The crow-pheasants (Centropus sinensis), which are cuckoos that do not lead a parasitic existence, are now busy with nursery duties.  The nest of the crow-pheasant or coucal is a massive structure, globular in shape, with the entrance at one side.  Large as the nest is, it is not often discovered by the naturalist because it is almost invariably situated in the midst of an impenetrable thicket.  Three or four pure-white eggs are laid.

The white-necked storks or beef-steak birds (Dissura episcopus) are busy at their nests in June.  These birds build in large trees, usually at a distance from water.  The nest is rudely constructed of twigs.  It is about one and a half feet in diameter.  The eggs are placed in a depression lined with straw, grass or feathers.  White-necked storks often begin nest-building about the middle of May, but eggs are rarely laid earlier than the second week of June.  House-crows nest at the same time of year, and they often worry the storks considerably by their impudent attempts to commit larceny of building material.

The breeding season of the paddy-birds has now fairly begun.  These birds, usually so solitary in habit, often nest in small colonies, sometimes in company with night-herons.  The nest is a slender platform of sticks placed high up in a tree, often in the vicinity of human habitations.  Nesting paddy-birds, or pond-herons as they are frequently called, utter all manner of weird calls, the one most frequently heard being a curious gurgle.

Some of the amadavats build nests in June, but the great majority breed during the winter months.

As soon as the first rains have fallen a few of the pheasant-tailed jacanas begin nesting operations, but the greater number breed in August; for this reason their nests are described in the calendar for that month.

In June a very striking bird makes its appearance in Northern India.  This is the pied crested cuckoo (Coccystes jacobinus).  Its under parts are white, as is a bar in the wing.  The remainder of the plumage is glossy black.  The head is adorned by an elegant crest.  The pied cuckoo has a peculiar metallic call, which is as easy to recognise as it is difficult to describe.  The bird victimises, not crows, but babblers; nevertheless the corvi seem to dislike it as intensely as they dislike koels.

By the beginning of the month the great majority of the cock bayas or weaver-birds have assumed their black-and-golden wedding garment; nevertheless they do not as a rule begin to nest before July.

The curious excrescence on the bill of the drake nukta or comb-duck is now much enlarged.  This betokens the approach of the nesting season for that species.

If the monsoon happen to burst early many of the birds which breed in the rains begin building their nests towards the end of June, but, in nine years out of ten, July marks the beginning of the breeding period of aquatic birds, therefore the account of their nests properly finds place in the calendar of that month, or of August, when the season is at its height.