154 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
Ayres writes:—“ I found these Cuckoos plentiful in December, among 
the low mimosa thorns and wood bordering the rivers and streams 
in the upper districts of the colony of Natal, and also among the 
fruit-trees in the scattered town of Potchefstroom. They are most 
fond of apple-trees, where, I think, they find the caterpillars suited 
to their taste and upon which they appear entirely to feed. Their 
note, which is loud and monotonous, is frequently uttered whilst 
they are flying high over head. Early in the morning they are par- 
ticularly fond of chasing each other, frequently so high as to be 
almost out of sight. They are often chased by the Sparrow and 
other birds, which appear at once to knowa stranger. Like most 
of our Cuckoos, they appear in summer and are away during the 
winter months.” Mr. Barratt has procured several specimens recently 
near Rustenburg. 
Mr. Buckley observes :—“ A common species during our return 
journey, from which it appears the bird is a summer visitant. I 
found it throughout the Bamangwato and North Transvaal districts.” 
In Dr. Kirk’s paper on the Birds of the Zambesi, he writes as fol- 
lows :— Rare; found at the foot of Moramballa Mountains and 
halfway up the Shiré, in a wood: it frequents forests. One speci- 
men is in Dr. Dickerson’s collection; probably from near the same 
locality.” The same gentleman has also found it higher up on the 
Eastern Coast at Zanzibar. 
Mr. Andersson writes :—‘ This beautiful species is by no means 
uncommon in Little Namaqua Land; but to the north of the Orange 
River I have only met with it in the neighbourhood of the River 
Okavango, where it is both scarce and shy, and near Otniovapa, 
where I observed two of these birds pairing on the 11th January.” 
Mr. Monteiro has shot this Cuckoo in Benguela, and Mr. Sala also 
shot specimens at Kattenbella in the same country, while Senor 
Anchieta has met with it at Gambos in Mossamedes and at Humbe 
on the river Cunene. 
Le Vaillant states that it lays a white egg, and gives an account 
of the manner in which it is carried in the mouth, to be placed in 
the nests of those birds which are selected as foster-mothers for its 
neglected offspring. Eggs sent to Canon Tristram from Natal by 
Mr. Ayres appear to be “ like some of the lighter coloured eggs of the 
British house-sparrow, and also very like the egg of the great reed- 
warbler (Calamoherpe arundinacea) from which, however, it may be | 
