188 CUCULID^ CHRYSOCOCCYX 



range than the Emerald Cuckoo, as it reaches the neighbourhood of 

 Cape Town and has been obtained in Damaraland. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony — Cape divi- 

 sion, August 30 and November (S. A. Mus.), Knysna, November, 

 and Oudtshoorn, December and February (Victorin), Albany 

 (Ivy), Stockenstroom (Atmore), Peddie, November (S. A. Mus.), 

 Port St. John's, November (S. A. Mus.) ; Natal— Durban, February 

 (S. A. Mus.), Pinetown, March (Shelley in Bt. Mus.), Echowe and 

 Ulundi (Woodward) ; Transvaal — Komatipoort, October (Francis 

 in S. A. Mus.) ; German south-west Africa — Swakop river, March 

 (Andersson) ; Portuguese east Africa — Tete on Zambesi (Kirk in 

 Bt. Mus.). 



Habits. — This Cuckoo was first obtained by Levaillant and 

 named by him after his faithful Hottentot servant Klaas ; the 

 usual Dutch name Meitje, on the other hand, is onomatopoeic and 

 derived from the bird's note, which differs markedly from that 

 of the next species. Klaas' Cuckoo frequents both bush and thorn 

 lands, and is more active than the Emerald Cuckoo; it has a dipping 

 flight and feeds on caterpillars aud flying insects, on which it darts 

 like a flycatcher. 



Victorin found a young cuckoo of this species in the nest 

 of the Cardinal Woodpecker {Dendropicus cardinalis), while Mr. 

 Garriock (on the authority of the Woodwards), states that a Weaver 

 bird is usually the host, and that he has shot a cuckoo of this 

 species with a little dark-coloured egg in its mouth. Mr. Fitz- 

 simmons states also on the same authority that he once observed 

 a Klaas' Cuckoo enter the nest of an Amethyst Sun bird and 

 shortly afterwards come out again with an egg in its mouth ; later 

 on revisiting the spot he found a Sun bird feeding a young Klaas' 

 Cuckoo near the nest. He supposes that the cuckoo removed one 

 of the Sun bird's eggs to make room for its own. 



Mr. Ivy gives the following account of this bird : — " This is one 

 of the commonest Cuckoos in the Albany division. On November 9, 

 1892, I noticed one of these birds flitting about some low bush in 

 the Belmont Valley near Grahamstown, and, contrary to its usually 

 shy nature, perching within a few feet of our heads. We searched 

 the vicinity thoroughly, and found several nests, but could not dis- 

 cover the egg of the Cuckoo, although we were certain it was close 

 by. Later in the evening Mr, Pym, my companion, found a nest of 

 the Malachite Kingfisher {Corythornis cyanostigma) in the bank of 

 a stream, just below where the Cuckoo was calling ; it contained 

 six small round eggs of the usu^al Kingfisher type, and one longer 



