Order Coccyges, Family Cuculidae, Genus Heteroscenes. ISi 



Song— When on the! wing they utter a harsh discordant 

 scream; but when perched the note is very different It is 

 thus described by Mr. E. Ashby, who, with a musical friend 

 took careful notes of it. "The melancholy whistle commences 

 with a note uttered several times; then rising in a series of 

 five to eight semi-tones and completing the effort by repeating 

 the final note several times. As far as my observations go 

 the series of half tones, with a rising inflexion is usually limi- 

 ted to five or six, but there is a considerable variation in the 

 number of times the bird repeats the first or the final notes." It 

 m .said that the whistling note is sometimes uttered when 

 ,on the wing. In the Adelaide district the birds are 

 silent or almost so on their first arrival, and also for some time 

 before their departure. When uttering the whistling note 

 the male sits with the head up and the wing drooped, this note 

 is not made by the female, but both sexes have the harsh flight 

 cali. The whistling call is uttered at night, more commonly 

 on moonlight nights ; but also when quite dark. 

 Flight.— Kapid, straight, and undulating. 

 Food.^Consist entirely of insects and their larvae; a 

 favourite food is hairy catterpillars, the stomachs of all 'the 

 birds being found lined with their sharp hairs. This circum- 

 stance formerly gave rise to the statement that cuckoos had 

 hairy stomachs. 



Nest.— -They build no nest, being purely parasitic in their 

 nidification. In this State the egg is invariably laid in the 

 nest of some species of honey-eater. The commonest being the 

 Greenie. (PtUotula pennicillata; the Minah {Myzantha melanoce- 

 phala); the black-capped Honey-eater (Melithreptus lunatus); the 

 Wattle-bird (Goelia carnnctdata); and the singing Honey-eater 

 (Meliphaga sonora.) 



Eggs.— As only one egg is laid in each nest, the number 

 laid by one female is unknown. The egg is oval in shape, but 

 •slightly smaller at one end. The ground colour is a 

 light yellowish pink sometimes quite uniform, and some- 

 times with faint indications of spots of a somewhat 

 darker hue and occasionally with one or two sharply defined 

 small dark brown spots; there is seldom any indication of a 

 zone. Two eggs measured A. 2.35 cm. x 1.70 cm. ; B. 2.45 c m 

 xl 80 cm. 



