Coucals and Koeb 447 



South America. The more strictly South American forms do not differ greatly 

 in appearance, habits, notes, etc., from those already described. 



Crested Cuckoos. We may now return to the Old World for a brief view 

 of the final genus of this subfamily that space will permit us to notice, namely, 

 the Crested Cuckoos (Clamator), of which there are nine species, ranging through- 

 out Africa, southern Europe, and southern Asia. They are distinguished at 

 once by the possession of a pointed occipital crest, and also by a very long, gradu- 

 ated tail. The only European representative is the Great Spotted Cuckoo (C. 

 glandarius), which attains a length of sixteen inches, and is ashy brown above, 

 pale gray on the head, buff on the sides of the neck and white beneath, the wings 

 being conspicuously white-spotted and the tail-feathers tipped with white. In 

 its habits it resembles the common European Cuckoo, and, Mr. Dresser states, 

 "is quite as wild and shy." It has a variety of loud, harsh notes, and is para- 

 sitic, depositing its eggs in the nests of Magpies, Hooded Crows, and Ravens. 



Coucals. The second subfamily (Centra podince) embraces only a single 

 genus (Centropus) and about forty species of large or medium-sized, ground- 

 haunting Cuckoos, known as Coucals, the most marked peculiarity of which is 

 an extremely long, nearly straight hind claw. They are of wide range, extend- 

 ing throughout the Ethiopian and Oriental regions as well as Papua and Aus- 

 tralia, and have short, rounded wings, long, graduated tails, and the head, neck, 

 and breast clothed with harsh spinous feathers. The common Coucal, or Crow- 

 Pheasant (C. sinensis), is a large bird over twenty inches long, with the whole 

 plumage, except the wings, black throughout, these together with their coverts 

 being chestnut. Practically all its time is spent on the ground, in cultivated 

 areas, waste land and bushy jungle, or sometimes the forests, where it seeks 

 its sustenance of insects and probably lizards, small snakes, etc., a constant 

 habit being the elevation of its large tail over the back. The nesting season 

 extends from June to August, and according to Hume, Blanford, and others, 

 it makes a "huge globular nest of twigs, green and dry leaves, and coarse grass, 

 generally, but not invariably, with a lateral entrance, and placed in a thick and 

 often thorny bush or tree. The eggs are broad, regular ovals, white and covered 

 with a chalky layer; they are usually three in number." Its flesh is by many 

 considered a great delicacy. 



Koels. On the ground of possessing a naked tarsus, short, rounded wings, 

 and a generally long, broad, and well-graduated tail, certain forms have been 

 set aside as forming the subfamily Ph&nicophaina, among them the Koels 

 (Eudynamis), so called in imitation of their call note. The Koels, of which 

 there are some six or seven species, range throughout the Oriental region and 

 thence to New Guinea and Australia and have the sexes unlike in plumage, 

 the male being black throughout and the female variously spotted and barred. 

 The Indian Koel (E. honorata) is a bird about seventeen inches long, and is 

 one of the best-known and most familiar of Indian birds, frequenting groves 

 and trees in cultivated areas and feeding entirely on fruit. They have a rich, 

 melodious call like the words ku-il, ku-il, and are parasitic on Crackles, Fruit 

 Pigeons, and Crows, especially the Indian Crow (Corvus splendent), often placing 



