202 CUCULIM. 



mentions that in different years many examples have been 

 taken in Languedoc. M. Brehm, Meyer, and Nauman, 

 notice its occasional appearance in Germany. 



One name used by Dr. Latham for this species, as quoted 

 at the head of this subject, is the Pisan Cuckoo, in refe- 

 rence to which it is stated " that a male and female of this 

 bird were found near Pisa, in Italy, where they made 

 their nest, laying four eggs, sat on, and hatched them. 

 It was observed that this species had never made its ap- 

 pearance there before ; nor was it known from whence 

 these birds came." M. Savi includes it in his Birds of 

 Italy, and it is found in Sicily, Egypt, and Syria. 



Mr. Gould in his well known work on the Birds of Eu- 

 rope, says, that the true habitat of this species is the 

 wooded districts skirting the sultry plains of North Africa, 

 but those that pass the Mediterranean find a congenial 

 climate in Spain and Italy. Opportunities are still want- 

 ing to confirm the most interesting of its habits. 



The adult male bird has the beak bluish black ; the 

 irides yellow ; the head and cheeks dark ash colour, the 

 feathers on the top and back of the head considerably 

 elongated, forming a conspicuous crest ; the back, sca- 

 pulars, wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts greyish 

 black, most of the wing-feathers, wing and tail-coverts, 

 with more or less white at the end ; the tail-feathers gra- 

 duated, the two in the centre brown, the outer feathers 

 darker, but all are tipped with white ; throat and chest 

 reddish white; abdomen, under wing and under tail- 

 coverts pure white ; legs, toes, and claws, bluish black. 



The whole length of a specimen in the Museum of the 

 Zoological Society, is fifteen and a half inches, of which 

 the middle tail-feathers alone measure eight inches ; the 

 outer tail-feather but four inches and three-quarters ; wing 



