Letters, Announcements, ^c. 103 



Marldon, Totues, 2-jrd November, 1870. 

 Sir, — In a list of birds from the colony of Natal, contributed 

 by me to ' The Ibis ' for 1859, I included (at page 246) the 

 South-African grey Cuckoo {Cuculus gularis of Stephens, C. 

 lineatus of Swainson, Le Coucou vulgaire d'Afrique of Le Vail- 

 lant), with an accompanying note from Mr. Ayres to the effect 

 that the bird was " very rare" in Natal. 



I have recently reexamined the two skins sent over by Mr. 

 Ayres upon which the above notice was founded, in company 

 with Messrs. Jules P. Verreaux and R. B. Sharpe, both of 

 whom agree with me in considering that I was wrong in assign- 

 ing them to Cuculus gularis, and that they are in fact specimens 

 of the true European Cuculus canorus, in very nearly adult 

 plumage, but still retaining some little remains of the immature 

 dress in the wings and on the back. 



I believe that no instance of the occurrence of Cuculus canorus 

 so far south has hitherto been recorded, though Drs. Finsch and 

 Hartlaub, in their recent excellent work on the birds of East 

 Africa, refer at page 520 to a specimen of the European Cuckoo 

 which they have seen from Damara Land, where two other 

 examples, now in the collection of Mr. R. B. Sharpe, were also 

 obtained by the late Mr. Andersson. One of these Damara 

 birds is a male, in a state of change very similar to that shown by 

 my specimens from Natal^ killed on the 6th February ; and the 

 other is a fully adult female killed on the 1st April. 



The most constant difference between the adults of Cuculus 

 canorus and of C. gularis appears to be that in the latter the 

 base of the upper mandible is yellow and the anterior part only 

 is a black horn-colour, whilst in the former the entire upper 

 mandible is black, except a very narrow yellowish edging imme- 

 diately below the nostrils. 



Cuculus gularis, when adult, also differs from the majority of 

 adult specimens of C. canorus in being slightly smaller, and in 

 having the white spots and markings on the tail larger. 



I am yours, &c., J. H. Gurney. 



Sir, — I have on several occasions furnished you with accounts, 

 which you have thought worthy of notice, of the birds I have 



