SOME CUCKOOS 



nests are sometimes white, and coloured eggs are often 

 secretly hidden from prying pard and other egg eaters. 

 The New Zealand archipelago once nourished two other 

 species of Nestor, both of which are now quite extinct, 

 so far as we know, though the recent occurrence of the 

 supposed extinct rail, Notornis mantelli, makes us careful 

 in making too clear a statement on the point. It seems 

 unlikely, however, that we shall ever see again either 

 Nestor productus or Nestor norfolcensis. 



THE KOEL 



As a representative, and that a very typical one, of 

 the .cuckoo tribe we shall select the Oriental koel (Eudy- 

 namis orientalis, or honorata as the name apparently 

 more correctly runs). This bird, like other cuckoos, 

 has what is called a zygodactyle foot ; that is, the toes 

 are arranged in twos, one pair being turned forwards 

 and the other backwards. The " great " toe and the 

 fourth toe are those which are turned backwards, and the 

 result of this is an effective grasping organ, from which 

 alone it might be safely inferred that the cuckoos are 

 arboreal birds. And yet this generalization is marred 

 by the fact that there are cuckoos which pass at least 

 a great deal of their time upon the ground, such as the 

 American Roadrunner (Geo coccyx}. That originally 

 cuckoos were typical " insessores " seems however to 

 be clear. The koel is at least often to be seen at the 

 Gardens, and it is one of the few cuckoos in which the 

 two sexes vary greatly in colour. In fact the variation 

 in plumage from the cock to the hen is as great as in 

 any bird. The cock bird is black and the hen brown, 

 with white spots and bars. In our common cuckoo, 

 Cuculus canorus, a careful examination shows slight, 

 but very slight, differences of colour in the two sexes. 

 It has a good strong curved beak and yet, unlike our 

 cuckoo, who seems to take a delight in the most bristly 



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