Vol. XVII. 

 igiS 



] Macgillivray, Ornilhologisls in North Queensland. IQ^ 



throat, and gizzard of a specimen obtained was crammed with the 

 insects. On the 28th numbers had again come to the feast of flying 

 termites, and we obtained several specimens. All were males, and 

 the stomach and throats of all were full of the insects. We last saw 

 a number before we left hawking over the water front at Lloyd's 

 Island. 



Cuculus pallidus (Heferoscenes pallidus pallidus). — During all the time 

 that Mr. M'Lennan spent at Cape York he saw no sign of the Pallid 

 Cuckoo. We did not see or hear it on the Claudie. In June, 191 4, 

 on the Archer River, Mr. ]\rLennan found it to be quite common. 



Cacomantis flabelliformis (C. rubricafiis athevtoni). — Mr. MT.ennan 

 found the Fan-tailed Cuckoo fairly plentiful on the Archer River in 

 June, 19 14, though he had not previously noted it on the Cape York 

 Peninsula. 



Cacomantis variolosus (C. pyrrhophamis westwoodia). — The Square- 

 tailed Cuckoo was common, and its plaintive trilling call was often 

 heard on the Claudie. The Cuckoo egg found in the nests of the 

 Brown-backed Honey-eater {Glyciphila modesia), and bearing a close 

 superficial resemblance to the eg^ of that Honey-eater, is, in my opinion 

 now, undoubtedly the egg of this bird. The Honey-eaters' nests 

 are usually found on small tea-trees in open tea-tree swamps. This 

 Cuckoo has been noted in these swamps, and is usually a bird of the 

 open, being very rarely seen in scrub. Whether the egg bearing a 

 close resemblance to the Cuckoo egg in the nests of G. modesta, and 

 found in nests of the Lovely Wren-Warbler {Malurus amahilis) and 

 PHI Otis notata, in scrub, is also the egg of this species, -or that of the 

 Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo {Cacomantis castaneiventris) is doubtful, 

 and the egg of the latter Cuckoo is, in my opinion, not certainly 

 known up to the present time. No fully-formed egg has ever been 

 found in the oviduct of C. castaneiventris ; it has never been seen 

 depositing its egg in any nest, and no Cuckoo egg in any nest has ever 

 been watched until it hatched a young C. castaneiventris, and no 

 description of the young stages of plumage has ever been published. 

 I have handled two skins of young Cuckoos, which are the young 

 stage of either C. variolosus or C. castaneiventris, but I cannot say 

 of which. 



When blowing a clutch of Glyciphila modesta eggs with an egg of 

 C. variolosus, the shell of the Cuckoo egg is found, on drilling, to be 

 much stronger, and the yolk is of an orange colour instead of pale 

 yellow, as in the Honey-eater's egg. 



Since writing the above I have received from Mr. H. G. Vidgen the 

 skins of a young Cuckoo and its foster-parent, the Black-throated 

 Fly-eater (Gerygone per sonata). This young Cuckoo, although 

 undoubtedly a Cacomantis, differs altogether from the young Cuckoos 

 mentioned above, and more nearly resembles adult specimens of C. 

 castaneiventris than do the other two. This complicates the whole 

 question still further, as all Cuckoo eggs that have been found in 

 nests of Gerygone personata have been the same as those of the 

 Rufous-throated Bronze-Cuckoo {Chalcococcyx russata) as usually 

 found in nests of the Large-billed Fly-eater (Gerygone magnirostris). 



Cacomantis castaneiventris. — Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo. — Not 

 common ; more often heard than seen. They keep to the tropical 

 scrub. We did not see them further out than the edge. We obtained 

 several specimens. They feed on hairy caterpillars, and their 



