408 CUCULID;E. 



Family CUCULIDvE, Leach. CUCKOOS. 



Bill rather slender and compressed, curved above, tip hooked ; gape wide ; 

 nostrils in a membranous groove ; wings long- tail rounded. 



Sub-Family CUCULIN^ 



Tarsi short, feathered and scaled * bill broad, flattened at base. 



Gen. Cueulus. Lin. 



3rd quill longest ; two outer feathers of tail shortest ; tarsi feathered below 

 the knee ; outer front toe longest, united at base to the inner toe and 

 reversible. 



987. CuCtlluS canoruS, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 168 ; Jerd., B. Ind. i. 

 p. 322, No. 199 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind, B. p. 133 ; Wald, 7 Trans. Zool. 

 Soc. viii. p. 115; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p". 7&; Blytk, B. Burm.p-. 79; Hume, 

 Sir. F. iv, p. 288; W&rdlaw-Ramsqy, Ibis, 1877, p. 458; David et Oust. Ois. 

 Chine, p. 65; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 22 1 ; Anders,, Yunnan Exped. p. 589; 

 Dresser, B. Europe \. p. 199, pi. ; Hume and Dav., Sfr. F. vi. p. 156; Htime, 

 Sir. F. viii. p. 88; Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 253 ; Oates, Sir. F. x. p. 192 ; 

 id., B. Br. Burm. ii. p. 103 ; Murray* Hdbk., Zool., Sfc. t Sind, p. 131 ; id., 

 Vert* ZooL Sind, p 1 16. The EUROPEAN CUCKOO. 



Head and upper parts dark ashy, ashy, or pale blue ; breast and belly white, 

 elegantly crossed with wavy bars of black ; the quills are dusky, their inner 

 webs marked with large oval white spots ; tail long, the two middle feathers 

 black with white tips, the others dusky, with alternate spots of white on each 

 side of the shaft ; legs short, yellow ; bill black, yellowish at base beneath ; 

 orbits and irides deep yellow. The young bird has the whole upper plumage, 

 wings and tail barred with ferruginous and the feathers tipped white ; lower 

 plumage, white, barred with brown. 



Length. 14 inches ; wing 875 to 9 ; tail 7 ; bill at front 075. 



Had. Europe, N. Africa, China, Formosa, Beloochistan, Persia, S. Afghan- 



istan, Eastern Turkistan, and India generally ; Nepaul, Burmah, Ceylon, 



Upper Pegu, and throughout Western, Central, and Southern India as a 



'migrant. It arrives in Sind during August and September. Breeds in the 



Himalayas, round Almorah, Kumaon, and Kotegurh during the latter half of 



May, selecting the nests of Pipits and Stone-chats, also Malacocirci. The 



eggs are variable in size and colouring, but the general colour is pure white, 



thinly freckled and streaked with brownish red and pale purple. Length from 



O*88 to 0*95 inch, breadth 0'68 to 073. 



988- CUCU1US StriatUS, Drap., Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. iv. p. 570; 

 Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 395 ; Hume, Sir. F. ii. p. 190; id., Nests and 

 Eggs Ind. B. p. 134 ; Blyth, B. Burm. p. 79; Dav. et Oust. Ois. Chine , 

 p. 65 ; Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. p, 156 ; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 88 ; Scully, 



