The True Cuckoos 



Have a moderately strong bill, short tarsi, and ten quills in the tail. 

 They are celebrated for the singular habit of laying their eggs in the nests 

 of other insectivorous birds, and, what is not less extraordinary, these 

 latter, which are often a considerably smaller species, become the parents 

 of, and take as much care of, the young Cuckoo as of their own true off- 

 spring, and that too, even when its introduction has been preceded, which 

 often happens, by the destruction of their eggs. The cause of this phe- 

 nomenon, which is unique in the history of birds, is unknown. Heris- 

 sant has attributed it to the position of the gizzard, which, in fact, is 

 placed much farther back in the abdomen, and is less protected by the 

 sternum than in other birds. The ca^ca are long, and the lower larynx 

 has but a single muscle proper. There is one of them very generally 

 found throughout Europe. 



C. canorus, L..; Enl. 811. (The Common Cuckoo). An ash- 

 coloured grey: white belly, striped transversely with black; sides of 

 the tail spotted with white ; a red takes the place of the grey in the 

 young bird. But another species, 



C. glandarius, Edw. 57; Naum. 130, the male; Col. 414, the fe- 

 male*, which is sometimes seen in Europe, has a more sonorous 

 note, and is crested and spotted. 



The warm countries of both hemispheres produce several othersf. 

 Africa, in particular, has several beautiful species, of a green co- 

 lour, more or less gilded ; their bill is rather more depressed than 

 that of the common Cuckoo;];. 



In others, most of whom have a spotted plumage, the bill is ver- 

 tically higher §. The 



CouAS, Vaill. 

 Only differ from the Cuckoos in their elevated tarsi]]. They build in 



* Cuculus pisamis, Gm., is the younfj. 



f Cuculus capensis, Vaili. Afr., pi. 200, wliich is probably notliing raore than a va- 

 riety of the common one; — solitarlus, Nob., Vaill. 20G; — raiUalus, Sonner. Voy. 1, 

 pi. 1^;—clamosus, Nob. Vaill. 204, 20:,;—edoUus, Nob. Vaill. 207, 208. N.B. Cue. 

 serratus, Spann. Mus. Carls. 3, is the male; melam/teucos, Enl. 272, the female; — co- 

 romandus, Enl. 274, 2, and a van, Vaill. 213; — amcricmius, Enl. 816, or carolinensis, 

 Wils. Ill, cxviii, l;—sr7jthrophtalmiis, lb. 2l—flavus, Enl. 814. 



N.B. The C.m'mdanensis, Enl. 277, and its male, C. orietilalis, Enl. 274, 1, are se- 

 parated fi'om them by M. Vigors and Horsf. inicler the generic name of Eudynamys. 



X Cue. auratus, Enl. 657, Vaill. 211; classH, Vaill. 210;— lucidus, Lath. Syn. I, pi. 

 xxiii, andCol. 102, £ l;—capreus, Id. Supp. 134, and Vieill. GaL 42j— c/i«/cj/ei, T. 

 Col. 102, f. 2, the female. 



§ Cue. punctatus, Enl. 771, and scolopaceus, 586, and perhaps even maeulatus, 764, 

 are varieties; — honoratus, Enl. 294, Vaill. 2\Q\—taitentls, Sparm. Mus. Carls. 32; — 

 mindanensis, Enl. 217;— gaira, Vieill. Gal. 44; Freycin. Voy. Zool. 26. Why Vieillot 

 makes an yJuis of it, it is impossible to say. 



(I From this division Vieillot makes his genus Coccyzus, Gal. 41. It is the 

 Macropus of Spix, Cue. madagascnriensis, Enl. 825; — C. Lalandii, T. Col. 440; — 

 cristaius, Enl. 589; Vaill. 217 i—caruleus, 295, 2; Vaill. 2lS;—7ia:vius, Enh 812;— 

 cai/anus, Enl. 211 ; — C. hrachypterus, T. or Macropus caixana, Spix, 43; — C. seHtculus, 

 Enl. 813; — Macropus phasianellus, Spix, 42. 



