218 BOMBAY DUCKS 



Cuckoos that at different times ventured to set foot in 

 the United Kingdom. Woe betide the strange bird 

 who ventures near the hospitable shores of England ! 

 But let us leave this unpleasant subject. Let us turn 

 to the Indian cuckoos, which are not persecuted by man. 



The European cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a regular 

 visitor to India. In the Himalayas during the months 

 of April, May, and June its melodious voice is heard 

 unceasingly from early morn to dewy eve. This bird 

 does not venture in great numbers into the plains ; but 

 it does come, and has been seen as far south as the 

 Godavery District. 



The two essentially Indian cuckoos are our ubiquitous 

 friends the Brain-fever bird and the Koel. The former 

 is known to scientists as Hierococcyx varius. It is also 

 called the hawk-cuckoo, on account of its resemblance 

 to a hawk. Its face is its fortune ; for the little birds, 

 when they see it, are said to mistake it for a hawk, and 

 so allow it to drive them out of their nests and deposit 

 its eggs in them. The "seven sisters" are its usual 

 victims. 



The brain-fever bird is, perhaps, the noisiest creature 

 in India. It can boast of a variety of calls ; the one of 

 which it is most fond and which it utters throughout 

 the hot weather, both by day and by night, is a pene- 

 trating crescendo, "brain fever, brain fever, BRAIN FEVER," 

 which pierces one through and through. The koel 

 (Endynamys honoratd) is another vociferous cuckoo, 

 which exhibits a great predilection for the climate of 

 Madras. In that part of the world it is only less 

 common than the crow. The male is a glossy black 



