CUCKOOS 167 



South-West Africa. According to le Vaillant this Cuckoo 

 uses the nests of the Wren Warblers in which to deposit 

 its egg ; as these nests are too small for the bird to lay 

 it therein, it probably deposits its egg on the ground and 

 conveys it to the nest in its bill. 



We have, on two occasions, taken a pure white egg of 

 this bird from the nest of the Sombre Bulbul, viz., in 

 December, 1891, and on January 4, 1907 the latter in 

 a bush overhanging a pool of the Bluekrantz Eiver in 

 Featherstone Valley, near Grahamstown. The Cuckoos 

 are all friends of the farmers, feeding on spiders, insects 

 and caterpillars. 



The Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx smaragdineus) is 

 of a bright satiny ernerald-green colour above, and below 

 as far as the upper breast ; rest of under-surface canary 

 yellow, excepting the under tail-coverts which are white. 

 The female has the head ashy-black and the upper 

 surface barred with rufous ; below white barred with 

 green. 



It ranges throughout Africa, but is somewhat rare 

 within our limits, occurring from Knysna eastwards. 

 It is an inhabitant of thick bush or forest country. It 

 is rare in Albany, but commoner in Pondoland and 

 Natal. 



The Woodwards procured two females with shelled 

 eggs in the oviducts, one pure white and the other 

 speckled with purple. We found a young half-fledged 

 bird in a nest of the Cape Sparrow at Koonap (Beaufort 

 Disk). 



The Bronze Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaasi) male is 

 metallic green above with coppery and red reflections, 

 below white with a green patch on either side of the 



