CUCUIilD^ CUCULUS 183 



black, while the rest of the lower surface including the under wing- 

 coverts is white evenly barred with black. 



Distribution. — The Black Cuckoo is spread over Africa from the 

 Gold Coast and from Abyssinia southward to Cape Colony. In the 

 south and in the south-east, so far as is known, it is found only 

 during the summer months from October to March, when it breeds. 

 During the rest of the year, it apparently migrates to the west 

 and north-east, as it has been obtained on the Gold Coast in April 

 and May, in equatorial Africa in August, and in Abyssinia by 

 Heuglin in August and September. 



Within our limits it is abundant in the eastern portion of the 

 Colony, but is not apparently found to the westward of the Albany 

 division ; thence it extends through Natal, Zululand and the Trans- 

 vaal to German south-west Africa and the Zambesi. The follow- 

 ing are recorded localities : Cape Colony — Great Fish, Sunday and 

 Zwartkop rivers (where it was first found by Levaillant), Albany 

 div. Dec. (Ivy), Elandspost (Atmore), King William's Town (Brit. 

 Mus.), Port St. John's, Dec. (S. A. Mus.); Natal— Durban and 

 Newcastle (Brit. Mus.), Echowe (Woodward) ; Transvaal — Zand 

 river, Nov., Komatipoort, Sept., both in Lydenburg dist. (Francis 

 in S. A. Mus.), Potchefstroom, Jan. (Ayres in S. A. Mus.), Eusten- 

 burg district, Nov. (Gates) ; Bechuanaland — Bamangwato, Nov. 

 (Buckley), Lake Ngami dist. (Andersson) ; German south-west 

 Africa — Eehoboth, Feb., Dec. (Fleck), Otjimbinque, Dec. (Anders- 

 son), Omaruru, Dec. (Eriksson in S. A. Mus.), Elephant Vley, 

 Oct., Nov. (Andersson). 



Habits. — This bird derives its name ("le criard " of Levaillant) 

 from its loud three-syllabled note, to which the male gives vent all 

 day long and most of the night from the topmost branch of a 

 lofty tree ; it is very shy and wary and if disturbed will dart away 

 very swiftly into a neighbouring thicket. When two birds meet 

 however they greet one another with a peculiar chattering not 

 unlike that of the red-billed Hoopoe. Like other cuckoos its food 

 consists chiefly of caterpillars. Levaillant states that the Black 

 Cuckoo places its eggs in the nest of the Wren warblers {Prinia 

 maculosa and P. hypoxantha). As the nest of this bird is very 

 small and domed it is a physical impossibility for the cuckoo to 

 lay its egg in the nest, and Levaillant believed that the egg was 

 Jaid on the ground and carried by the cuckoo in its mouth to the 

 nest selected. 



This is borne out by the observations of Mr. Ivy, the only other 



