392 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.106 



had been fed it calmed do'uai promptly. He saw it fed eight times in 

 30 minutes, mostly on what seemed to bo grubs, spiders, and 

 grasshoppers. 



Breeding Range 



The first indication that the red-chested cuckoo may breed in 

 West Africa is a record of a female with a well yolked egg in the 

 ovary collected on August 6 at Lake Bambalue, near Bamenda, 

 British Cameroons (Bannerman, 1951, p. 274). 



Cuculus cafer Lichtenstcin 



Black cuckoo 



Since the publication of my earlier account of this rather shy and 

 secretive cuckoo, additional data, especially on the development of 

 the nestling and, to a lesser extent, on the evicting habit, have been 

 recorded. This is principally due to Skead's (1951, pp. 163-168) ob- 

 servations. In his area in the eastern Cape Province he found the 

 boubou shrike (Laniarius Jerrugineus) to be the regular, and, as far as 

 his own experience went, the only host of the black cuckoo. 



The new data, filling what was formerly a complete blank m the 

 record concerning the growth and development of the young bird, may 

 be summarized briefly as follows. On the first day after hatching the 

 bird is naked, dark purplish in color, the gape pink, the back noticeably 

 flat (not concave), and the eyes closed. On the fourth day the sheaths 

 of the rectrices, remiges, and flank feathers begin to emerge; on the 

 fifth day those of the feathers on the nape, throat, and forehead begin 

 to appear; by the sixth day the bird has sheaths all over except on the 

 back which is still nude. The eyes begin to open on the seventh day, 

 and the bird begins to squeak softly. The feather sheaths begin to 

 emerge on either side of the bare spinal area on the eighth day. By 

 the nuith day the eyes are fully open; the back is still largely bare. 

 The feathers start bursting from their sheaths on the 11th day, but 

 the primary remiges are still encased in their sheaths. On the 16th 

 day the bird is well feathered all over, and shows fear reactions by 

 gaping with the head up and back, not forward as when expecting food; 

 on the 21st day the bird was gone from the nest and was never seen 

 again. The nestling period is therefore not more than 21 days. In 

 the Em-opean cuckoo it is said to vary from 20 to 23 days. 



In another nest of the boubou shrike Skead found a newly hatched 

 black cuckoo and two eggs of the host. The next da}^ one of the shrike's 

 eggs hatched. The following day the young cuckoo was the sole oc- 

 cupant of the nest and no sign could be found of the shrike's egg or 

 chick. The probabihty is that they were ejected by the cuckoo, but 

 the ejection was not witnessed. The nest, being a rather shallow cup, 



