470 CUCULUS 



markings but it seems that each female produces regularly 

 eggs similar in appearance, and probably, if possible, selects the 

 same species as foster-parent for her offspring as has been the 

 foster-parent to herself, but this has scarcely yet been proved 

 to be the case. When hatched, the young Cuckoo soon ejects 

 the eggs or young of its foster-parent from the nest. A female 

 is said to produce as many as 20 eggs in the season, and gener- 

 ally one but sometimes two, the produce of different birds, 

 are placed in the same nest. As above stated, the eggs differ 

 considerably in appearance, and greenish-blue varieties have 

 been found, but as a rule the usual colours are greyish green 

 or greyish rufous, mottled and spotted with various shades of 

 brown, and in size average 0*88 by 0*65, and they are as a rule 

 very close grained in the shell and proportionately heavy. Many 

 species of birds in whose nests Cuckoos' eggs have been found 

 are enumerated by different authors, and Dr. Eey gives a list 

 of 146 of such. 



671. HIMALAYAN CUCKOO. 

 CUCULUS SATURATUS. 



" Cuculus saturates, Hodgs." Blyth. J. A. Soc. B. xii. p. 942 (1843) ; 

 Blanf.T. Brit. Ind. Birds, iii. p. 207 ; id. P.Z.S. 1893, p. 319 ; Tacz. 

 F. 0. 'Sib. O. p. 689 (nee. Drap.) ; C. himalayanus, Jerd. B. of 

 Ind. i. p. 323 ; (1862 nee. Vig.) ; C. intermedius, Shelley, Cat. B. 

 Br. Mus. xix. p. 252 (1891 nee. Vahl.) 



Tong-ting vyang, Lepch. ; Tsu-tsu-dori, Jap. 



(J ad. (India). Differs from C. canorus in being somewhat smaller and 

 having a somewhat stouter bill ; the upper parts are much darker, the 

 under parts are more tinged with buff, and the black bands are broader ; 

 the edge of the wings is also pure white. Culmen 0*7, wing 7 '2, tail 6*0, 

 tarsus 0*75 inch. 



Hob. E. Persia ; India, but rare south of the Himalayas ; 

 Eastern Siberia, ranging tolerably far west ; Kamchatka ; 

 Japan ; China ; in winter ranging south through Burma, and 

 the Malay peninsula to New Guinea and Australia. 



Resembles G. canorus in general habits, but its cry is a deep 

 koo, hoo uttered several times in succession ; like C. canorus it 

 is parasitic, and its eggs have been found in the nests of 

 Trochalopterum lineatum, Pratincola caprata, Cettia cantans, and 

 Anthus trivialis. According to Taczanowski they are pale 

 greyish, marked with numerous irregular pale violet shell-spots, 

 and brown surface-spots or blotches, which are more numerous 

 round the larger end, and measure 0'92 by 0'69. 



