COETTTS. 11 



the first. The old birds thought it time now to stop operations, 

 and frequented the office no more. 



" I am told by a gentleman in the ' Mail ' office that the Crows 

 have built in that verandah regularly for five or six years past, but 

 nobody seems to have watched the nests. I am, therefore, hopeful 

 that the attempt will be repeated this year, in which case I will 

 keep a diary of all that takes place." 



He writes subsequently : — " I sent you a long story in my last 

 batch of notes about two eccentric Crows that succeeded in building 

 a nest upon the narrow ledge of a pillar in the verandah of my 

 office, several months after all well-conducted Crows had sent out 

 their progeny to battle with the world. I mentioned to you that 

 they were said to build in that unnatural place every year, and I 

 said that 1 would watch them this year. 



" Well, would you believe it '? on the 26th July, when every other 

 Crow's nest in Madras had hard-set eggs, or newly-hatched young 

 ones, these two indefatigable birds set methodically to work to 

 construct a nest on the south pilljtr — the one where all their earlier 

 efforts were made last year, but not the one on which they suc- 

 ceeded in fixing their nest. They worked all the 26th and 27th, 

 putting up sticks as fast as they fell down, and then desisted till 

 the 4th August, when they began operations on the opposite (north) 

 pillar with redoubled energy. Meeting with no better success they 

 left off operations after a couple of days' fruitless labour. Yester- 

 day (after a delay of five weeks) they set to work on the south 

 pillar again and succeeded in raising a great pile, which, however, 

 was ignominiously blown down in the afternoon. Today they are 

 continuing then - work indefatigably." 



Mr. J. B. Cripps has the following note in his list of birds of 

 Purreedpore, Eastern Bengal ; — " Very common, and a permanent 

 resident, affecting the haunts of man. They build and lay in May. 

 The Koel lays its eggs in this bird's nest. In. April, 1876, I saw 

 two nests in the compound of the house in which I lived at 

 Howrah, which were made entirely of galvanized wire, the thickest 

 piece of which was as thick as a slate pencil. How the birds 

 managed to bend these thick pieces of wire was a marvel to us ; 

 not a stick was incorporated with the wires, and the lining of the 

 nest (which was of the ordinary size) was jute and a few feathers. 

 The railway goods-yard, which was alongside the house, supplied 

 the wire, of which there was ever so much lying about there." 



Typically the eggs may, I think, be said to be rather broad ovals, 

 a good deal pointed towards the small end ; but really the eggs vary 

 so much in shape that, even with nearly two hundred before me, 

 it is difficult to decide what is really the most typical form. 

 Pyriform, elongated, and globular varieties are common ; long 

 Cormorant-shaped eggs and perfect ovals are not uncommon. As 

 regards the colour of the ground, and colour, character, and extent 

 of marking, all that I have above said of the Eaven's eggs applies to 

 those of this species, but varieties occur amongst those of the latter 

 which I have not observed in those of the former. In some the 



