ata, 
é tg 
nest, and jirking them over? The foster-parents continue 
to feed the cuckow for some time after it leaves the nest, 
notwithstanditve which it’ never acquires their notes ; 
whereas all thdsé 2 birds Is ho” “possess the faculty of mimickry 
or of learning tunes, if hatched under another species of 
bird, invariably gain their peculiar song, although it is ge- 
nerally combined with their own natural notes. 
TAB. XXXI. 
CUCULUS AFER. 
C. atro-virens; capite cristato; gula, pectore, ventre- 
que lutescentibus illa migro-maculata. 
Habitat ——— ? 
AFRICAN CUCKOW. 
Black-green; head crested; throat, breast, and belly 
dirty yellowish, the former mottled with sooty-black. 
This new and beautiful bird was lent to me by Mr. 
Leadbeater, of Brewer-street, who received it from Africa. 
It seems to be a slight variety of the Coucou Edolio va- 
riété of Levaillant, described in his Oiseau d’ Afrique, vol. v. 
AA, 209. 
