88 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Young. — Nothing is recorded, as to incubation, but I believe it 

 to take only 10 or 11 days, i. e., much the same period as for the 

 eggs of the small warblers the cuckoo selects to cuckold. 



Ejection of young undoubtedly takes place in the same manner as 

 that by which it is effected by the common cuckoo, the young cuckoo 

 hoistiiig the other occupants of the nest, either eggs or young birds, 

 onto its shoulder and then pushing them over the edge of the nest. 

 I have seen several young birds from two days to a week old in the 

 nests of various warblers, and they have always been alone. The 

 young cuckoo has the same dorsal interscapular arrangement as that 

 found in the nestling canonis to assist it in carrying out the 

 fratricide. 



Plwniages. — Male: Similar to the male of Cucidus c. canonis and 

 C. c. bakeri but less dark on the upper parts than the latter and 

 always to be distinguished from all races of the canorus group by 

 having the edge of the wing pure white and not barred. On the 

 lower surface the white bars are broader and the black bars in conse- 

 quence wider apart, while they are blacker and bolder in appearance. 



Female: Similar to the male but generally with a more rufous 

 tinge on the breast and abdomen; the luider tail coverts are often 

 pale fulvous with black crossbars. 



The female has a hepatic phase like that of C. c. canorus. 



Juvenile: In first plumage blackish brown above, the feathers all 

 broadly edged with white; the wing quills are barred with rufous 

 on the outer webs; the chin, throat, and breast are blackish, the 

 feathers narrowly fringed with white and the rest of the lower parts 

 white, or faintly fulvous-white, heavily barred with strong bands of 

 black. 



In intermediate stage between juvenile and adult the plumage is 

 slaty, the feathers very narrowly edged with white ; below, the chin, 

 throat, and upper breast are blackish, the feathers broadly fringed 

 with white and the remainder of the lower parts like the adult. 



Hepatic young are like the hepatic female adult but less richly 

 colored and more heavily banded below with blackish, especially on 

 the chin, throat, and breast. Some specimens of young birds in the 

 British Museum collection seem to be changing from a juvenile 

 hepatic plumage into a normal adult plumage. 



The white nuchal spot is very seldom seen in the young of this 

 cuckoo but is occasionally present. 



Measurements. — Wing 208 to 226; tail 151 to 176; tarsus about 20 

 or 21; culmen 20 to 22 millimeters. The female is little, if any, 

 smaller than the male in Indian birds, but of Chinese birds La 

 Touche gives the following measurements: Male, 23 (2 examples), 

 wing 200 to 226; female, 22 (1 example), 190-200; culmen, male, 

 20-22 ; female, 19 millimeters. 



