332 AVES. 
ra 
Tur True Cucxoos 4 
. e 
Have a moderately strong beak, short tarsi, and t quills in the 
tail. They are celebrated for the singular habit of laying their eggs » 
in the nests of other insectivorous birds, and, what is not less extraor- 
dinary, these latter, which are often a considerably smaller species, 
take as much care of the young Cuckoo as of their own true offspring, 
and that too, even when its introduction has been preceded, which 
often happens, by the destruction of theireggs. The rationale ofthis » 
phenomenon, which is unique in the history of birds, is unknown. 
Hérissant has attributed it to the position of the gizzard, which, in 
fact, is placed much farther back in the abdomen, and is less pro- 
tected by the sternum than in other birds. The ceca are long, and 
the lower larynx has but a single muscle proper. There is one of 
them very generally found throughout Europe, ® 
C. canorus, L.; Enl. 811. (The Common Cuckoo. An ash 
coloured grey; white belly, striped transversely with black; sides 
of the tail spotted with white; a red takes the place ef the grey 
in the young bird. But another species, 
C. glandarius, Edw. 57; Naum. 130, the male; Col. 414, the 
female,(1) which is sometimes seen in Europe, has a more sono- 
rous note, and is crested and spotted. 
The warm countries of both hemispheres produce several 
others.(2) 
Africa, in particular, has several beautiful species, of a green 
colour, more or less gilded; their beak is rather more de- 
pressed than that of the Common Cuckoo.(3) 
In others, mostly spotted, the beak is vertically higher.(4) 
The 
(1) Cuculus pisanus, Gm. is the young. ° 
(2) Cuculus capensis, Vaill. Afr. pl. 200, which is probably nothing more thana 
variety of the common one;—solitarius, Nob., Vaill. 206;—radiatus, Sonner. Voy. 
I, pl. 79;—clamosus, Nob. Vaill. 204, 205;—edolius, Nob. Vaill. 207, 208. N.B. 
Cuc. serratus, Sparm. Mus. Carls. 3, is the male; melanoleucos, Enl. 272, the female; 
—coromandus, Enl. 274, 2andavar., Vaill. 213;—americanus, Enl. 816, or carolinen- 
sis, Wils. II, xxviii, 1,—erythrophtalmus, Ub., 2?—/flavus, Enl. 814. — 
N.B. The C. mindanensis, Enl. 277, and its male C. orientalis, Enl. 274, 1, are 
separated from them by M. Vigors and Horsf. under the generic name of Evpy- 
NAMYS. i, , ’ ; 
(3) Cue. auratus, Enl. 657, Vaill. 2113—elassii, Vaill.. 210;—/ucidus, Lath. Syn. 
I, pl. xxiii, and Col. 102, f. 1;—capreus, Id. Supp. 134, and Vieill. Gal. 42; shal 
cites, T. Col. 102, f. 2, the female. 
(4) Cuc. punctatus, Enh. 771, and. scolopaceus, 586, and perhaps even maculatus, 
764, are varieties;—honoratus, Enl. 294, Vaill. 216;—fuitentis, Sparm. Mus. Carls. 
