common crows, the urban and the 

 mofussilite, are victimized by the Koel, but the 

 former more frequently than the latter, probably 

 because the town crow is the smaller bird ; and as a 

 family upset by this cuculine intrusion is almost 

 the only calamity crows have to fear from other 

 feathered members of creation, it is a great pity the 

 Koel is not commoner — ^though some people, who 

 object to the persistence of the sable vocalizer by 

 night as well as by day, would probably say there 



