CUCKOOS 171 



not put in an appearance at all. It commonly utilises 

 the nesting-places of the Red-winged and Pied Starlings, 

 and the nest of the Black Crow. It favours certain nests 

 each year ; when the Cuckoos arrive these nests will 

 invariably be found to contain an egg or two, while other 

 nests of the same species close by will not be noticed by 

 them. This is the only kind of cuckoo we know of with 

 instances of two young in a single nest (vide fig. 121), or to 

 occasionally permit the foster-parents' young to live; we 

 have found a young Spotted Cuckoo and a young Red- 

 wing just ready to fly, in the same nest. The egg of 

 this Cuckoo is of a pale dull blue, spotted with black. 



The Black and White Cuckoo (Coccijstes jacobimis) is 

 glossy black with greenish reflections above ; a white 

 band across the wing, below white washed with pale buff. 



The exact range of this bird within our limits is un- 

 certain, it having been so frequently confused with the 

 succeeding species. A. D. Millar found the white egg 

 of this species on three occasions in the nest of the 

 Fiskal Shrike. 



The Black and Grey Cuckoo (Coccystes hypopinarius) 

 closely resembles the foregoing bird, but has the under- 

 parts of a slate-grey colour, the sides, of the neck and 

 breast suffused and slightly streaked with black. 



Its range seems to be fairly general in South Africa, as 

 we have procured specimens in the Fort Beaufort and 

 Albany Divisions of Cape Colony, and at Modderfontein 

 and Waterval North, Transvaal. At the latter place 

 they were exceedingly common, in February, amongst 

 the thorn scrub about two miles from the Aapies River, 

 often indulging in a harsh, laughing cry. They go about 

 in pairs and feed largely on hairy caterpillars, and various 



