CUCULID.E. 



279 



THE GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO. 



CoccvsTES (;landariu.s (Linnjeus). 



An example of this southern species was captured alive in a 

 fatigued and emaciated condition on the island of Omey (errone- 

 ously printed Omagh), off the coast of Connemara, probably in 

 March 1842. It was subsequently obtained for the Museum of 

 Trinity College, Dublin, where it still remains, although said to have 

 perished; and, on examining it a short time ago, I found that it was 

 in immature plumage. Another, shot near Bcllingham, Northumber- 

 land, on August 5th 1870, is now in the Newcastle Museum. 



As a wanderer the Great Spotted Cuckoo has occurred in Nor- 

 tht;rn Germany, Southern France, and Northern Italy, while in the 

 south and in Sicily it is tolerably frequent on passage, though rare 

 in Malta, and unrecorded from Sardinia or Corsica. In Andalucia 

 I found it had arrived by March 2nd, and it is common through- 

 out the summer in the Spanish Peninsula as far north as the 

 vicinity of Madrid, wherever there are woods suited to the habits 

 of the Magpie, in the nests of which this Cuckoo deposits its 

 eggs. It is not known to breed in any other part of Europe, 



