li <'Ui'ri,ii),K. 



name applieil, when ikj doul>t rould possibly exist as to the species it was intended for in the 

 description. At least there would ha\e been a greater chance of finality being assured in the 

 nomenclature. According to Packeran, \'ieillot's description of C.uculus (inercus, given on the 

 same page as that of C. Viiriiiiatus, was founded on a specimen from New Holland. \'igors and 

 Morslield's description of the I'alhd Cuckoo (under the name of Ciuuliis iiuiniatiis) is unmistakable, 

 and as under this name it is beautifully figured by Gould in his folio edition of the " liirds of 

 Australia," I prefer to use X'igors and Horsfield's specific name of iiiornatu^ in preference to 

 either of X'ieillot's older, but uncertain, names of vavicf:atus and liiunas. 



Althou,L;h the I'allid (_'ucl<oo is so generally distributed o\"er most parts of Australia, it is 

 commoner in the coastal districts than inland, and is more frei]uently met with in the eastern 

 portions of the continent during the spring and summer months. In the neighbourhood ol 

 Sydney this species arrives at the latter end of .\ugust, or early in September, and usually takes 

 its departure about the end of March. (Jthers remain until the end of .\pril ere they retire 

 north, and in some seasons a few birds remain throughout the winter if mild weather prevails ; 

 as a rule tile latter birds, however, are silent or nearly so. The Pallid Cuckoo more nearly 

 approaches a true migrant than any other member of the family CuiiiUdu' frequenting the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney. In i.Smj, a normal season, I saw a Pallid Cuckoo on the 2nd July, 

 but did not hear one call until tlie ist September. At Aslifield and Rosexille I first heard the 

 call of this species in iS(|fi-j.s, on precisely the same date of the month, the 28th August. In 

 the latter locality I Inst heard it on the 'ith September. 



The Pallid Cuckoo fre(]uents open forest and cleared lands, also orchards, cultivated lands 

 and vineyards. L sually it is met with alone, e.xcept during autumn, when three or four may 

 often be seen chasing each other, and at the same time uttering loud, shrieking, discordant 

 notes, which, together with the si/e and colour of the birds, often arrest the attention of even 

 casual observers; these notes are entirely difierent from its spring and summer notes. It is 

 very fond of perching near the end of a dead branch, or on top of a fence, or a telegraph wire. 

 Its flight is usually straight and rapid, and often alighting it has a curious habit of elevating 

 the tail. 



The loud but somewhat plaintive note of this species, which is repeated from about eight 

 to eleven times, and varied occasionally with a few harsh notes, may be heard from sunrise to 

 sunset, and in the late spring and summer freiiucntly through the night. 



-All the Cuckoos are extremely useful birds, and are indefatigable destroyers of large 

 numbers of insects and their larva-, and particularly when the larva' are in the latter stage of 

 their existence. Caterpillars form the staple article of diet of the Pallid Cuckoo, the majority of 

 the stomachs of the birds examined being distended with them, the flattened skin of one taken 

 from the stomach of an adult male shot by meat Toongabbie on the 21st September, iSyc^, 

 measuring three inches and a half in length, by half an inch in width. The walls of the stomach 

 are thick and muscular, and they have a thick hairy lining, but when closely examined and 

 carefully washed, this will be found to consist chiefly, if not entirely, of the fine hair-like 

 bristles from the larva- of insects. This species is also fond of grasshoppers, which, combined 

 Avith Its hawk-like flight, has gained for it in many parts of New South Wales the local name 

 of "Grasshopper Hawk." Where the Pallid Cuckoo, and also all the resident species of 

 Cuckoos so common around Sydney, are so useful to orchardists, is that they desour large 

 numbers of injurious leaf-eating lar\a', that attack the fresh and tender young lea\es when the 

 fruit trees first assume their foliage. 



Dr. A. AI. Morgan writes me from South .\ustralia as follows: — "I have met with 

 Pallid Cuckoos as far north as Laura, where they arrive about the middle of July. They are 

 purely birds of passage in that district, never, as far as I could ascertain, remaining to lay, as I 



