If) CUCULIU.H, 



llie I'eal.lnrs : tindrr t,t'il-cun i-ls ir/i.i/i', 'rit/i /lirer pulr nlicrlirdirii croits-ltiirs : irmli'r iinnijcorerts 

 riifuu.t-linf/': hill bhd-k : lei/s and /<i'l. black, wlex i if feet ;/rei/is/i. Tulal leinjlli hi tlie jleali /'•.7 inches, 

 wilt;/ Jf-C. tail ■',■?, bill Hii, larunx <l-7. 



Adult fkmalk — Similur in /ilnmai/e to the male, hut sliy/itli/ sinnller. ^^ '>ii/ Jy// inrhin, 



Distribntiun. — Xorth-westeni Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, (Jueeusland, 

 New South Wales, \'ictoria, South Australia, Central Australia, Western Australia. 



~I7i) ATHAM'S descriptions of this species, both in his " Supplement to the Synopsis of Birds," 

 ■ V under the name of the " Tippit Cuckoo," and in his " Index Ornitholotjicus," as 

 Ciiiuliis palliolaliis, are so absolutely incorrect and utterly misleadint;, that I ha\e discarded them. 

 As pointed out by Dr. K. IS. Sharpein " The History of the Collections contained in the Natural 

 History Departments of the ISritish Museum," Birds,' both names are founded on one of 

 Watling's paintings or drawings, and are there referred to by Dr. Sharpe as Misocnliiis pallioiahis, 

 and who remarks >-" This drawing is the type of Ciiiiiliis piiHiolatiis oi Latham." How much 

 Latham's name is entitled to stand as the authority for the specific name of the Cuckoo, may be 

 gathered from part of his original description of it under the name of "Tippet Cuckoo:" — " This 

 is nearly twelve inches long ; . . . the upper parts of the body are dull green, the under 

 white; . . . thighs marked with a few rusty spots ; tail very short, the outer margins of 

 the feathers marked with white spots; legs dusky bluish-white, dotted with black," which is 

 entirely incorrect in every particular. Latham's descriptions of birds, only taken from drawings, 

 and without access to specimens, should be discarded, for it would be impossible to tell in many 

 instances for what species they were intended, unless he had indicated to which they were 

 applied in his " General Synopsis of Birds." 



Gould accurately described and figured the Black-eared Cuckoo in his folio edition of the 

 " Birds of .\ustralia," under the name of ChaUita oicnlam, but in some specimens the black ear- 

 coverts and sides of the neck are not so well defined as there represented. Individual variation 

 exists in this species, a specimen from South Australia being much darker, especially on the 

 rufous-buff under parts, than in examples from New South Wales and Northern Australia. 



The Black-eared Cuckoo, although widely distributed over Australia, is the rarest member 

 of the family Cucnliihe inhabiting our island continent. I have specimens now before me from 

 all points of the compass, but not in the numbers of any other species of Cuciilidic. In the 

 " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," Captain G. E. Shelley also includes in its range 

 the Aru, Ki and Moluccan Islands. 



This species is undoubtedly a nomad over the greater part of Australia, the late Mr. H. K. 

 fiennett and Dr. i\. M. Morgan alone meeting with it in any numbers. Gould obtained a 

 specimen on the Lower Namoi River, New South Wales, on the 24th December, 1831J, the late 

 Mr. K. H. Bennett procuring a specimen in |uly, 1883, at Combie Station, in Western New 

 South Wales. In 18S6 both the late Mr. T. II. Bowyer-Bower and Mr. E. J. Cairns obtained 

 specimens near Derby, North-western Australia, and lower down the coast at Point Cloates, 

 Mr. Tom Carter has on two occasions secured examples. In company with Dr. E. P. Kamsay, 

 in August 18S7, I shot an adult male while it was feeding on the grassy sward in a brush scrub 

 near Dubbo, New South Wales; it was the first specimen Dr. Ramsay or I had handled in the 

 llesh. A single example was sent me for examination that was obtained by the Horn Scientific 

 Expedition in Central Australia, in 1894. Another specimen was received from i\Ir. A. E. 

 Hays, of Stony Batter, I'ralla, on the 25th September, iqoi, and there are undoubted specimens 

 in the collection from Moreton Ilay, (Jueensland, and one from South Australia. Mr. L. 

 Harrison showed me a specimen he had obtained at Manly, near Sydney, and Mr. H. L. 

 White, of Belltrees, Scone, sent me one of its eggs for identification found in the nest of and 



p. 121 (1906). 



