II. — ZOOLOGY. 



Abt. VIII. — The Kohoperoa or Koekoea, Long-tailed Cuckoo 

 (Urodynamis taitensis) : An Account of its Habits, De- 

 scripiion of a Nest containing its (supposed) Egg, and a 

 Suggestion as to how the Parasitic Habit in Birds has 

 become established. 



By EoBEET Fulton, M.B., CM., Edin. 



[Laid on the Table at the Annual General Meeting of the Otago 

 Institute, November-, 1903.] 



So little is known of the breeding-habits of the Long-tailed 

 Cuckoo that the description of a nest containing what I believe 

 to be the egg of this interesting bird may be considered of 

 some ornithological importance. 



The Long - tailed Cuckoo is a native of the South Sea 

 Islands, and visits us annually in the spring, breeding with 

 us, but the task of feeding its young is very frequently carried 

 out by the Grey Warbler {Gerygone flaviventris), a species 

 which actually hatches and brings up the young of the 

 Bronze or Shining Cuckoo (Chalcococcyx lucidus), another 

 summer visitant(l). How the egg of the Shining Cuckoo is 

 placed in the nest of the Warbler is as yet unknown ; the 

 Cuckoo probably lays the egg on the ground and then places 

 it in the nest with its beak, for it can hardly get inside the 

 nest without seriously damaging it ; and when we come to 

 consider the size of the Long-tailed Cuckoo the difficulty is im- 

 measurably increased. Sir Walter Buller says of this point, 

 " It is difficult to conceive how a bird of the size and form of 

 the Long-tailed Cuckoo could deposit its egg in the domed 

 nest of Gerygone flaviventris; and, even supposing that it 

 did, it would seem almost a physical impossibility for so small 

 a creature to hatch it ; and, again, were this feasible, it is 

 difficult to imagine how the frail tenement of a suspension 

 nest could support the daily increasing weight of the young 

 cuckoo "(2). This objection has been raised by others, (3) and 

 from my own observations of the nests of Gerygone, and the 

 fact that the barely fledged Shining Cuckoo fills the nest 

 to almost bursting-point, I am convinced that the Warbler 

 rarely, if ever, hatches the egg of Urodynaims. Sir Walter 

 Buller was long of the opinion that the Cuckoo hatched its 

 own egg and then cast its offspring upon a charitable world 



8— Trans. 



