Eudynamis honorata (Linn.).
The Indian Coel.

Eudynamys orientalis (Linn.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 342.
Eudynamys honorata (Linn.), Hume, Rough Draff. N. & E. no. 214.
The great majority of the Coels lay in .Tune ; but I have obtained their eggs both in May and July. With one single exception, when I obtained an egg from the nest of Corvus macrorhynchus, every one of the fifty odd eggs that I have taken or received at different times have been found in nests of Corvus splendens.
Mr. Blyth recorded the following remarks in regard to the eggs of this species  : -"The female appears to deposit her eggs invariably in the nests of the true Corvi, and so abundantly that we have known five or six Coels' eggs to be brought in together by a person who had been destroying Crows' nests, each taken from a different one. The egg is certainly so often found alone that there can be little doubt that the Coel destroys the eggs of the Crow at the time her own is deposited ; but it is doubtful whether the young Coel is endowed with the instinct of ejecting any companions it may have, and it would seem that it has not that propensity; but the fact remains to be systematically observed. Mr. Frith informs us that he has never found more than one Coel's egg in a nest, and in his long experience has only met with it in those of the two Indian Crows."
My experience differs in some important particulars from Mr. Blyth's. In the first place, I deny that the Coel's eggs are generally found alone ; in thirty cases of which I have notes there is no single instance of the egg being found alone. It is not the eggs that are destroyed, but the young Crows that are got rid of, probably by the young Cuckoo; I have found the latter in a nest with three young Crows, all freshly hatched, and a week later have found the young Crows " missing " and the young Cuckoo thriving. In the next place, I have repeatedly found two Coel's eggs in one nest.
Mr. Brooks remarks  : -" Eudynamis honorata lays its eggs in the nest of the common Crow, Corvus splendens. I have found two eggs in the same nest. They are one - third smaller than the Crow's eggs, more oval, of an oil - green ground - colour, with brown spots thickly marked over the egg and more numerous at the large end."
Mr. W. Theobald makes the following remarks on the breeding of this bird in Monghyr  : -" Lays in the third week of June. Eggs, one only; shape, ovato - pyriform; size, 1.2 inch by 0.9 inch ; colour pale dirty green, much blotched with reddish brown. Had but one egg brought, and the man reported four Crow's eggs in the same nest."
Elsewhere I have said, writing from Bareilly : -" As we stood waiting for the eggs of the King - Crow to be brought us, a speckled female Coel suddenly emerged from a group of mango - trees in our own compound, pursued by several Crows. The Coel is a parasitic Cuckoo, famous in Indian song as the harbinger of that glad rainy season, when, to quote the Indian poet, the sun - parched widowed earth puts off her' withered, dust - soiled weeds, and, soon to become the joyful mother of autumn's harvests, dons a fresh bridal robe of green. Throughout the rains the loud whistled cry, ' who are you ?' rings through every copse, and the Coel has from very early times been as great a favourite with the people of Hindustan as ever the Cuckoo was with us. When we came to inspect the clump of mango - trees out of which the angry Crows had come, we found in them no less than seven of their nests, and in two of these dis­covered unmistakable eggs of the Coel. Did these two both belong to the fugitive female discovered when for the third time she made the attempt? Were they the eggs of sister adventuresses, who had put her up to the locality as one in which business was likely to be done ? I confess I am not deep enough in the secrets of the mottled ladies, whom respectable Crow matrons doubtless look upon as the worst of ' social evils,' to answer these questions, but about the eggs there could be ' no. deception.'"
One curious fact remains to be noticed. I have never seen Crows feeding fully fledged Cools out of the nest, whereas I have repeatedly watched adult female Coels feeding young ones of their own species. I am pretty nearly convinced that after laying their eggs the females keep somewhere about the locality and take charge of the young directly they can leave the nest; but the difficulty is that, while from dissection I am convinced that they lay more than one egg, I never saw more than one young one in charge of an old female. Common as the bird is, and much attention as I have paid to their habits during the breeding - season, there is much still to be ascertained in regard to their social economy.
The late Mr. A. Anderson remarked that Dr. Jerdon " is correct in stating that the nest of the common Crow (Corvus splendens) is the one almost exclusively used as a nursery for the foundlings ; this however, not because the Cool can be said to have any partiality for this Crow in particular, but because the other species (C. culminatus) does not lay simultaneously with herself. I firmly believe that if both species nested at the same time, they would be equally in demand as foster - parents. C. culminatus lays, as a rule, in February and March ; and I have sometimes, though, rarely, seen them do so as late as May and June; C. splendent, on the other hand, does not generally commence to build till Juno, which suits the Coel to a nicety."
On the 27th May he found a nest containing " three Cool's and four eggs of C. culminatus.   This nest was built in a tree at my garden - gate, and was watched by me in course of construction. I frequently observed male and female Cools darting in and out of this shady tree, and during the heat of the day sitting in close proximity to, and on terms of perfect friendship with, the rightful occupants of the nest. On the 24th May the nest contained one Crow's and one Coel's egg ; on the 25th I was agreeably surprised at finding that each species had laid a second egg; but on the following day, the 26th, I was amazed when my tree - climber from aloft reported that both birds had again done their duty. On the 27th I removed the contents of the nest, which contained the number above stated. The Crow on this occasion was on her nest, and the man who went up informed me that one of the small eggs (meaning the Coel's) was placed above the other six, forming as it were the corner tier.
"I would observe that the fact of 0. culminatus laying in May was as exceptionally late for that bird as it was early for the Coel. I am consequently led to infer that these three Cool's eggs were the produce of one bird.
" It is quite clear that C. culminatus is easily imposed upon, and seems to be alike unaware of and indifferent to the deception practised on her; for I never once observed the above pair attempt to drive away the Coels from the tree on which they had built. G. splendens, on the other hand, is thoroughly alive to the trickery; and there is hardly a day, during the breeding - season, that Coels may not be seen making their escape from trees, hotly and unrelentingly pursued by one or more Crows of this species.
" But the curious thing in this connection is that the male Coel is just as often the object of attack as the female; and I have frequently observed both sexes flying out of the same tree simultaneously, though in opposite directions."
He concludes from the instance above given and eleven others in which, between the 8th June and the 28th August, he found one, two, or three eggs of young of Coels along with eggs or young of Crows, " that the same Coel may lay a number of its eggs in the same nest.
" That she does not willingly eject the eggs of the foster - parent; and that when there is a deficiency in the normal number, it is in all probability due to accident, owing to the Coel's hurried movements.
" That G. culminatus is easily duped, while her cunning congener, C. splendens, is fully aware of the deception. That when the female Coel is about to intrude her egg, she is frequently accompanied by a male bird.
" That it is a common occurrence to find several Coel's eggs, as well as young ones, in the same nest, the produce of one or more parents.
“The eggs of this Cuckoo have certainly a very corvine appearance, and are well adapted to represent miniature eggs of the foster - parent. All those in my collection are of one type, and may be described as thickly blotched and spotted with reddish brown on a dark - green ground, somewhat confluent at the obtuse end.   They vary, how ever, in size and shape, the longest measuring 1.4 by 0.9 inch, the smallest 1.1 by 0.9 inch. Five generally, and, perhaps, sometimes six, is the number of eggs laid by this bird."
I can only say that three Cool's and four Crow's eggs out of one nest was a very remarkable find.
Dr. Scully remarks of the Coel in Nepal : -“The Indian Coel is a seasonal visitor to the valley, arriving about the end of March or beginning of April) and departing in September. It frequents the woods of the central part of the valley, gardens, groves, and trees, near houses and villages; in April, May, and June its well - known cry may be constantly heard. The eggs are laid in the nest of the common Crow (C, splendens), as in the plains of India.''
Colonel Butler remarks : -"The Indian Cool breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa towards the end of the hot weather, commencing about the first week in June. I took eggs this year upon the following dates (1876) : -
" June 7th.   1 fresh egg in nest of C. splendens with 3 Crow's eggs.
„ I4th.   2 fresh eggs    „    „    3
„ 17th.   1 fresh egg    „    „    4        „
,, 21st.    1      ,,    ,,    ,,    3        ,,
21st    1    3
21 st     1    4
„ 21st.     1        „    „    „    3    „
„ 27th.    2 addled eggs    „    „    3youngCrows.
„ 27th.    1 fresh egg    „    „    5 Crow's eggs.
July 1st.    2 fresh eggs    „    „    1
„   3rd.    3      ,,    „    „    3        „
" On the 8th July I saw two Crows pursuing a male Coel, and after a long chase the Cool dashed into a low bush, from which the Crows drove it into a thick euphorbia hedge ; they then attacked it vigorously, and the bird was so frightened that I dismounted from my horse and caught it in my hand. The following day a beautiful female specimen was mobbed to death by Crows in the compound next to mine, and brought to me by the men who saw - it killed. When the hen bird lays she often turns some of the Crow's eggs out of the nest, as I have several times examined Crows' nests and found three or four eggs one day, and on examining them a day or two later have found some of the Crow's eggs missing and Cool's eggs in their place."
And again  : -" In Belgaum Cools lay much earlier than in Guzerat. The first egg I got this year was on the 13th April, when two were brought tome quite fresh. On the 16th I got two more fresh eggs, on the 18th two more, and on the 27th another, also a young bird ready to fly; the egg of this latter must have been laid about the middle of March. Another fresh egg on the 28th April, and in the same nest two more eggs on the 1st May, upon which date I also took two more fresh eggs, one being laid in a nest by itself, evidently before the Crow had commenced to lay, as the nest was empty the day before. On the 5th May I took 9 more fresh eggs, and again came across a nest in which the Coel had laid before the Crow. , On the 9th May I took 10 more fresh eggs, five of which were' laid in a nest containing a single Crow's egg, from which I had taken two Coel's eggs on the 5th inst.; and being of three distinct types, in all probability they were laid by two or three different birds. This is the largest number of Coel's eggs I have ever seen in one nest. Three are not an unusual number to find in a nest, and two occur constantly. On the 12th May I took 3 more fresh eggs, and on the 15th May 4 more, two of the latter being in a nest by themselves that was empty when I visited it on the 12th inst. All of the above eggs were taken out of nests of C. splendens, and in no one instance did I find an egg in the nest of 0. macrorhynchus, although the Large Crows' nests were more common in that part of camp where the Coels frequented than the other species."
Colonel W. V. Legge, writing from Ceylon, says : -“The eggs of this species have been identified lor the first time in this island, during the present year. In May three batches were found near Bolgodde, in the Western Province, all in nests of G. culminatus. In one nest there were 4 Crow's and 4 Coel's eggs ; in another 5 Crow's and 3 Coel's ; and in the third 2 Crow's and 4 Coel's. The parasite eggs varied in character considerably, and two nests contained two types. I have long known the Coel to be resident in Ceylon, though a want of knowledge of the range of birds here has induced some to consider it migratory."
Mr. A. G. Cardew, C.S., records the following dates on which he found eggs of the Cool in Madras  : -
" June 21st. 2 eggs from nest of Corvus splendens which contained no Crow's eggs, fresh.
" June 23rd. 1 egg from nest of 0. splendens which contained 4 Crow's eggs, slightly incubated.
" June 24th.   2 eggs from nest of G. splendens which contained
1    Crow's egg, fresh.
" June 25th.   2 eggs from nest of G. splendens which contained
2    Crow's eggs, all incubated."
The eggs of the Coel are much about the size of a common Blackbird's egg, but more compressed towards the small end, and I have seen what I was informed was a variety of the Ring - Ouzel's egg by no means unlike a specimen I possess of the Coel's egg. The texture of the egg - shells is very compact and fine, but they are entirely devoid of gloss. There is some faint general resemblance between their ground - colour and that of the eggs of Corvits splendens, in whose nest they are in Upper India almost exclusively deposited, but I never saw a single egg of this Crow that could for one instant be mistaken for that of the Coel, The ground - colour varies much : pale sea - green, pale dingy green, dull olive - green, pale olive - brown, and dingy stone - colour, are all met with. The markings, specks, spots, streaks, and clouds, the predominant character being streaky, vary alike in extent and in shade and intensity of colour. The markings are almost invariably most numerous towards the large end, where they often form an irregular imperfect zone, or sometimes a mottled cap ; but while in some eggs the markings are almost exclusively confined to the broader half, where they are but thinly sprinkled, in others they almost hide the ground - colour throughout and are nearly confluent over the whole upper end. In colour the markings are olive - brown, reddish brown, and dull purple; the reddish - brown and purplish markings predominating on stone - colour and dingy grounds, and the olive - brown where the ground - colours are brighter green. They vary little in shape or size, but are a moderately broad oval, somewhat compressed towards the smaller end.
The eggs vary in length from 1.08 to 1.29 inch, and in breadth from 0.89 to 0.96 inch: but the average of the series is 1.19 by 0.92 inch.