141 



THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES ON THE BRONZE CUCKOO. 

 By A. J. Campbell. 



(Readbefore the Field Naturalists' 1 Club of Victoria, 13th December, 1897.) 



The familiar Bronze Cuckoo, Chalcites 2>^ffonus, Lath, (its 

 egg also being bronze-coloured), is migratory over the whole of 

 Australia and Tasmania. 



The whistling note of the Bronze Cuckoo is usually first heard 

 in the vicinity of Melbourne during the season in August. I 

 have a record one year when I heard this bird as early as the 

 3rd of that month. Of course, the majority of these cuckoos 

 arrive during September, a few laying by the end of that month, 

 while the general laying season includes the months of October, 

 November, and December. 



In selecting a foster parent for its offspring the beautiful Bronze 

 Cuckoo generally chooses the covered-in nests of the Acanthiza 

 (Tit) tribe, but other species of dome-shaped or secluded nests 

 are chosen, while I have a record of only three instances where 

 open nests were selected. The following is the list of foster birds 

 known : — 



Vernacular Name. 



Yellow-rumped Tit 

 Buff-rumped ,, 

 Little Brown ,, 

 Striated ,, 



Little Yellow ,, 

 Tasmanian , , 



Western „ 



Banded Wren 



Blue ,, 



White-throated Scrub-Tit 

 Large-billed ,, 



White-throated Fly-eater 

 Brown ,, 



Red-browed Finch 

 Brown Tree-Creeper 

 *Short-billed Fly-eater .. 

 *Emu Wren 



Scarlet-breasted Robin .. 

 White-fronted Bush-Chat 



Scientific Name. 



Geobasileus chrysorrhcea 



G. reguloides 



Acanthiza pusilla ... 



A. lineata ... 



A. nana 



A. diemenensis 



A. apicalis 



Mahmis splendens 



M. cyaneus 



Sericornis citreogularis . 



S. magnirostris 



Gerygone albigularis 



G. fusca 



/Egintha temporalis 



Climacteris scandens 



Smicrornis brevirostris . 



Stipiturus malachurus 



Petroeca leggii 



By Whom First 

 Recorded or 

 Reported. 

 Gould 

 E. P. Ramsay 



A. E. Brent 

 A. J. C. 



Gould 



A.'j. C. 



H. Lau 

 H. Barnard 

 A. T. C. 

 A. J. North 

 G. Bateman 

 E. P. Ramsay 



A J. C. 



J. Sommers 



G. E. Shepherd 



Ephthianura albifrons 

 Orange- winged Tree- Runner Sittella chrysoptera 



To the foregoing list may be added that troublesome introduc- 

 tion, the House Sparrow, an apparently deserted nest having 

 been taken near Warrnambool, which contained an addled egg 

 of the Bronze Cuckoo — date Christmas, 1893. In New Zealand, 

 also, I believe an egg of a Bronze Cuckoo was found in a 



*I have included these as foster birds under this species, although Dr. 

 Ramsay does not make it clear to which of the two Bronze Cuckoos they 

 should belong. Vide P.Z.S., 1865 and 1869. 



