CUCKOOS. 



1 1 



Ground-Cuckoos. 



ne.-t is placed high on a tree, and is a loose, flat structure of twigs, the egg being 

 chalky white. In India and the Malayan countries there occurs an assemblage 

 of genera of bush-cuckoos, of which the best known are the malkohas (Rhopodytes). 

 These birds are met with in 

 gardens, thin tree -jungles, 

 and secondary scrub, being 

 and having a marvellous 

 capacity for making their 

 way through dense cover. 

 The notes of the malkohas 

 seem to vary considerably, 

 being described as a " cat- 

 like chuckle " in one species, 

 in another as a "hoarse 

 chatter, much like that of a 

 magpie," while another of 

 the malkohas has a " cat-like 

 mew." These cuckoos build 

 their own nests, and lay 

 white eggs. 



Another 

 subfamily 



(Neomorphince) is repre- 

 sented by the four genera 

 of ground - cuckoos, all of 

 which are terrestrial birds 

 with powerful feet for run- 

 ning, and weak wings in which the secondary quills are 

 as long as the primaries. In Borneo and Sumatra the 

 pheasant-cuckoos (Carpococcyx) represent the group ; 

 the species from the former island being two feet in 

 length, with the aspect and ways of a game-bird. 

 In South America the subfamily is represented by the 

 genus Neomorphus, which extends from Northern 

 Brazil to Guiana, Amazonia, and Ecuador, thence to 

 Colombia and to Nicaragua. All the five species of 

 this genus are extremely rare, and nothing is known of 

 their habits. In all the genera above mentioned the 

 bill is very stout, but there remain the two American 

 genera Geococcyx and Morococcyx, in which it is 

 longer ; a familiar example of the former of these being 

 the so-called road-runner (Geococcyx mexicanus). In 



plumage this curious cuckoo has nothing striking to recommend it, being brown 

 with rufous or white streaks; the under surface whitish; and a buff -coloured 

 throat, which is also streaked with black. But if its coloration is somewhat 

 sombre, it has some bright colour on the face, similar to that of the preceding 



GREEX-BILLED MALKOHA 



nat. size). 



