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than in the Cotos : he adds that he obtained it near Seville as early as March 2nd, and a 

 female shot April 6th had an egg ready for exclusion. Major Irby says that it arrives earlier 

 than C. canorus, and that it has once been seen on the Rock of Gibraltar in August. In Italy 

 it is stated by Salvadori to be of very rare occurrence ; and he considers the statement as to its 

 breeding near Pisa utterly unworthy of credence. In Sicily, according to Professor Doderlein 

 it is also rare ; but he records the existence of specimens in the Museums of Syracuse, Catania, 

 and Messina. It has not been recorded from Sardinia. Mr. Traherne Moggridge (Ibis, 1864, 

 p. 409) records it from Mentone ; and Mr. C. A. Wright (Ibis, 1864, p. 50) writes that it is 

 exceedingly rare in Malta, and he only knows of three specimens shot there. It is said to have 

 once occurred in the Spreethal, Lausitz, in Germany ; and Von der Muhle obtained one near 

 Zakona, in Greece, in May, and says that it appears not to be uncommon there. Lindermayer 

 purchased one in the market at Athens. It is said to occur rarely in Southern Russia ; and Von 

 Nordmann records one as having been obtained in Bessarabia. Canon Tristram met with it in 

 Palestine, where, he says (Ibis, 1866, p. 281), he found it generally distributed, though never in 

 great numbers, in the open glades of Bashan late in March. It has a wide range, visiting alike 

 the forests of Gilead and the olive-yards of the western country ; but he never saw it in the Ghor. 

 In North-east Africa it is common ; and, according to Captain Shelley (B. of Eg. p. 162), resident 

 in Egypt and Nubia, and may be met with abundantly in the clumps of sont trees, usually in 

 pairs or small family parties. They are by no means shy, and will often sit motionless on a 

 bough while one walks beneath the tree. In Egypt they breed at the same time as the Hooded 

 Crow, and invariably select a nest of that species in which to deposit their eggs. Petherick 

 obtained it at Kordofan ; and it occurs in Abyssinia, Tigreh, the Somali and Bogos countries, and 

 on the White and Blue Nile. In Western Africa it is recorded by Loche as being common 

 throughout the wooded districts of Algeria; and Mr. O. Salvin writes (Ibis, 1859, p. 318) that 

 " the wooded hills on the south side of the Lake Djendeli, and in the neighbourhood of the 

 Madracen, both which districts lie a little to the eastward of the high road between Constantine 

 and Batna, may be considered as favoured breeding-localities of Coccystes glandarius.'" Mr. C. F. 

 Tyrwhitt Drake found it common at Mogador, and obtained it at Tangier on the 15th January, 

 and at Tetuan on March 15th. Messrs. Shelley and Buckley (Ibis, 1872, p. 286) procured it 

 near Accra, on the Gold Coast ; Verreaux records it from Senegal, Casamanse, and Bissao ; and 

 Mr. Gurney (Andersson's B. of Damara Land, p. 225) says that it is not uncommon during the 

 wet season in Damara Land, and also about the river Okavango. Mr. Layard (B. of S. Afr. p. 251) 

 speaks of it as being very rare within the Cape colony. All that he saw, three in number, came 

 from Kaffraria. One was sent by Captain Bulger from Windvogelberg ; and it appears in 

 Chapman's collection not unfrequently. According to Bolle (J. f. O. 1854, p. 461) it is occa- 

 sionally met with on the Canaries during migration. It does not appear to range further east 

 than Persia, where Mr. Blanford obtained a specimen at Sarbestan, east of Shiraz, in June 1872. 



In its habits the present species bears some resemblance to the common Cuckoo ; and like 

 that bird it is parasitic, never building its own nest or rearing its young. Its flight is steady and 

 somewhat dipping ; and its long tail renders it easily recognizable. As a rule, from what little I 

 have seen of it I should consider it quite as shy as our common Cuckoo, if not more so. Lord 

 Lilford, who observed this species near Madrid, writes (Ibis, 1866, p. 178) as follows: — "My 



2d 



