248 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA, 



reflections ; bill yellow, with blackish spot in front. Length, 

 13" ; wing, 4" 6'" ; tail, 9". 



Kaffraria and Port Natal- Whalberg (Hartl. loc. cit.) Natal 

 Gurney (Ibis, 1859, p. 248). Bare frequents dense bush, and creeps 

 about like the colies; feeds oi> locusts and gra&shoppers. (Ayres, 

 " Ibis," loc. cit.) 



The Sub-Family, CUCULINJE, or Cuckows, 



have the bill broad, and rather depressed at the base ; the 

 culmen curved, and the sides compressed to the tip, which is 

 entire, or slightly emarginated ; the nostrils basal, and mem- 

 branous, with the opening exposed; the wings long, and 

 generally pointed ; the tail long, and usually graduated ; the 

 tarsi short, partly clothed with feathers, and partly covered 

 with broad scales. 



Genus CUCULUS, Linn. 



Bill broad, and rather depressed at the base, with the cul- 

 men curved, and the sides gradually compressed towards the 

 tip, which is entire and acute ; the gonys long and arched ; 

 the nostrils basal, lateral, and placed in a short broad mem- 

 branous groove, with the opening round and exposed ; -wings 

 lengthened and pointed, with the third quill the longest ; tail 

 long, graduated, or even, and the outer feather on each side 

 shorter than the others ; tarsi very short, feathered below the 

 knee, and the exposed part covered with broad scales ; toes 

 unequal, the outer anterior toe the longest, and united to the 

 inner one at the base. 



490. Ouculus Solitarius, Cuv. ; Vol. 2, P . 454; 



Le Goucou Solitaire, Le Vail, No. 206 ; Shaw, Vol. 

 IX., Pt. 1, p. 84 ; C. CfJ'pensis, Lath.; C. Rubiculus, 

 Swain. Nat Lib., Vol. 12, p. 181. 



GENERAL colour above, greyish-black, lightest on the fore- 

 head ; chin cinereous, passing into rufous on the breast ; body 

 beneath, fulvous-white, barred with black ; under tail-coverts 

 immaculate ; the tail-feathers have four white spots along the 

 shafts, aod are otherwise mottled with white ; legs bright- 

 yellow. Length, 12" 6'" ; wing, 7" 6'" ; tail, 6" 6'". 



This cuckoo, known among the colonists by the name of " Pietmajn- 

 vrouw" from its call resembling these words, is a periodical visitant 

 over the whole colony, extending even as far as the Cape peninsula. 

 They generally make their appearance from November till Christinas 



