THE CUCKOOS. 147 



yellowish-grey colour above, splashed with black on the 

 crown, and with fine black streaks on the back. There is 

 a broken bufi collar, and black and buff markings on the 

 shoulders. Below the plumage is buff with indistinct 

 brown bars, and a white spot on the throat. There are 

 also white spots on the first four pinion-quills, and the 

 outer two pairs of tail-feathers are tipped with white. 



The shanks are completely bare to the hock, whereas 

 in most of our Nightjars they are more or less feathered. 

 The large eyes are dark, as is usually the case with these 

 birds. 



This Nightjar inhabits India, Ceylon, and Burma as 

 far south as Moulmein, but it avoids high hills and large 

 forests, keeping to the plains in cultivation and low jungle 

 and even entering gardens. It is often known as the Ice- 

 bird, from its note, w^hich resembles the sound made by a 

 stone flung upon ice and rebounding from it. 



Its two eggs may be found, according to locality, at 

 any time between April and September ; they are about 

 an inch long, faintly spotted with brown and purple on 

 a pinkish-stone or salmon-coloured ground. 



THE CUCKOOS. 



Cuckoos are found all over the world, but are not 

 numerous in species except in warm regions. They have 

 slightly curved bills of moderate size, with conspicuous 

 nostrils set low down and near the edge of the upper chap, 

 and their toes are in two pairs, the outer front toe being 

 turned backwards, as in Woodpeckers and Barbets. 

 Tree-Cuckoos, which, in the East at all events, lay their 



