AYES. 455 



elongate, rounded or graduated. Wings moderate, with third and 

 fourth or fourth and fifth quills longest of all. 



All the species of this genus belong to the eastern hemisphere, many to 

 Africa. Many species make for themselves no nest, but lay their eggs in 

 the nests of other birds. 



Sp. Cuculus canorus L., BUFF. PL enl. 811, LESS. Ornitk. PI. 21, fig. i, 

 NAUM. Taf. 127 129; the cuccoo, le coucou, der Kuckuclc. The general 

 colour of the adult bird is ash-grey; the belly white, with brown-black 

 transverse streaks ; the base of the bill and the legs yellow. The cuccoo 

 feeds in the middle of summer principally upon hairy caterpillars, of which 

 the hairs often adhere to the inner surface of the stomach in such a degree 

 that it has been regarded as actually haired. The female lays yearly four 

 or at most six eggs, but at such long intervals that the first has been 

 found as early as May, the last as late as July. The slow development of 

 the eggs in the ovary may be the cause on which the absence of inclination 

 to brooding depends in the cuccoo 1 ; whence she is contented to lay her eggs 

 in the nest of other birds which feed their young with insects ; she selects for 

 this chiefly small species of singing birds. Cuculus capensis GM., Cuculus 

 solitarius VIEILL., BUFF. PI. enl. 390, &c. Some small species from warm 

 countries have green feathers with metallic reflections. They form the 

 sub-genus Chrysococcyx BOIE. Sp. Cuculus Klaasi Cuv., VAILL. Ois. d'Afr. 

 PI. 212, SWAINS. Birds of West. Afr. n. PI. i\ ; Cuculus chalcites ILLIG., 

 TEMM. PI. col. 102, fig. 2, &c. 



In some the head is crested (Oxylopkus SWAINS.). Sp. Cuculus glanda- 

 rius L., Cuculus macrourus BREHM, Handb. Taf. xi. fig. 3, NAUM. Taf. 

 130, TEMM. PL col. 314; South of Europe, North Africa, &c. This bird 

 is said to build its own nest. 



Sub-genus Eydynamis VIGORS and HOKSF. Sp. Cuculus orientalis L. 

 (and maculatus GM.), BUFF. PL enl. 274, fig. i, PI. 764, &c. 



B. Tail with twelve feathers. 



Indicator, VAILL., VIEILL., TEMM., Prodotes NITZSCH. Bill 

 short, conic, moderately curved. Nostrils placed in a fossa near 

 the base of bill, surrounded by membrane, opening near the culmen. 

 Tarsi short. Wings with third quill longest of all, second sub- 

 equal. Tail with feathers unequal. 



Sp. Indicator Sparmanni STEPH., Cuculus indicator GM. ; Indicator minor 

 Cuv., LESS. Ornitk. PI. 22, fig. i.; Indicator maculatus GRAY, Gen. of 

 Birds, PI. cxin. Indicator variegatus LESS.? GUER. Icon., Ois. PI. 32, 



1 Compare H. SCHLEGEL Natuurlc. Verhand. van de MaatscJiappij der Weten- 

 schappen te Haarlem, xix Deel. 1. 1. -237 268. Amongst the earlier writers on the 

 habits of the cuccoo we name E. JENNER in Philos. Transact. 1788, pp. 219237, the 

 discoverer of the cowpox- inoculation ; according to his observations, confirmed by 

 GLOGER, the young cuccoo throws out of the nest the young ones of its foster-mother. 



