378 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



more than one egg, even as many as four, in a foreign nest, and that it usually selects 

 the nest of some member of the crow family. 



Our next figure represents one of the small golden cuckoos peculiar to the African, 

 Oriental, and Australian regions. The species are not larger than a sparrow, and 

 remarkable for the metallic green reflections on the back, and in some species the 

 neck anteriorly also, in richness and brilliancy equalling the radiant hues of humming- 

 birds and trogons. The species figured is the South African golden cuckoo (Lampro- 

 coccyx cupreus), by the colonists called 'didric,' in imitation of its voice. It is 

 migratory in the Cape Colony and adjacent countries, and is said to be parasitic in its 

 breeding habits, like most other Old World Cuculinae. 



FIG. 181. Lamprococcyx cupreus, golden cuckoo. 



The gigantic Australian species and type of a separate genus, the channel-bill, or 

 horn-bill cuckoo of the colonists (Scythrops novce-hollandice) is another form figured. 

 The character of the bill and its whole structure is well represented in the cut ; the 

 coloration is similar to that of the European cuckoo, but the orbits and lores are bare 

 and scarlet red. In flight, and in the posture when resting, it is said to be quite 

 hawk-like, and is probably parasitic. Mr. G. Bennett tells of a young bird which was 

 taken alive and placed in an aviary with a ' laughing-jackass ' (Dacelo gigantea) : 

 "Doubtless feeling hungry after its journey, it immediately opened its mouth to be 

 fed ; and its wants were readily attended to by the Dacelo, who, with great kindness, 

 took a piece of meat, and after sufficiently preparing it by beating it about until it 



