CUCKO W 



125 



«, CucuLcs ; 5, OxYLOPHus ; c, Chalsites ; d, e, Zaxclostoma, 

 /, PiAYA ; g, Centropus. (After Swainson.) 



This species of Cuckow, easily distinguishable by its large size, long 



crest, and the primrose tinge of its throat, has more than once 



made its appear- 

 ance as a straggler 



in the British Isles. 



Equally parasitic 



are many other 



CuckoAvs, belong- 

 ing chiefly to 



genera which have 



been more or less 



clearly defined as 



Cacomantis, Chryso- 



C0CCIJX, Euclynamis, 



Oxyloplms, Phcenkophaes, Pdlyphasia, Surnicidus, and Zandostoma, and 



inhabiting parts of the Ethiopian, Indian, and Australian Regions ; ^ 



but there are certain aberrant forms of 

 Old -World CuckoAVS which unques- 

 tionably do not shirk parental responsi- 

 bilities. Among these especially are 

 the l)irds placed in or allied to the 

 genera Centropus (Coucal) and Coua — 

 the latter bearing no English name, 

 and limited to the island of Madagascar. 

 These build a nest, not perhaps in a 

 highly -finished style of architecture, 

 but one that serves its end.- 

 Respecting the Cuckows of America, the evidence, though it 



has been impugned, is nearly enough to clear them from the 



calumny which attaches to so many of their brethren of the Old 



World. There are two species very Avell known in parts of the 



United States 



and some of 



the West-Indian 



Islands, Coccyzn^ 



americmms and 



C. erythrophthal- 



mus, and each 



_r them h'lS Phcenicophaes. Saueothera. Dasylophus. (After Swainson.) 



occasionally visited Europe. They both build nests — remai'kably 

 small structures Avhen compared with those of other birds of their 

 size — and faithfully incubate their delicate sea-green eggs. In the 

 south-western States of the Union and thence into Central America 



^ Evidence tends to shew that the same is to be said of the curious Channel- 

 bill, Scythrops nov^-luoUandiaz, but absolute proof seems to be -wanting. 

 2 See Grandidier and Milne-Edwards Olscaux de Madagascar (p. 140). 



Coua. (After Swainson.) 



