SCYTHEOPS NOV^ HOLLANDI.E. 



(Qhannel-hilled CucJcoo.) 



Head, neck, and breast, grey ; upper surface and wings, dark grey, each feather tipped with blackish brown; primaries, black; tail, grey for 

 more than two-thirds of its length from the base, followed by a broad band of black, and largely tipped with white ; under surface and 

 abdomen, whitish grey, crossed by bars of delicate grey ; ventral and under tail coverts, whitish, barred with black ; under surface of tail, 

 strongly barred with black, which extends nearly across the inner webs only ; naked skin round the eyes and nostrils, scarlet ; feet, dark 

 lead color ; bill, horn color, whitish at the edges. 



Length, 2^ inches ; wing, 13 ; tail, 11 ; bill, 2| ; tarsus, If ; largest toe and claw, 2i. 



This singular cuckoo is found in Queensland and New South Wales, where it resorts to situations where the wild fig is plentiful, 

 on which fruit it feeds in company with various pigeons and crows, but is as frequently found in forest country, feeding on the various species 

 of Orthoptera that frequent the tops of the Eucalypti and other trees. Its range extends considerably to the westward, not less than 200 

 miles, and probably much farther. It is known to the colonists of New South Wales as the " Eain Bird," as its presence is supposed to 

 indicate a wet season. It is migratory, appearing in October and departing in June. It is sometimes seen in small companies of five or six, 

 but more frequently in pairs, and endures some persecution from other birds, who seem to be instinctively aware of its peculiar propensities ; 

 for, like the family generally, it is parasitical — laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, and principally of birds much smaller in size than 

 itself. It is singular to see so large a bird tended by others sometimes not half as large as itself. Specimens of the Scythrops have been 

 shot, the stomachs of which were filled with smaU black seeds ; and it also feeds largely, as before stated, upon insects, preference being given 

 to grasshoppers and phasmidee. Mr. Swainson, in his classification of birds, places this species in connexion with the Toucans, to which 

 family (exclusively American) it certainly bears a near relation, only requiring the brilliancy of coloring possessed by those birds to complete 

 the resemblance. Its voice is harsh and disagreeable, but loud and peculiar, and seldom heard but in the morning. 



