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Genus COCCYSTES. 



Ouculus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 169 (1766). 



Coccyzus apud Audouin, Expl. PI. Ois. d'Egypte, p. 266 (1825). 



Coccysus apud Savi, Orn. Tosc. i. p. 154 (1827). 



Coccystes, Gloger, Handb. Vog. Eur. p. 419 (1834). 



Oxylophus apud Bonaparte, Comp. List, p. 40 (1838). 



The Great Spotted Cuckoos differ quite sufficiently from the species belonging to the genus 

 Cuculus to warrant generic separation. They inhabit the Pahearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental 

 Regions, only one species being found in the Western Pahearctic Region. In general habits 

 they are not unlike the common Cuckoos ; and, like them, they deposit their eggs in the nests of 

 other birds, usually Crows or Magpies, and are peculiar in placing two or more eggs in the same 

 nest. They are shy and wary, frequenting the same sort of ground as the common Cuckoo. 

 Their call-note is a shrill chatter, quite unlike the call of Cuculus canorus. Their flight is steady 

 and rather undulating ; and they climb about on the trees with ease, but are clumsy and awkward 

 . on the ground. They eat insects of various kinds, and are said to feed largely on grasshoppers 

 and locusts. Their eggs are not very variable, and may be compared to pale Magpies' eggs. 



Coccystes glandarius, the type of the genus, has the bill broad at the base, compressed and 

 decurved towards the tip, which narrows to a point ; nostrils basal, elongated ; head with a 

 tolerably full, long, pointed crest ; wings rather long, broad, and pointed, the first quill short, 

 about equal to the ninth, the second rather longer than the fifth, the third longest ; tail very 

 long, much graduated ; feet tolerably strong ; the tarsus bare, covered in front with four large 

 and three inferior scutellee ; toes, two directed forwards and two backwards ; claws moderate, 

 arched, acute. 



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