806 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



hatched soon gets rid of its other nest com- 

 panions. 



FIRST ACT IS TO KILL 



With an instinct that is almost grue- 

 some, the parasite, still too young to have 

 its eyes open or to hold itself erect, works 

 and squirms its body beneath those of its 

 companions, gets them on its back, and then 

 with awkward but certain movements 

 heaves them over the edge of the nest. 



One by one the rightful babies are thrown 

 out until the cuckoo remains in solitary 

 possession, so that it may profit by all the 

 food brought by small but attentive foster 

 parents, who through all this ghastly pro- 

 cedure never seem to understand that they 

 are being duped. 



The young cuckoo grows apace, until be- 

 side its small attendants it appears truly 

 monstrous before it finally leaves their 

 care. 



While the cuckoo is larger than the spe- 

 cies that it ordinarily chooses to parasitize, 

 its egg is small. Thus it may not offer too 

 great a contrast to those of the foster par- 

 ent and so cause sufficient alarm to bring 

 about desertion of the nest. Furthermore, 

 individual cuckoos become specialized for 

 the parasitism of particular kinds of birds, 

 and have developed a modified color in their 

 eggs to agree with those of the host. 



In England the common cuckoo has an 

 egg that matches fairly well in color those 

 of the wagtails and pipits. In other parts 

 of Europe some cuckoos produce bluish 

 eggs like those of the European redstart. 

 Even more striking color resemblances are 

 found among the eggs of cuckoos in India. 



Naturalists have argued for scores of 

 years over the method used by the cuckoo 

 in placing eggs in the nest, and today 

 opinion in the matter varies. 



Where the nest is open it appears that 

 the egg may be laid directly into it. But 

 where the nest is built in a hole or crevice 

 into which the cuckoo's body cannot pos- 

 sibly enter, many claim that the cuckoo lays 

 on the ground and brings the egg to the 

 nest in her mouth. Others hold that the 

 egg is laid in the entrance of the nest and 

 so put into place. 



In contrast to this bizarre parasitism, 

 many species of cuckoos build nests and 

 care for their own young attentively. This 

 is the case with the familiar yellow-billed 

 and black-billed cuckoos of the United 

 States (Color Plate III and page 813). 



Some observers say that these two are 

 occasionally parasitic on each other, but 

 this is not their regular custom. 



It may be added that many birds place 

 eggs occasionally in nests other than their 

 own. Ordinarily this is a casual circum- 

 stance, owing perhaps to necessity arising 

 when a nest has been destroyed and an egg 

 has developed, or to mere carelessness on 

 the part of a young bird. Such may be the 

 explanation of apparent parasitism among 

 our North American cuckoos. 



One hot April day in Haiti I came slowly 

 down the slopes of a mountain, interested 

 in the abundant gray robins, lizard- 

 cuckoos, strange flycatchers, and other birds 

 that were seen at every turn. 



As I paused to admire a view of the val- 

 ley below, I heard a curious cooing call com- 

 ing from a group of tall trees. With nasal 

 cadence it came again, and I walked for- 

 ward, watching intently in expectation of 

 finding some peculiar pigeon. 



Suddenly a brilliant green bird marked 

 with red beneath alighted on a branch in 

 front of me to utter the strange call, which 

 I now knew was the note of a trogon. An 

 instant later it had retreated to the tree 

 tops where I saw only its silhouette, dark 

 against the sky, with no hint of its won- 

 derful colors. 



The trogons (family Trogonidae) include 

 more than sixty forms. Three species in- 

 habit Africa, and sixteen are found in India 

 and adjacent regions. The remainder live 

 in the warmer parts of the New World, one 

 coming as far north as southern Arizona 

 (page 813). 



Nearly all are birds of lovely plumage, 

 the most resplendent being the quetzal 

 (Pharomacrus mocinno) of Central Amer- 

 ica. One of the largest of its family, this 

 handsome bird has metallic-green plumage 

 above, red underparts, a compressed crest, 

 and long, flowing upper tail coverts that 

 fall in a sweeping curve more than two 

 feet below the tail. 



STRANGE HABITS OF SOME KINGFISHERS 



The quetzal to the Aztecs was the em- 

 blem of Quetzalcoatl, God of the Air, and 

 as such was sacred, its plumes being re- 

 served for the chiefs. It is today the na- 

 tional bird of Guatemala, being shown on 

 the coat of arms of the country and also 

 on stamps. 



Our common belted kingfisher (Color 

 Plate IV) is so associated with water and a 



