C14 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Asia, the Indian and Polynesian islands they are about equally 

 abundant ; generally speaking the range of the various species 

 is somewhat limited, while the genera are more widely spread. 

 All the Australian species, with the exception of the members 

 of the genus Centropus are parasitic, the huge Scythrops and 

 the diminutive Chrysococcyx alike depositing their eggs in the 

 nests, and entrusting their young to the fostering care of 

 other birds. 



Genus CUCULUS, LinncBus. 



Miiller, Bonaparte, Cabanis, and other writers having sepa- 

 rated the Cuckoos of the southern portion of Australia from 

 the genus Ciiculus, only one species of that form, as now 

 restricted, finds a place in the avifauna of the country. 



Sp. 377. CUCULUS CANOROIDES, Miiller ? 

 Australian Cuckoo. 



Cuculus canor aides, Miill. Verb. Nat. Gescli. &c., Land-en Volk., p. 235. 



horsfieldi, Moore's Cat. Birds: E. I. Comp., vol. xi. p. 703. 



optatus, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., part xiii. p. 18. 



Nicoclarius optatus, Bonap. Consp. Vol. Zygod., p. 6. 



Cuculus optatus, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. iv. pi. 84. 



The northern part of Australia is the only locality in which 

 this bird has been found ; the specimens I have seen were 

 killed in the month of January : whether it utters the word 

 ' Cuckoo' or not I am unable to say, but it is most likely that 

 in its voice as in its form and general appearance it closely 

 assimilates to its European relative. 



In the Australian bird the black bands on the breast are 

 broader and more defined than in the European C. canorus ; 

 the claws of the Australian bird are also smaller and more 

 delicate than those of its European ally. 



