50 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



pleasurable labours of rearing up their offspring. They 

 do not appear to indulge in elaborate courtship. All 

 their superfluous energy is sent forth in the form of 

 noise. Watch any cuckoo while he is calling, be it the 

 cheery canorus, who gladdens the Himalayas, or the 

 koel or the brain-fever bird or the pied crested cuckoo, 

 who enliven the plains, and you will be driven to the 

 conclusion that they are demented creatures. Although 

 the frenzied screaming of the pied cuckoo is easily 

 recognised, it is difficult to describe. " Its call," writes 

 Stuart Baker, " is a very loud metallic double note, 

 too harsh to be called a whistle. In the early part of 

 the season, before its voice has fully formed, its cries 

 are particularly harsh and disagreeable, and the second 

 note, which should be the same in tone as the first, 

 often goes off at a tangent. Later on in the year, though 

 it becomes more noisy than ever, its notes are rather 

 musical." 



Much remains to be discovered regarding the dis- 

 tribution of the pied crested cuckoo in India. Al- 

 though it has been observed in most parts of the 

 country, it appears to undergo considerable local 

 migration. In Northern India I have seen the bird 

 only during the rains, but I believe that there are 

 cases on record of its occurring there in winter. On 

 the other hand, I have seen pied crested cuckoos in 

 Madras in July, at which time they are supposed all 

 to migrate northwards. An anonymous writer recently 

 put forward the theory that our Indian cuckoos are 

 not really migratory, that they appear to migrate 

 because of their skulking habits. Cuckoos are loved 



