Centrococcyx rufipennis (III.). 
The Indian Coucal.

Centropus rufipennis (III.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 348; Hume, Rough Draft  N. & E. no. 217.

The Indian Coucal or Crow - Pheasant breeds throughout the plains of Upper India during the rainy season, I have found eggs as early as the 1st of June and as late as the 5th of September.

They build, most commonly, a huge, globular domed nest, at varying heights from the ground, in the centre of thick thorny bushes or trees. The nests are usually of dry twigs, lined with a few green leaves, but all kinds of odds and ends are at times incorporated into the fabric.

Occasionally quite different materials are made use of, the nest consisting almost wholly of leaves, rushes, or coarse grass.

The nests are hollow oblate - spheroids, some 18 inches in external diameter, and 6 to 8 inches in height, with a large hole on one side, from the entrance of which to the back of the nest inside may be 12 inches. This of course is not long enough to admit the whole bird, so that when sitting the tail is commonly seen projecting outside the nest. When in this position the bird is about as defenceless as the traditional Ostrich which hid its head in the sand; but in Australia the Coucal (G. phasianus) manages these things far better.   There, we are told  : -

“The nest, which is placed in the midst of a tuft of grass, is of a large size, composed of dried grasses, and is of a domed form with two openings, through one of which the head of the female protrudes while sitting, and her tail through the other."

On the other hand, the Southern Chinese Coucal, which Swinhoe declares to be identical with ours, goes a step further and gets rid of the dome altogether. "I have never found," remarks Mr. Swinhoe, “The nest domed as is that of C. viridis. It is shaped like a long narrow basket, made almost entirely of fresh grass, suspended in the centre of a thick hedge, and usuaUy contains four pure white eggs, ovate and not roundish as those of its small ally. This Crow -  - Pheasant is a resident bird in South China, ranging a few hundred miles above Foochow, not quite so far north, I think, as Ningpo."

But even in India the nest is not always domed; I have seen fifty nests at least, and all were so, but my friend Mr. F. R. Blewitt, a most accurate observer, gives me the following note on the subject : -" Breeds, as far as I have been able to ascertain, from June to August. My experience goes to prove that it does not always, as related by Jerdon, select ' dense and inaccessible thickets' for its nest. I have found it high up on tamarind and other trees fully exposed to view; the only difficulty was in getting to the nests, which generally were placed at the further end of a branch, between two or three forks. The nest is large in size, formed of various kinds of twigs and leaves of the dhak, jamoon, siris, neem, &c. No other material was used in the nests. The nest in structure is not always dome - shaped. Of six nests, two only were domed at the top; the other four, formed of twigs and leaves, were simply nests about the size of a very large round plate, with a depression in the centre for the eggs. I may add that the thickness at the base and sides, of the twigs and leaves which are both used in the building of the nest, varies from 8 to 10 inches. I did not find more than three eggs in any one nest, though I have reason to believe that four is the maximum number. They are pure white and in shape oval. The exterior of the shell is, as it were, covered with a soft chalk - like substance, easily scratched with the nail."

Mr. W. Theobald makes the following remarks on the breeding of this bird in Monghyr : -" Lays in June and August; eggs, four in number, oval, measuring from 1.30 to 1.47 inch in length, and from 1.09 to 1.21 inch in breadth ; colour, pure white; nest placed in dense trees, a neat but loose structure of twigs, domed, and with aperture in the side, lined with dry leaves."

Dr. Jerdon states that " it makes a large nest of twigs or grasses of green flag - leaves domed at the top, and the aperture on the side, and lined with dried leaves.   It is usually placed in the most dense and inaccessible thickets. The eggs are two to five in number, pure white and oval. Burgess says that the exterior of the shell is very soft and of a chalky texture, easily getting scratched or stained. This, as Mr. Blyth remarks, shows an affinity to the eggs of Crotophaga, which are white, rough, and chalky externally; but if this layer be detached, the egg is shown to be deep blue. It breeds from January to July, according to the locality."

Three is certainly the normal number of the eggs, though four and even five are at times met with.

Major C. T. Bingham says : -"At Allahabad I found two nests of this bird. One, on the 28th June, was a large domed nest, constructed of babool, neem, and mango - branches, lined with grass and strips of aloe - leaves, and placed in an aloe - hedge not 6 inches from the ground.

“The second nest I found on the 16th August in a small mango - tree ; this was a huge mass of twigs, with the dry and decayed leaves still attached, and lined with leaves and decaying grass."

Colonel G. F. L. Marshall remarks  : -" I found a nest of this species in the Nawabgunj Gardens at Cawnpoor in the middle of May, with eggs nearly hatching. I have found the nest in trees and thorny bushes, but according to my experience the commonest position is in a thick tuft of surkerry grass about 3 feet from the ground."

Colonel Butler makes the following remarks  : -" I found a Crow - Pheasant's nest on the 20th July, 1876, at Deesa, containing three fresh eggs. The nest, which consisted of a mass of dead sticks lined with a thick pad of green leaves (strips of plantain - leaves, mulberry - leaves, &c.), and open at the top, was built about 18 feet from the ground, in a tree overgrown with a dense creeper. This pair of birds built a nest in a tree adjoining at the beginning of June, and after the hen - bird had sat for three or four days, I sent a boy up the tree, and to my astonishment found the nest empty. The birds, seeing the nest was discovered, forsook it and built another in the nest tree. Again, the old hen sat closely for several days, when, thinking that the eggs would be spoilt if left longer, I sent a boy up to the nest, which, like the other, was empty. The birds forsook this nest also and disappeared for several days, during which I several times observed them in other parts of the camp. At length they returned and built the nest above described. The eggs have a very hard chalky shell, and are of a dirty white, often much stained. In fact I have often failed to clean them even with soap and water. As soon as the hen - bird commences to sit, both birds keep as much as possible out of sight, hiding themselves most of the day in dense trees when the hen is not actually on the nest, and when she is on the nest the cock - bird is usually to be found hiding himself somewhere close to the nest. When thus engaged he will generally allow himself to be approached to within a few yards without moving.

"On the 10th August I found another nest in the same neighborhood, domed, containing an addled egg and two half - fledged young ones. The egg was so discoloured from incubation &c. that I destroyed it.

"On the 12th August I found another nest in a similar situation, namely, at the top of a dense thorny bush in some bush - jungle, containing two fresh eggs. I found several other nests at the end of August and in September, some domed, some open at the top, containing fresh and incubated eggs."

Mr. Benjamin Aitken writes as follows : -"I have notes of only two nests of the Indian Coucal, and neither of them was in the centre of a thicket. Both were found in Berar. One was about 12 feet from the ground, among the lower outermost branches of a large tamarind - tree. The whole time the birds were courting and the nest building, the birds kept up an unceasing hooting to each other, and once, when the moon was shining brightly, I heard them at dead of night. On the 25th June the nest was found to contain four eggs, of which two were taken. I expected, considering what a wary bird the Crow - Pheasant is, that the nest would be deserted; but, notwithstanding that the man who went up left by mistake behind him a scarecrow in the shape of a most forbidding piece of rag, half a yard long, the two remaining eggs were incubated and hatched. The young birds left the nest long before they could fly, when they were still absurdly small, and had tails only 3 inches in length. It may be the common habit of these birds to leave the nest thus early, and skulk about thick hedges, avoiding observation, till they are fit to be seen; but I rather believe that, like Black Robins, Rollers, and other birds that are naturally shy about their nests, young Crow - Pheasants are usually not introduced to society till they are scarcely distinguishable from their parents.

" Nest No. 2 was found about the last day of June in a small babool tree, and contained three eggs. Both nests were dome - shaped and carelessly constructed."

Miss Cockburn, writing from the Nilghiris, says : -" These birds build in large bramble - thickets, so that their nests are not easily got at. They put a quantity of sticks together and form a very spacious nest, the materials being placed all round except at the entrance, and also forming a high canopy above much in the style of the English Magpie. It uses every precaution to ensure the preservation of its own progeny, as if it argued from its evil propensities that ' what birds have done, birds may do,' and that some day its own abode might be invaded by its numerous feathered neighbours towards whose domestic rights it has shown so little respect. The Black - and - Red Cuckoo builds in March and April, and the hen lays three large white eggs."

An egg which Miss Cockburn sent me was most abnormally elongated, measuring 1.52 in length by only 0.98 in width !

Mr. A. G. Cardew, C.S., writes from Madras : -" A nest with eggs just ready to be hatched taken on 9th March; and a newly - built nest, with one fresh - laid egg, found as late as 20th July"

Mr. Rhodes W. Morgan, writing from South India, says  : -" It breeds in dense thorny bushes, building a domed nest with an aperture in the side. The nest is composed of green leaves and twigs carelessly woven together. The eggs are from two to three in number, and of a dull white. They are covered with a chalky epidermis, which, when removed, leaves the shell of a pure white, and not of a beautiful blue as in the case of Crotophaga ani. The dimensions of an egg in my collection are 1.5 inch in length by 1.21 in breadth."

In Ceylon, we are informed by Colonel W. V. Legge, this species breeds from May to September.

The eggs vary little in size or shape  -  broad regular ovals, almost perfectly symmetrical at both ends ; they closely resemble, so far as size and shape go, those of our Common Blue Pigeon (C intermedia). In texture they are rather coarse and somewhat chalky, and are normally of a dull pure white, but they are not infrequently covered, when first found, with a pale yellowish - brown glaze or size, which readily washes off, but which, so long as it remains on them, imparts to them a certain amount of gloss.

One specimen from Tipperah, sent me by Mr. Irwin, is very nearly spherical and of a very pure white.
In length the eggs vary from 1.3 to 1.55 inch, and in breadth from 1.12 to 1.25 inch ; but the average of a large series is 1.44 by 1.16 inch.