YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 2/1 



webs of some of the brown quills, w^hite bars and tips to the 

 outer tail feathers, and white spots on the shafts of the central 

 pair. The upper breast is pale slate, the rest of the under parts 

 are white with dark bars. The bill is slate-black, yellow at the 

 gape, the mouth orange within ; the legs, orbits and irides 

 yellow. The young have the upper parts barred with dark 

 brown and rufous ; many of the feathers are white tipped and 

 there is a conspicuous white patch on the nape ; the white- 

 tipped tail is also barred ; the under parts are huffish white, 

 barred throughout with black ; the irides are brown. Birds in 

 their second year (Plate io8, upper fig.), more rufous and 

 lacking the white tips, are occasionally recorded ; Seebohm 

 suggests that in this plumage they seldom migrate far north, 

 and that the adult dress is not attained until the bird is two 

 years old. In early August, however, I saw two young birds 

 together, one typically rufous and the other, except for the nape 

 spot and white margins, as grey as an old bird. Length, 13 ins. 

 Wing, 8*5 ins. Tarsus, '95 in. 



Great Spotted Cuckoo. Clamator glandarius (Linn.). 



This large, crested and long-tailed Cuckoo breeds in Africa, 

 southern Europe, and part of western Asia ; it has been 

 recorded twice from Ireland, from Northumberland and 

 Norfolk. Its parasitic and other habits resemble those of 

 our bird, and its call is a loud kee-ou, its alarm a harsh ka?'k. 

 It has a long grey crest, ash-brown, white-spotted upper parts, 

 white-tipped tail and white under parts. Length, 15*5 ins. 

 Wing, 8 ins. Tarsus, 1-3 ins. 



Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Coccyztis americamis (Linn.). 



There is no reason for doubting that this American bird is 

 an occasional wanderer on migration to Britain ; the belief 



