Descriptive Inst of the Common Birds 
The voice of this bird must be familiar to 
many residents in India, it sounds like a stone 
skimming over ice, and hence is known as the 
ice-bird. 
127. Caprimulgus macrurus:  Horsfield’s 
Nightjar. (F. 1093), (J. 110), (+III.) 
A large edition of No. 126. Its chuk, chuk, 
chuk is not unlike the sound made by tapping 
a plank with a hammer. 
The Cuckoos, 128-131 
This large family falls into two classes—the 
parasitic and the non-parasitic—both classes 
being represented in India. 
The European cuckoo is very abundant in 
the Himalayas, but is rarely seen or heard in 
the plains. 
128. Hierococeyx varius: The Common 
Hawk-Cuckoo—the Brain-fever bird of Anglo- 
Indians. (F. 1109), (J. 205), (- III, but with 
a tail 6 inches long.) 
Every Anglo-Indian is familiar with the 
crescendo shriek—brain-fever, brain-fever, BRAIN- 
FEVER—of this bird, which is reiterated with 
such “damnable persistency” at the begin- 
ning of the hot weather. This bird is exceed- 
169 
