124 CUCULINJE. 



feet small ; outer-toe capable of being directed either backwards 

 or sideways, 



GENUS, Cuculus. 



Bill rather small, broadish at the base, compressed moderately 

 beyond, gently curved, and the culmen convex ; tip obsoletely 

 notched ; nostrils basal, circular, with a raised tumid margin ; 

 wings long, pointed ; the third quill usually longest, second and 

 fourth nearly equal ; tail lengthened, rounded ; tarsus very short, 

 feathered posteriorly, with transverse scutse in front ; feet slender, 

 short ; feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts long, thick 

 set and rigid. 



Cuculus canorus, Lin. 



199. -Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 322 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. Ill, p. 199 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, 

 Vol. IX, p. 387 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 116 ; 

 Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 63, 



THE CUCKOO. 



Length, 14 ; expanse, 26 ; wing, 875 to 9 ; tail, 7 ; tarsus, 0'8 ; 

 bill at front, 078. 



Bill black, yellowish at base beneath, and at gape ; irides 

 yellow ; orbits deeper yellow ; legs yellow. 



Adult : head and upper parts ashy ; throat, underside of neck, 

 and upper part of breast, pale ashy ; lower part of breast and 

 belly white, with narrow transverse, undulating black lines ; 

 quills dusky, with a faint gloss of green ; inner webs barred 

 with oval white spots or incomplete bars ; the two central 

 feathers of the tail blackish, dashed with ashy, and tipped white ; 

 the others black, with white spots on one or both webs, and 

 the tip white ; under tail-coverts white, with distinct arrow- 

 shaped markings. 



The female has very generally a tawny-brown tinge on the 

 upper parts ; and the neck and breast of both sexes are often 

 mingled with rufous, having some dusky-bars. 



The young bird is dusky-grey above with white or ferruginous 

 bars ; beneath white, with the bars close on the neck and breast, 

 distant and narrower on the abdomen ; irides blue-grey, after- 

 wards brown ; they vary considerably in this state of plumage. 



The European Cuckoo is found throughout the district, but, 

 excepting the hills, it is nowhere common and only occurs 

 during the rains and cold weather. 



Cuculus poliocephalus, Lath. 



201. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 324 ; Butler, Deccan ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 388. 



THE SMALL CUCKOO. 



Length, 10 to 10*5 ; wing, 5*85 ; tail, 512 ; tarsus, 0'62 ; bill 

 at front, 07. 



