136 CUCULID.E, 



165. Coocystes grlandarius (Linnaeus). Tlie Great Spotted 

 Cuckoo. 



Moorish. Teir el Keber (Bird of news) (Favier). Spanish. 

 Cuco real, Cuco monon. 



" Occurs near Tangier on passage, always in pairs, but not in 

 any great numbers. They cross to Europe in January, February, 

 and March, returning in June, July, August, and September. 

 Their food is entirely caterpillars, both smooth and hairy." 

 Favier. 



The Great Spotted Cuckoo arrives in Andalucia much earlier 

 than the Common Cuckoo ; and though Favier states that they' 

 pass in January, the 25th of February and the 2nd of March are 

 the earliest dates which I have for their arrival, and they mostly 

 appear between the 7th and 28th of March. Verner records one 

 on 8th March and another on 4th April, 1879, both near Gibraltar. 

 The latest I saw was on the 7th of August, in the Alameda at 

 Gibraltar ; but they are seldom noticed near there, and pass on 

 to districts further north, where there are Magpies (Pica rustica), 

 as they lay in the nests of the latter, and occasionally, it is stated, 

 in those of the Spanish Magpie (Cyanopicus cooJci). The eggs 

 can be easily distinguished by their elliptical form, those of the 

 Magpie being pointed at one end. They vary a good deal in 

 size and much in the markings, like those of the bird whose nest 

 they use. As far as we yet know, this Cuckoo always places its 

 eggs in nests of the Corvidce. The majority of eggs I have seen, 

 mostly obtained by Ruiz of Seville, came from the vicinity of 

 Cordova ; there are a good many in the Goto del Key. A female 

 killed on the 7th of March had the eggs so far developed as to 

 show that the probable number of eggs she would have laid was 

 four. 



The Rev. John White mentions this Cuckoo as having been 

 killed at Gibraltar about 1776. 



Adults. Crested. Head and nnpe bluish grey; rest of upper parts greyish 



