IX 

 THE PIED CRESTED CUCKOO 



THE pied crested cuckoo (Coccystes jacohinus) 

 is the most handsome of aU the cuckoos. 

 He is more than this. He stands out head 

 and shoulders above his fellow-deceivers. 

 Lest these words should convey an exaggerated idea 

 of his splendour, let me say that they do not necessarily 

 mean very much. Among the family of parasitic 

 cuckoos the standard of beauty is not high. Most of the 

 CuculidcB not only lack bright colours, ornamental 

 plumes, and other superfluous appendages, but are 

 also devoid of the smart appearance and soldier-like 

 bearing that characterise the great majority of the 

 feathered folk. Thus it cometh to pass that the pied 

 crested cuckoo, although he cannot hold a candle to 

 such birds as the paradise flycatcher or the oriole, is 

 able to point the claw of scorn at his feUow-cuckoos. 

 His black-and-white livery is distinctly stylish and is 

 embellished by a crest that does not he down as though 

 it were ashamed of itself, but projects prettily from 

 the back of the head. 



Even as a little girl of my acquaintance calls every 

 plump Indian a Bengali, so do the inhabitants of 



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