RESPECTABLE CUCKOOS 15 



It has the untidy appearance, the sombre plumage, 

 and the laborious flight of the " seven sisters." But it 

 does not go about in flocks. It appears to consider 

 that " two is company, three is none." Its cherry-red 

 bill is the one bit of bright colour it displays. From its 

 beak it derives its vernacular name jungli iota (jungle 

 parrot), the villagers being evidently of opinion that 

 the beak makes the parrot. This cuckoo seems to feed 

 entirely on the ground, picking up insects of all sorts 

 and conditions. It is found only in the vicinity of 

 trees. In the Basti district of the United Provinces, 

 where it is unusually abundant, I noticed it at almost 

 every camping-ground I visited. Mango topes appear 

 to be its favourite feeding-places. When alarmed it 

 used to fly to the nearest cornfield, where it was quickly 

 lost to view. Its habits are in many ways like those of 

 the coucal. It builds a rough-and-ready nest, a mere 

 collection of twigs with a few leaves spread over the 

 surface. The eggs are chalky white, like those of the 

 crow-pheasant. Both the cock and the hen take part 

 in incubation. 



It is a bird concerning the habits of which there is 

 comparatively little on record. It therefore offers a 

 fine field for the investigations of Indian ornithologists. 



