CUCULUS. 205 



length of the tail. Bill moderate. In adults the upper plumage 

 is almost uniform dark ashy or brown, the chin and throat ashy, 

 abdomen white barred with black ; the wings barred on the inner 

 webs. The young undergo two or three changes, one phase being 

 chestnut above barred with dark brown. 



The true Cuckoos have a wide range, being found in Europe, 

 Asia, Africa, and Australia, and comprise about nine species, of 

 which four inhabit the Indian area. 



Key to the Species. 



Wing 8 to 9 in., no subterminal black band on 



tail ; edge of wing mixed white and brown. C. canorus, p. 205. 



Wing 6'5 to 7'8 ; edge of wing white C. saturates, p. 207. 



Wing 57 to 6'1 ; edge of wing ashy C. poliocephalus, p. 208. 



W'ing 7'5 to 8'o ; a subterminal black hand on 



tail C. micropterus, p. 210. 



Cuckoos are birds of swift flight and peculiar habits. All have 

 resonant call-notes, distinctive of the particular species. The true 

 Cuckoos are more or less migratory ; they feed chiefly on cater- 

 pillars and soft insects, and, as is well known, do not pair, but 

 indulge in promiscuous intercourse, and the females deposit their 

 eggs in the nests of other birds *. The female Cuckoo sometimes, 

 at all events, perhaps always, lays her egg on the ground and 

 conveys it in her mouth to the nest selected. Some of the eggs 

 already in the nest are often broken, whether intentionally or by 

 accident is not quite clear, but it is certain that the young Cuckoo 

 when hatched ejects from the nest the callow young of its foster- 

 parents, and is fed by the latter until full-grown. When two 

 Cuckoo's eggs are laid in the same nest, the stronger young Cuckoo 

 turns out the weaker. 



1104. Cuculus canorus. The Cuckoo. 



Cuculus canorus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 168 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 71 ; 

 Horsf. 8f M. Cat. ii, p. 702; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 322; id. Ibis, 

 1872, p. 12 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 22 ; Blanford, 

 J. A. S. B. xxxviii, pt. 2, p. 168; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, 



Sadly, S. F. viii, p. 253; id. Ibis, 1881, p. 430; Legge, Birds 

 Ceyl p. 221; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 49; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1882, 

 p. 103 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 103 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 124 ; St. 

 John, Ibis, 1889, p. 159 ; Oates, ibid. p. 355 ; id. in Hume's N. fy E. 

 2nd ed. ii, p. 379 ; Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix, p. 245. 

 The European Cuckoo, Jerdon; Phuphu, H., Dehra Diin ; Kupwah, 

 Kumaun ; Kukku, Lepcha ; Akku, Bhot. 



Coloration. Adult male. Whole upper plumage dark ashy, the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts rather paler ; wings browner, with a 



* A remarkable instance of a Cuckoo (C. canorus) hatching her own egg and 

 feeding her young is related in the ' Ibis ' for 1889, p. 219. 



