200 



throat and upper breast pale ashy blue ; rest of the underparts white, barred with blackish ; bill dusky 

 horn, yellowish at the base and edges ; gape orange-yellow ; iris and legs yellow. Total length about 

 135 inches, culmen - 9, wing 8 - 35, tail 7 - 0, tarsus 0'92. 



Adult Female. Closely resembles the inale in plumage, but is, perhaps, rather smaller in size. 



Young (Gardsjo, Sweden) . Upper parts deep clove-brown, transversely barred with pale ferruginous brown, 

 most of the feathers narrowly tipped with white ; a white spot on the nape ; quills dark brown, barred 

 with ferruginous, and narrowly tipped with white, the inner webs barred with white as in the adult 

 bird ; tail deep clove-brown, spotted and tipped with white and barred with ferruginous ; chin and 

 throat buffy white, very closely barred with blackish ; rest of the underparts warm buffy white, more 

 openly barred with blackish, on the lower abdomen of a rather warmer buff tinge ; iris brown. 



Obs. The red immature plumage is, as a rule, to a large extent, if not entirely, exchanged at the first moult 

 for the grey dress of the adult bird; or at least this appears to be the case as far as the male is 

 concerned ; but not unfrequently the female assumes a peculiar rufous plumage, which is retained 

 during the following year ; and in this plumage, which is excellently figured by Naumann (taf. 128. 

 fig. 2), she differs considerably from the young bird; for the upper parts are rusty red barred with 

 black, the rump nearly uniform pale rusty red, the head lighter and marked with white, the tail rusty 

 red barred with black and having a broad black terminal band, the underparts white, rather closely 

 barred with black, and the iris and feet are yellow. I am indebted to Mr. Blanford for a very fine 

 female in this plumage shot near Shiraz, in Persia, in May 1870; and one, in my collection, shot at 

 Hampstead, also in May, is in change between this plumage and the grey dress of the adult bird. In 

 the red stage of plumage the bird has been described as a distinct species, under the names of Cuculus 

 rufus, Cuculus hepaticus, and Cuculus libanoticus. 



The young bird does not always have the red plumage above described, some specimens being much greyer 

 than others. Naumann figures (taf. 129. fig. 1) one which has the head, neck, and upper parts blackish 

 grey ; but, though I possess several very grey young birds, I have never seen one so dark as this, and it 

 is, I expect, a very rare variety. 



The range of the Cuckoo is very extensive ; for it occurs throughout the whole of Europe and 

 North Asia up to the Arctic circle in the summer season, ranging south as far as South Africa 

 and Southern India in the winter. In Great Britain it is very generally distributed from the 

 south to the extreme north of the mainland, becoming rarer on the islands off the coast of 

 Scotland. It arrives in the south of England from the middle to the end of April according to 

 the season ; but in the north of Scotland it does not appear before the early part of May, leaving 

 again in August and September. Mr. Cecil Smith informs me that the Cuckoo is especially 

 numerous on the island of Guernsey, more so perhaps than anywhere in the south of England ; 

 but it is quite numerous in most parts of England. Mr. Robert Gray says (B. of W. of Scotl. 

 p. 200) that " it is distributed over the whole of Scotland. From its sylvan aspect and the 

 temptation of its extensive and romantic glens, the west coast is peculiarly attractive to this 

 bird. Shortly after its arrival, especially if the weather be auspicious, every glen and cultivated 

 hollow are filled with its well-known call. In some of the glens near the banks of Loch Lomond 

 as many as ten or fifteen of these lively summer birds may be seen within a short compass, 

 uttering their note incessantly. It is also a well-known visitor to the Outer Hebrides. In the 



