COCO YSTESHIEROCOCC YX 473 



kce-ou, kee-ou, and when alarmed a grating cark, cark, and that 

 of the female burroo, burroo. Its food consists of insects of 

 various kinds, chiefly caterpillars. Like its allies it is parasitic, 

 and in the Iberian Peninsula places its eggs in the nests of the 

 Magpie, Blue-winged Magpie, and occasional!} 7 the Raven, in 

 Algeria in those of the Moorish Magpie, and in North-East 

 Africa in those of the Hooded Crow and Corvus affinis ; not 

 unfrequently two or even four Cuckoo's eggs are found in the 

 same nest. The eggs are more elliptic in shape, smoother and 

 closer in texture than those of the foster-parent, pale greenish 

 blue in ground colour, spotted, dotted, and blotched with pale 

 liver-brown and bright reddish brown, and in size average 

 1-28 by 0-96. 



HIEROCOCCYX, S. Miiller, 1839-44. 



675. HAWK-CUCKOO. 

 HIEROCOCCYX SPARVEROIDES. 



Hierococcyx sparveroides (Vigors), P.Z.S. 1831, p. 173 ; (Gould), Cent 

 Himal. B. pi. 53 ; (David and Oust.), Ois. Chine, p. 63 ; Shelley, 

 Cat. B. Br. Mus. xix. p. 232 ; Blanf. F. Brit. Ind. Birds, iii. p. 211 j 

 Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 694 ; H. strenuus (Gould), P.Z.S. 1856, p. 96 ; 

 (id.) B. of Asia, vi. pi. 42. 



Bar a Bharao, Nepal. : Nimbin-piyul, Lepch. 



$ ad. (India). Crown, sides of head, hind-neck, and chin slate- 

 grey ; upper parts generally rich brown, the quills barred with white on the 

 inner webs ; tail greyish brown, with three narrowish and a broad 

 terminal blackish brown bands, and narrowly tipped with brownish white ; 

 throat and upper breast striped with greyish brown and marked with 

 rufous ; rest of the under parts white, the lower breast, flanks and 

 abdomen barred with blackish brown and more or less tinged with rufous ; 

 upper mandible dark brown, lower greenish ; gape, orbit, iris, and legs 

 yellow. Culm en TO, wing 9'1, tail 8'25, tarsus 11 inch. Sexes alike. 

 The young bird has the upper parts brown, the feathers margined and 

 faintly banded with rufous, the under parts reddish white streaked and 

 spotted with dark brown. 



Hob. The Himalayas, west to Chamba, east to the hills south 

 of Assam and Burma; China, Eastern Siberia, and Japan, 

 ranging south to the Malay peninsula, the Philippines, and 

 Borneo in winter. 



Frequents wooded districts, and in summer is found at 

 elevations up to 9,000 feet. Its flight is swift and graceful, 

 and its food consists of insects, chiefly of caterpillars. It places 

 its eggs in the nests of other birds, but is said to occasionally 



