332 AVES. 



The True Cuckoos 







Have a moderately strong beak, short tarsi, and ten quills in the 

 tail. They are celebrated for the singular habit of laying their eggs 

 in the nests of other insectivorous birds, and, what is not less extraor- 

 dinary, these latter, which are often a considerably smaller species, 

 take as much care of the young Cuckoo as of their own true offspring, 

 and that too, even when its introduction has been preceded, which 

 often happens, by the destruction of their eggs. The rationale of this 

 phenomenon, which is unique in the history of birds, is unknown. 

 Herissant has attributed it to the position of the gizzard, which, in 

 fact, is placed much farther back in the abdomen, and is less pro- 

 tected by the sternum than in other birds. The caeca are long, and 

 the lower larynx has but a single muscle proper. There is one of 

 them very generally found throughout Europe, 



C. canorus, h.; Enl. 811. (The Common Cuckoo.) An ash 

 coloured grey; white belly, striped transversely with blackj sides 

 of the tail spotted with white; a red takes the place of the grey 

 in the young bird. But another species, 



C. glandarius, Edw. 57; Naum. 130, the male; Col. 414, the 

 female,(l) which is sometimes seen in Europe, has a more sono- 

 rous note, and is crested and spotted. 



The warm countries of both hemispheres produce several 

 others.(2) 



Africa, in particular, has several beautiful species, of a green 

 colour, more or less gilded; their beak is rather more de- 

 pressed than that of the Common Cuckoo. (3) 



In others, mostly spotted, the beak is vertically higher. (4) 

 The 



(1) Cuculus pisanus, Gm. is the young-. 



(2) Cuculus capensis, Vaill. Afr. pi. 200, which is probably nothing more than a 

 variety of the commoji one; solitarius, Nob., Vaill. 206; radiutus, .Sonner. Voy. 

 I, pi. 79;clamosiis, Nob. Vaill. 204, 205;edoliu!i, Nob. Vaill. 207, 208. N.B. 

 Cue. serratus, Sparm. Mus. Carls. 3, is the male; melanokucos, Enl. 272, the female; 

 coromandus, Enl. 274, 2andavar., Vaill. 213; americanus, Enl. 816,ovcarolineri- 

 sz's, Wils. Ill, xxviii, 1; eryihrophialmus, lb., 2i' Jlavus, Enl. 8!4. 



N.B. The C. mindancnsis, Enl. 277, and its male C. orientalis, Enl. 274, 1, are 

 separated from them by M. Vigors and Horsf. under the generic name of Euur- 



NAM1S. 



(3) Cue. auratus, Enl. 657, Vaill. 211; elassii, Vaill. 210; lucidus, Lath. Syn. 

 I, pi. xxiii, and Col. 102, f. 1; capreus, Id. Supp. 134, and Vieill. Gal. 42; chal- 

 cites, T. Col. 102, f 2, the female. 



(4) Cue. pundatus, Enl. 771, and scolopaceus, 586, and perhaps even maculatus^ 

 764, are varieties; houoriUus, Enl. 294, Vaill. 216; luitentis, Sparm. Mus. Carls. 



