Birds of North-west Fohkien. 45 



!May 1897. The nest-hole was in a bank by a small patch 

 of paddy surrounded by woods. I did not actually see the 

 parent birds enter the hole, but one came to perch on the 

 trees above it and another flew close by the bank where the 

 hole was. The eggs are nearly spherical; one measures 

 l'2l X I'lO inch. It is very smooth, but not so glossy as 

 the eggs of Alcedo bengalensis. 



144. CUCULUS CANORUS L. 



This Cuckoo may be heard among the Fohkien hills during 

 tlie spring, but it is not nearly so common as the following 

 species. I have an adult example from Foochow, and three 

 young Cuckoos taken there in autumn are probably of 

 this species. Mr. Rickett has an adult example shot at 

 Kuatun in May. I heard one calling there on the 15th 

 May, 1898. 



145. CuCULUS INTERMEDIUS Valll. 



This Cuckoo is abundant on the Kuatun Mountains, where 

 we heard it for the first time in 1898 on the 4th April. The 

 call heard at Kuatun was almost invariably trisyllabic, " hoo- 

 hoo-hoo," and not quadrisyllabic, as at Tamsui. 



The native hunters at Kuatun are well acquainted with 

 the Cuckoo's habits, and told me, one day that we were all 

 out together, how it builds no nest, but deposits its eggs in 

 the nests of small birds, and how the young Cuckoo pushes 

 the original young out of the nest. They could not tell me, 

 however, how the hen Cuckoo managed to place her egg in 

 the nest. 



146. HlEROCOCCYX SPARVERIOIDES (Vig.). 



I have an example of this species shot near Kien-ning-fu 

 on the 4th May, 1896. It is not uncommon along the river 

 some distance inland from Foochow, but it is very shy. We 

 have no specimens from Kuatun; it is, however, likely 

 enough that it occurs there. 



147. HlEROCOCCYX HYPERYTHRUS (Gould). 



I have a beautiful male example in young striped plumage, 

 shot near Kuatun on the 16th October, 1896. 



