CUCKOOS 275 



CUCKOOS 



The true Cuckoos are a fairly mimerous family in South 

 Africa, and form the first Sub-family (CuculinoB) of the 

 Family CucuUdce, the second Sub-family being the Coucals 

 (Centropodince), already dealt with in our chapter on 

 " Denizens of the Forest." 



The parasitic habits of the Cuckoos were made known 

 to science a good many years ago, and innumerable stories 

 were told of the European Cuckoo {Cuculus canorus), many 

 of them exaggerated. So far as our Cuckoos are concerned, 

 they are all true parasites, foisting their eggs upon a variety 

 of birds, from the tiny Cotton-tit to the Black Crow. In 

 many instances the female may lay her egg direct in the nest 

 of the foster-parent ; but what happens in the case of the 

 Kappok-vogel ? It is physically impossible for even our 

 smallest Cuckoo to obtain ingress into the nest, so the only 

 practical hypothesis is that she lays her egg on the ground 

 and conveys it to the nest in her bill. Many instances of 

 this have been witnessed, by reliable observers, in the case 

 of the European Cuckoo. The very masterly essays on the 

 parasitic habits and nidification of the Cuckoos, by the 

 late Professor A. Newton, of Cambridge, are too long to 

 reproduce here, and we must refer the reader who wishes to 

 understand something of the variation in the colour of the 

 Cuckoo's egg, and the diversity in the selection of the foster- 

 parent, to his admirable " Dictionary of Birds." 



There are three genera of the Cuculmce in South Africa, 

 the first two having no crest on the head, but easily dis- 

 tinguishable from one another, the first genus, Cuculus, 

 possessing no metallic plumage, while the members of the 

 second genus {Chrysococcyx) are strongly metallic in colora- 

 tion ; the third genus (Coccystes) has the head distinctly 

 crested. 



