CUCULIDjE. 



gloss ; quills barred with white on the inner webs except near the 

 tips ; chin, throat, sides of the neck, and upper breast pale ashy ; 

 lower breast, abdomen, and flanks white, with narrow blackish 

 cross-bars ; under tail-coverts the same, but more sparingly barred; 

 edge of wing mixed white and black ; tail blackish brown, tipped 

 with white, the inner webs notched with white, and some white 

 spots along the shaft of each feather. 



The adult female only differs in having the upper breast, and 

 sometimes the sides of the neck, rufous. 



The young pass through two well-defined stages of plumage 

 before arriving at maturity. In the first or nestling stage, the 

 colour is dark brown above, indistinctly barred with rufous, each 

 feather margined with white ; a white nuchal spot is present from 

 the earliest age ; the lower plumage is broadly barred brownish 

 black and white, black preponderating on the throat and upper 

 breast. When the bird is fully fledged, the white edges to the 



Fig. 60. Head of C. canorus, \. 



feathers wear off to some extent, and the rufous bars are lost on 

 all parts except the wings ; the tail is very similar to that of the 

 adult, but browner. 



In the second stage the black bars on the lower plumage become 

 narrower ; the whole upper plumage, wings, and tail are barred 

 with pale rufous, the white margins still remaining ; the nuchal 

 spot is retained nearly to the end of the second stage, and 

 disappears only when the birds begins to acquire ashy patches on 

 the upper plumage. The transition from one stage of plumage to 

 the other is gradual, and every intermediate form occurs. 



The chief distinctive character in the young of this species is 

 the white nuchal spot, which is seldom wanting. In the nearly 

 allied O. saturatus this spot very rarely if ever occurs ; and in the 

 small G. polio cephalus a white nape-patch is only present in one 

 stage, the second, and is often accompanied by a white half-collar 

 extending round the hind-neck. 



The above changes are effected without any moult, by a change 

 of colour in the feathers. The adult plumage is assumed in the 

 spring of the year after birth, but apparently the birds do not 

 moult till in their second autumn. The same is the case with the 

 next two species. 



