582 NBSrS AND EGGS OF AVSTRAUAN BIRDS. 



457. — Chalcococcyx plagosus, Latham. — (383) 

 BRONZE CUCKOO. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, vol. iv., pi. 8g, centre figure. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xix., p. 297. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould : Birds of Australia, Hand- 

 book, vol. i., p. bi^ (1865) ; Ramsay : Proc. Zool. See, p. 460 

 (1865), also p. 35y (iSOy) ; North : Austn. Mus. Cat., app., 

 pi. g, fig. 13 -(1889) ; Campbell; Victorian Naturalist (1S9S). 



GetKjrdiihical Dixtrihutidii. — Whole of Australia and Tasmania; 

 also Southeru New Guinea and the adjacent Islands, to the Solomon 

 Archipelago. 



Eijijs. — Elliptical in form ; texture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; 

 colour, of a imiform bronzy or olive shade. The bronze colour may 

 be readily removed by moisttire, which reveals a light bluish shell. 

 Dimensions in inches ; (1) -74 x -51, (2) -72 x -52, (3) -69 x -51. (Plate 17.) 



Ohservdtidns. — So much alike are the various species of beautiful 

 Bronze Cuckoos that great care is needed to discriminate between them. 

 The Bronze Cuckoo has a resplendent coat of rich greenish bronze. 

 The underneath parts are beautifully striped, in zebra fashion, with the 

 same beautiful bronze tint. Eyes, bill and feet, brownish. Total 

 length, about 6 inches. The familiar Bronze Cuckoo (its egg also being 

 bronze-coloured) is migratory over the whole of Australia and Tasmania.* 



The whistling note of the Bronze Cuckoo is, in the vicinity of 

 Melbourne, usually lirst heard in August. I have a record one year 

 when I heard this bird as early as the 3rd of that month. Of course 

 the majority of these CUckoos arrive during September, a few laying by 

 the end of that month, while the general laying season includes the 

 mouths of October, November, and December. 



In selecting a foster-parent for its ofFspring, the beautiful Bronze 

 Cuckoo generally chooses the covered-in nests of the Ac<iiithiz<r (Tits) 

 tribe, but other sjiecies of dome-shaped or secluded nests are chosen, 

 while I have a record of only four instances where open nests were 

 selected. The following is tlie hst of foster-birds known : — 



'In the Gascoync district (Western .Australia), Mr. Tuni Carter stales he has 

 seen olive-coloured eggs of Cuckoos, in various nests, as early as July. 



