Taccocua sirkee (Gray). 
The Bengal Sirkeer.

Taccocua sirkee (Gray), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 353; Hume, Rouqh Draft N. & E. no. 220.

The Bengal Sirkeer lays from May to August, building a broad cup - shaped nest of twigs lined with green leaves, usually those of the tree on which it is built. It is said at times to build a dome - shaped nest, but I have never met with any of this form. It does not seem to have any choice as to the kind of tree, nor does it affect, like the Coucal, thorny species, hut it selects, as a rule, some well - concealed and little - frequented locality. The nest is placed in some foliage - shrouded fork, sometimes only a few feet from the ground, and never, according to my experience, at any great height. In fact, I think it never chooses large trees, but always low, thick ones, or even bushes. Three I take to be the normal number of the eggs; at least I have never found more, while on two occasions I met with only two hard - set ones.

Mr. F. R. Blewitt says ;  -  ”The breeding - season is from June to August, but I cannot be sure that it does not lay at times earlier. The nest is found in close - growing thickets in retired places. In structure it is very simple, a mere collection of twigs and leaves of kinds, in size about a foot in diameter, flat, having a small hollow only in the centre for the eggs. In this hollow leaves are spread over the surface, sometimes of neem, siris, and tamarind. The eggs in form and shape much resemble those of Gentrocoecyx. They are white, with the surface covered with the soft chalk - like substance, but less in depth than what appears on the eggs of Centrococcyx. I have found but three eggs in one nest, but whether this is the regular number I cannot tell, having only obtained in all three nests, respectively with one, two, and three eggs. They vary much in size from 1.3 to 1.0 inch in length, and from 1 to 1.1 inch in breadth. The Sirkeer is a shy bird and somewhat rare. It frequents wooded localities only, at least I have nowhere else met with it.   In habits it resembles the Coucal."

Mr. Brooks, writing to me from Chunar, says : -"May 25th. Got a nest containing two fresh eggs, pure chalky - white, like the Coucal's, but smaller. The nest was in a small banian - tree about 15 feet high, and in a leafy fork 4 or 5 feet from the top. It was composed of sticks and twigs, cup - shaped inside, and lined with the leaves of the banian - tree. Both birds incubate; at the time the eggs were taken the female was sitting close to the nest, and the male so closely that the man had to climb up to it before it would leave. One of the eggs was pure white, slightly glossy; the other was a good deal discoloured. There were only two eggs in the nest, and yet they were partly incubated."

Major Bingham says  : -"I found a finished nest of this bird on the canal - banks at Delhi on the 4th April. It was a firm deep cup placed high up in a babool - tree. I regret to say, when I visited it again it had been deserted."

Colonel Butler remarks  : -" I found a nest of the Bengal Sirkeer at Deesa on the 6th of June, 1876, containing three well - incubated eggs. The nest was built of sticks, with a few green leaves as a lining, and in a low ber - tree in a wood about 10 feet from the ground. The hen bird sat very close, and with her tail erected perpendicularly. The nest was open at the top, and some of the twigs appeared to have been plucked when green. It was not in the least concealed ; on the contrary it was in a very open place and easily discovered. The eggs were much in shape, size, and colour like those of Athene brama, but the shell differs in being of a very chalky nature."

The eggs much resemble those of Centrococcyx rufipennis, but are smaller and more elongated. They are a dull glossless white; but these eggs too are, like the eggs of the Coucal, often covered with a pale yellowish - brown glaze, which is readily removed by washing or scraping, and leaves the pure white, somewhat chalky, shell unstained beneath. I am doubtful as to the nature of this glaze; eggs are often uniformly covered with it, while I have taken a whole nestful without a single trace of it.

The eggs vary in length from 1.25 to 1.45 inch, and in breadth from 1.02 to 1.1 inch; but the average of a dozen is 1.39 by 1.07 inch.*

* Captain Shelley unites together the four species of Indian Taccocua, and I am inclined to agree with him. It is, however, more convenient to keep them distinct in this work.  -  ED.

* I add the following, which appeared in the ' Rough Draft,' under the name of Taccocua affinis, Blyth. Mr. Hume writes : -" I have never seen the nest of the Central - Indian Sirkeer. Mr. F. R. Blewitt, who found several in Saugor, describes it as precisely similar to that of T. sirkee.

“The eggs, which I received from him from Sangor, where this is the predominant race or species, appear to me to differ in no respect from those of T. sirkee. The birds themselves, many of which were also sent me, are smaller and darker - coloured, but, with nearly a dozen eggs of each lying before me, it seems to me impossible to separate the eggs. Like the eggs of T. sirkee, the eggs of this race generally become very much soiled and stained during incubation.

" In size the eggs I have (ten in number) vary from 1.34 to 1.55 inch, and in width from 1.03 to 1.1 inch; but the average of the ten is 1.4 by 1.06 inch, so that they are really a trifle larger than those of T. sirkee."  -  ED.