CUCULIDZ. 289 
THE GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO. 
CoccYsTES GLANDARIUS (Linnzeus). 
An example of this southern species was captured alive in an 
emaciated condition on the island of Omey, off the coast of Con- 
nemara, probably in March 1842; it was subsequently secured for 
the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin, where I noticed that it was 
in immature plumage. Another, shot near Bellingham, Northumber- 
land, on August 5th 1870, and now in the Newcastle Museum, is a 
young bird. On October 18th 1896, an immature male was obtained 
on the Denes near Yarmouth ; while from the description sent to 
Mr. R. M. Barrington by Mr. T. King, lightkeeper at the Skellig 
Rock, co. Kerry, there can be little doubt that a bird in nearly adult 
plumage was observed there on April 30th 1897. 
The Great Spotted Cuckoo has occurred exceptionally in Germany, 
more frequently in the south of France, and several times in spring 
in Italy as far north as Liguria; but it is rare in Malta, and unre- 
corded from Sardinia or Corsica. In Southern Spain I found that it 
arrived by March 2nd, and it is common throughout the summer in 
the Peninsula as far north as the vicinity of Madrid, wherever there 
are woods suited to the habits of the Magpie, in the nests of which 
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