Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/72

56 other part of India. This is the Pied-Crested Cuckoo (Coccystes jacobinus), a very handsome bird, much like a magpie in colour, but smaller and slighter in build. The under-parts and a bar across the wings are pure white, all the rest of it is glossy black, and an elegant, pointed crest gives style to its head. It has a loud, clear, excited cry, but is not so addicted to needless reiteration as the last two. The crows appear to be under some misapprehension with regard to this bird, and persecute it even more savagely than the Koel. Almost every specimen I have had in my hands has been rescued from an avenging mob of crows when it had no strength to go further. There is no ground, as far as I know, for their hatred, for this species does not interfere with their domestic life, but commits its offspring to the Seven Brothers. The pied youngster grows up as one of the brotherhood, and is treated brotherly, but its wild gypsy nature is stronger than habit and it leaves them as soon as it is able to take care of itself.

That great, awkward, black bird, with reddish chestnut wings and a long tail, which is known by various nicknames, such as Crow Pheasant, or Jungle Cock, is classed among the Cuckoos, though it does not lay its eggs in the nests of other birds, but makes one for itself and brings up its own family respectably. It is the Coucal, Centropits rufipennis. It is hardly a common Bombay bird, but it is very common in the surrounding country and has been seen, I think, within municipal limits.