TROGOiVS — GLOSS Y CUCKOOS — KOELS— SPUR-CUCKOOS 



191 



Glossy Cuckoos. 



for passing insects which they dash down upon like flycatchers and devour when 

 they have regained their station. They also eat berries and other fruits, which 

 they peck at as they fly. Trogons have a remarkably thin and tender skin, from 

 which the feathers readily fall out ; and their gorgeous colours soon fade in 

 museums, if not carefully protected from the light. In the Oriental region the 

 family is represented by the surukus, which range from India to the Malay Islands, 

 a well-known species being the 



necklaced suruku {Pyrotrogon .^ - t 



casumba), of the Malay Penin- 

 sula, Sumatra, and Borneo. 



Among the cuc- 

 koo tribe may first 

 be noticed the glossy cuckoos, 

 resplendent in gorgeous plum- 

 age of green, red, or steel-blue, 

 though occasionally clad in sober 

 grey. These birds are distri- 

 buted over the warmer countries 

 of the Eastern Hemisphere, ex- 

 cepting Europe, one of their most 

 beautiful representatives, Chal- 

 cococcyx maculatus, inhabiting 

 the Himalaya, the Andamans, 

 the Nicobars, and Sumatra, 

 where it frequents the highest 

 branches of the forest- trees, 

 uttering its three quickly re- 

 peated notes not only by day 

 but on moonlight nights. The 

 allied genus Chrysococcyx is 

 exclusively African. 



To the same 

 family belong the 

 koels, birds of the size of the 

 European cuckoo, with a black 

 plumage marked by bands and 

 spots when young. They gener- 

 ally lay their eggs in the nests 



of members of the crow family ; and their range extends from India to Australia. 

 The best-known species is Eudynamis honorata, ranging from India through the 

 Malay Peninsula and Islands as far as Flores. 



The spur-cuckoos are strong birds of medium size, recognisable 

 by the long straight spur on the hind-toe. They have long reddish 

 brown graduated tails, which often expand like fans ; and their call consists of a 

 number of sonorous sounds, uttered slowly at first, and then repeated quickly until 

 they form one long trembling note. There are more than forty species of these 



NECKLACED SURUKU. 



Spur-Cuckoos. 



