AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 



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2 229* Pallid Cuckoo (Unadorned), Harbinger - of - Spring, 

 11 Scale (Semitone, Brain-fever, Storm) Bird, Mos- 

 quito (Grasshopper) Hawl^, Cuculus inornatus. A., 



T. =vt. Eur. Cuckoo. Mig. v.c. open, timher 12 



Upper brown; under gray; tail barred white, brown; eye- 

 lash yellow; white at edge wing; wing spotted, 

 marked lighter; f., upper mottled whitish, rufous. 

 Caterpillars, insects. Runs up scale, calls frequently 

 at night. 



3 230* Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Ash-colored Cacomantis rufulus 



13 iflahelliformis) , Aru Is., A., T. Mig. c. open, timber 10 



Head, upper dark slate-gray; under rust-red; throat gray; 

 tail dark toothed with white; white edge of wing; eye- 

 lash citron-yellow; f., smaller. Caterpillars, insects. 

 Sad trill often repeated. 

 2.31 Square-tailed Cuckoo (Brush), C. flabelliformis {vario- 

 losus), Mol., Timor, N.G., A. 



Mig. v.r. open timber 9.2 

 Like 230, but smaller; tail feathers toothed with white on 

 inner web only; f., sim. Insects. 

 1 232 Black-eared Cuckoo, MesocaZms palliolatus, Mol., Aru 

 1 Is., A. Mig. v.r. scrub 7.5 



Head, upper, wings glossy olive-brown; shoulder darker; 

 tail olive-brown tipped white; side tail feather five 

 white bars; behind ear a narrow black streak; above 

 this a lighter patch; under pale-brown; f., duller. In- 

 sects. Feeble plaintive note. 



mon in the upper air, Swifts have not, in Victoria, been recorded 

 IS having been seen to alight. 



Most birds have hollow bones which are filled with air. It 

 was claimed by those who like to find a use for everything that 

 this was an obvious adaptation for purposes of flight, but when 

 one reflects that, in some of the Ostrich and Emu group, the 

 members of which never fly, the bones are strongly "pneumatic," 

 while in Terns and Swifts, and some other flying birds, the bones 

 are solid, one must hesitate before generalizing even about such 

 an apparently obvious matter. Swifts are in no way related. to 

 Swallows, but are close to Humming Birds, which are born with 

 a wide. Swift-like mouth. 



Few birds have attracted more notice, or have been more writ- 

 ten about, than Cuckoos. To dwellers in lands with a dreary 

 winter, the Cuckoo heralds the spring, so its call is most wel- 

 come. Then, too, the mysteries connected with its up- 

 bringing have proved of interest to all Nature and bird 

 lovers. Its call, "Cuckoo," aptly described as the "most imitable 

 of bird calls," has also assisted in making the bird a favorite. 



The Pallid Cuckoo belongs to the same genus as the well-known 

 Cuckoo of England. It also resembles that bird in appearance. 

 Its note, however, is quite different. At times it seems to be 

 endeavoring to run up a chromatic scale, so, in some districts, 



