Descriptive List of the Common Birds 
sometimes wrongly called (e.g. in The Common 
Birds of Bombay) the Brain-fever Bird. (F. 
1120), (J. 214), (III, but with a tail 8 inches 
long.) 
Cock: A glossy black bird with a green bill 
and crimson eye. As he flies he looks like a 
slenderly built crow with an unusually long 
tail. 
Hen: A brown bird, spotted and barred all 
over with white. Bill and eye as in cock. 
This is an exceedingly noisy bird, and is most 
vociferous at dawn. It has three distinct calls. 
The commonest is a crescendo: ku-il, ku-ul, 
KU-IL, whence its name. Another call is ku-y-o. 
The third is a torrent of kekaree, kekarees. 
(Illus. B. D., pp. 218 and 220; also B. C., 
P- 92.) 
It is parasitic on crows. 
131. Centropus sinensis: The Common Cou- 
cal, or Crow-Pheasant. (F. 1130), (J. 217), 
(-IV, but with a tail 10 inches long.) 
A gréat black fowl with chestnut-red wings. 
It feeds largely on the ground, and its long 
tail sometimes causes the “ griff”” to mistake 
it for a pheasant. 
Its call, which is heard at all times of the 
day, but more especially at dawn, is a low, 
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