DESCRIPTION, DISTRIBUTION, HABITS 



have been found with as many as 4 and 5 large cuckoo eggs, 

 together with 2 of its own. The parent cuckoos very often 

 watch the foster parents to see that they are doing their duty. 

 The eggs are white in colour. 



Great Spotted Cuckoo {Coccystes glandarius). (Vol. II., 

 p. 98.) 



Description. — Male : head crested with grey feathers, 

 shafted with black. Upper surface, including wings and tail, 

 is a slaty-brown. Outer wing feathers and tail tipped with 

 white. Feathers round the eye grey. Lower surface white, 

 except the throat and upper part of breast, which are pale yellow 

 ochre in colour. This extends up the sides of the neck, forming 

 a half collar. Iris hazel brown. Bill brown, yellow at base. 

 Legs and feet bluish-brown. 



Length, 14.75 ; wing, 7.74 ; tail, 8.25.^ 

 The female becomes like the male in time, taking longer 

 to assume male plumage. The young bird has a black crown. 



Distribution. — This cuckoo is a migratory bird. It spends 

 the northern summer and breeds on the coasts of the Mediter- 

 ranean and in Western Asia. During the southern summer it 

 scatters over Africa, south of the Sahara. It occurs all over 

 South Africa, with exception of the Western Province of the 

 Cape. It is nowhere common. It arrives between September 

 and October and leaves about March. 



Habits. — These cuckoos are usually found going about 

 singly or in pairs. They are extremely cunning, hiding in 

 thick trees when approached. The males are very often seen 

 chasing one another about during the early summer. Their 

 food consists of insects, such as caterpillars, locusts, and beetles. 

 Being a typical cuckoo, it does not build a nest of its own, 

 but lays its eggs in the nest of other unfortunate birds. The 

 hosts particularly favoured are the starlings and crows. 1 have 

 found the egg of this cuckoo in both the above nests. The eggs 

 are of a pale dull blue ground colour, covered with small 

 blackish-brown spots. They measure 1.2 by 0.96. It is 



