OF SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA. 173 



Wales. How far the birds of south-west Australia go north 

 we have yet to learn. 



Nest. — This species being parasitic, it has no nest of its 

 own, but places the egg in one or other open nest of an 

 insectivorous bird, such as the Robin or Fantail. 



Egg. — One in a nest : pale salmon colour, generally uniform, 

 but sometimes with odd spots of chestnut upon it. Length, 

 1 inch; breadth, 0.75. 



BRONZE CUCKOO, 



Chalcococcyx plagosus, Lath. 



Kal-co-kok' siks pld-go'sus. 



Chalkos, bronze ; kokkux, a cuckoo ; plaga, a stripe ; ous, denoting 



" presence," fulness. 



Chrysococcyx lucidus, Gould, " Birds of Australia," fol., vol. iv., 



pi. 80. 



Geographical Distribution. — The whole of Australia and Tasmania. 



Key to the Species. — General appearance bronzy ; the under surface 

 clearly barred ; crown and back of neck dark violet- brown ; basal 

 half of tail never uniform rufous ; no rufous edges to quills and 

 with little rufous on under surface of wings and outer pair of tail 

 feathers. Total length, 6.25 inches ; wing, 4 inches ; tail, 3 inches. 



Two species of Bronze Cuckoos, having a close resemblance 

 to one another when on the wing, inhabit the same district, 

 and may even be found in the same paddocks. The Rufous - 

 tailed or Narrow-billed species differs from C. plagosus in the 

 possession of a narrower bill and in having the basal two- 

 thirds of the tail rufous. It also lays a pink -spotted egg in 

 contrast to the bronze egg of C. plagosus. 



I found an egg of the latter species in a nest of the Yellow- 



