6. cncuLtTs. 245 



have the lower iliroat and front of the breast very strongly shaded 

 with rufous-buff. 



Immature. Diffi^rs from the adult in somewhat the same manner 

 as in C. canorvs, but the bars on the upper parts are mostlv 

 entirely white. •' 



Hab. South and Central Africa, throughout Eastern and North- 

 eastern Africa to Upper Nubia, and occurring in Senegambia on 

 the West Coast. 



a, h. S2 'id. sk. Lado, Equatorial Africa, April Emin Pasha [r.]. 



c. Ad. sk. 8assa, Niam-Niam Counti'v, F. BohndoriF rCl. 



Sept. ' '- -' 



d. Imm. sk. River Gambia {Sir A. SheUey Coll. 



Molonei/), 



e. Ad. ; /. Imm. Eathmst,'E. Gambia. Sharpe Coll. (Types 

 , ■ , . ^ „^.. , . of C. awantiirostris.') 



i/',/?. cJ ad.; z. $ Otjimbinque, Damara-Laud, Sharpe Coll. 

 ad.; /c. Imm. March ((?. /. Andersson). 

 sk. ^ 



/. $ imm, sk. Ondonga, Ovampo-Land, Jan. Sharpe Coll 



22 {C.J. Andersson). 

 m. (S ad. sk. Meathly R., Bamangwato, Shelley Coll 



Oct. 24 {T. E. Buckley). 

 w. Ad. sk. South Africa. Earl of Derby [P.]. 



Cuculus canorus and its allies. 

 The group to which the Common Cuckoo belongs contains three 

 very closely allied species. C. canorus differs in its well-known 

 note from the other two, but very slightly in the plumage. If 

 we assign to it the following characters, we shall rarefy' fail 

 to recognize it :— Length of wing not less than S inches :" head 

 in the young with some white feathers; back of the head and 

 lower back not strongly barred in the rufous plumage. There is, 

 however, a small race with narrower bars found in Marocco, and' 

 apparently throughout the whole Mcditerraneo-Persic subre'gion, 

 extending down the Red Sea to East Africa and the Persian 

 Gulf. It has the true "cuckoo" note. The absence of white 

 feathers on the head of the young bird is a character confined to 

 C. hiUrmedhis and C. jwliocepJialus, while the barring of the hinder 

 crown and lower back is always very dislinct in C. intcrmedixs and 

 rarely occurs in C. 2^oliocep7iaIus, which by its short wing of only 

 6'5 inches may be easily recognized. 



3. Cnculns canorus. 



Cuculus oflnonis,7,w«. Syst. Xaf. i. p. 168 (1766) ; 7/or.v/. Trans.Linn 

 S. xiii. p. I7i1 (1821) ; A'ot/7». Vi>(/. I>ctd.-'c/il.T,h. 127 I'^S 11^9('IB')2- 

 53) ; Tvmm. Mait. d'Orv. i. p. 381 (1820) : Werner, Atlas, Zyood 

 pis. 1,2 (1828); Sykes,P.Z.lS. 1832, p. 98; Gould, L.Eur, iii. p. 240 



