I20 JOTTINGS ABOUT BIEDS. 



principal islands in the Mediterranean; but it is 

 only an abnormal visitor to the Faroes, to the 

 Canaries, and to Madeira. It is chiefly known in 

 North Africa as passing on spring and autumn 

 migration, but breeds sparingly in Algeria. Passing 

 on to Asia, we find that it occurs in summer in 

 Palestine, Asia Minor, Persia, Afghanistan, Turkes- 

 tan, Siberia, the Himalayas, Mongolia, China, and 

 Japan. The birds that breed in Europe winter 

 throughout South Africa ; those that breed in Asia 

 retire southwards in autumn to India, Ceylon, the 

 Burmese Peninsula, Celebes, and the Philippines. 

 The Cuckoo has several near allies, from which it 

 is possibly only superficially distinct. What we 

 may describe as an Eastern race is Cucidus hima- 

 layaniis, a bird that breeds from the valley of the 

 Yenesay eastwards across Siberia, Mongolia, and 

 China to Japan, and southwards to the Himalayas. 

 The migrations of this race trend to the south and 

 east, and the bird winters in the Burmese Peninsula, 

 throughout the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, 

 and Australia. Intermediate forms berween C. 

 himalayanus and C. capensis (the South African 

 representative form of the Cuckoo) have been 

 obtained in South Africa ; whilst the typical Hima- 

 lavan form has been shot in Madagascar. This 



