Mimicry in Birds 



occurs a small black cuckoo with a forked tail 

 (Sumiciclus lugubris), which at first sight is so 

 like the king-crow that it may easily be taken 

 for it, the pair-toed feet of a cuckoo not being 

 a point which is likely to be noticed unless the 

 bird is actually in hand or very near. As drongos 

 have been seen feeding the young of this cuckoo, 

 it presumably lays its eggs in their nests, which 

 would be an excessively risky proceeding for a 

 bird which they could easily recognise as not one 

 of themselves. As it is, the cuckoo gets found 

 out # at times, for some drongos have actually been 

 seen to peck one of these birds to death. 



In spite of this, however, it is probably of 

 general benefit to this extra-fraudulent cuckoo 

 to wear the livery of the " Kotwal " (superin- 

 tendent of police), as the drongo is called in the 

 Deccan ; for at any rate the criminal classes are 

 likely to treat him with more respect in the police 

 uniform than if they could see he was only a poor 

 vagabond cuckoo with the usual weak bill and 

 feet of his family. 



The parasitic cuckoos have, indeed, a general 

 tendency to look like something else — generally 

 a hawk, as is well known to be the case with 

 our own familiar species. But an equally 

 familiar Indian cuckoo carries the hawk-like 

 appearance much further. This is the bird 

 well known, and thoroughly disliked, as the 



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