732 Mr. W. L. Sclater on Birds colkcled 



46.2. CUCULUS SOLITARIUS. 



Z. Sibudcni, Nov. 1 (1). 



['•' Pict-myn-vrow " of tlic Colonists and Dutch ; '' Pago- 

 m-kono'^ of the Zulus. 



This Cuckoo frequents well-wooded and forested localities, 

 where it is more often heard than seen. It is very shy and 

 retiring, and as it generally keeps within the forest^ where it 

 flits backwards and forwards calling all the time, it is a most 

 difficult bird to secure; in fact, only on the occasion when I 

 shot the specimen brought home did I ever see it, althongh I 

 spent many hours searching for the bird. It is migratory, 

 and I only heard it calling in the first months of the 

 summer season. I have noted it in Zululand (Nov.), the 

 Woodbush Hills (Oct. & Nov. 1905), and at JNIasambeti 

 (Nov. & Dec. 190G). The call is of three whistles, the last 

 being much lower in tone than the other two, and is audible 

 at a considerable distance ; it is on its call that both 

 the Colonial and native names are founded. Owing to its 

 being so shy and retiring I was unable to leai-n anything 

 abont its breeding-habits. 



The soft parts are: — Irides brown; orbits bright lemon- 

 vcllow ; bill, upper mandible dark slate-coloured, lower 

 greenish yellow ; legs and toes bright lemon-yellow.] 



4CL Chrysococcyx smaragdineus. 



Z. Sibudeni, Dec. 19 ? , Jan. 21, 23, J ^s (3) ; Tv. Wood- 

 bush, Nov. 23, Dee. 5, 8, c? 's (3). 



[" Emerald Cuckoo " of the Colonists ; " Libentonyane " 

 of the Zulus. 



The Emerald Cuckoo is essentially a bird of the forests, 

 wl'.ere in the summer season its unmistakable call can be 

 heard. It was heard in the forests of the Nkandhla Kange 

 in Zululand and in those of the Woodbush Hills in the 

 North-Eastern Transvaal, while I heard one calling at Storms 

 Ptiver, between theKnysna and Port Elizabeth, in Dec. 1901, 

 although when I reached the Knysna none was heard. Its 

 call is a whistle of four distinct notes, the last two being lower 

 than the other two, and can be heard at a considerable distance, 

 the bird sitting amone: the leafv boughs of some tall tree. 



