eo . 
tive 
CHRYSOCOCCYX CUPREUS. 153 
angle of mouth; feet and bare orbits lead-colour ; iris sometimes 
brown, sometimes greyish (Heuglin). 
Female.—Different from the male. Above metallic green, thickly 
barred with rufous, the quills similarly marked, excepting on the pri- 
maries, where the bars are more or less obsolete, leaving the ground- 
colour brown, the quills brown underneath, very distinctly notched 
with rufous or rufous white; under surface of body metallic green 
barred with white, a little more narrowly on the under wing-coverts ; 
tail brown, the middle feathers glossed with metallic green, and 
washed with rufous, the outer feathers white internally washed with 
rufous, and spotted near the tips and on the inner web with metallic 
coppery green. 
Fig. Vieill. et Oud. Gal. Ois. i. p. 33, pl. 42. 
138. Curysococcyx cUPREUS. Golden Cuckoo. 
Chalcites auratus, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 250. 
This is the commonest of the metallic Cuckoos, and it is to be dis- 
tinguished from C. smaragdineus by its white abdomen and banded 
flanks. In this respect it resembles O. klaasi, but is larger than 
that species and has the tail metallie greenish-blue, spotted with 
white. 
This beautiful little Cuckoo, known by the name of “ Didric,” 
from its oft-repeated mournful cry of “ Di-di-di-didric,” is extremely 
abundant throughout the Karroo. At Nel’s Poort, near Beaufort, 
we have frequently seen a dozen or more in a morning, while their 
loud notes were incessantly ringing in our ears; they are, however, 
so shy. that we only procured three specimens in as many months. 
When calling, they perch on the summit of some dead branch, ready 
to do battle with any male, or engage in an amorous chase after any 
female that comes within their ken. They pursue each other with 
great ardour, turning, twisting, and dashing about with much rapi- 
dity. The stomachs of those examined contained nothing but small 
_ insects chiefly swallowed whole. 
_ We also obtained specimens at the Knysna, and from still farther 
to the eastward. It appears in Mr. Chapman’s collection and has 
been sent from Colesberg. 
In Natal, Captain Shelley found it the rarest of the three metallic 
Cuckoos about Durban, where he only saw it in collections, Mr. 
