378 BRITISH BIRDS. 



CUCULUS CANORUS. 



CUCKOO. 



(PLATE 20.) 



Cuculus cuculus, Briss. Orn. iv. p. 105 (1760). 



Cuculus canorus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 168 (1766) ; et auctorum plu.rimoru.in 



Latham, Temminck, Naumann, Bonaparte, Newton, Dresser, &c. 

 Cuculus hepaticus, Lath. 2nd. Orn. i. p. 215 (1790). 

 Cuculus rufus, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb, i. p. 84 (1802). 

 Cuculus borealis, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat. i. p. 442 (1826). 

 Cuculus cinereus, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 152 (1831). 

 Cuculus indicus, Cab. Mus. Hein. iv. Heft 1, p. 34 (1862). 

 Cuculus telephonus, Heine, Jeurn. Orn. 1863, p. 352. 

 Cuculus libanoticus, Tristram, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 432. 



The Cuckoo is almost as well known in our islands as the Swallow or 

 the Sparrow. It is a regular summer visitor to every part of the country, 

 and is not only found throughout England and Wales, Scotland and 

 Ireland, but is common on the Channel Islands, the Outer Hebrides, and 

 the Orkneys, and breeds regularly on the Shetland Islands. 



The breeding-range of the Cuckoo is strictly Palsearctic, except that it 

 does not include the Siberian tundras, and extends to the Himalayas and 

 mountains of South China. The Cuckoo is an accidental visitor to the 

 Faroes. In Norway, as might be expected, it ranges furthest north, being 

 found above the pine-region wherever the birches are tall enough to afford 

 it shelter, almost to the North Cape. In the valleys of the Petchora and 

 the Obb it has not been observed north of lat. 66^ ; but in the valley of 

 the Yeuesay, though I did not hear it north of lat. 67, I was assured that 

 it was occasionally found up to lat. 69. Middendorff found it common on 

 the Stanovoi Mountains, about lat. 62; and Dybowsky states that it is 

 very common in Kamtschatka. It is an accidental visitor to the Canaries 

 and Madeira, but breeds throughout South Europe. In North Africa it is 

 principally known as a spring and autumn migrant, but a few remain to 

 breed in Algeria. It is a summer visitor to Palestine, Asia Minor, Persia, 

 Turkestan, and Afghanistan ; but a few are said to remain to winter in 

 South Persia. To Mongolia, China, and Japan it is a summer visitor ; but 

 to India, Ceylon, Burma, and the Philippines it is only known as a winter 

 visitor, except that a few remain to breed in the Himalayas. It is found 

 throughout South Africa, but only during our winter. 



In East Siberia, Mongolia, Japan, China, and the Himalayas our 

 Cuckoo is found in company with a very nearly allied species, Cuculus 



