218 BOMBAY DUCKS 
Cuckoos that at different times ventured to set foot in 
the United Kingdom. Woe betide the strange bird 
who ventures near the hospitable shores of England! 
But let us leave this unpleasant subject. Let us turn 
to the Indian cuckoos, which are not persecuted by man. 
The European cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a regular 
visitor to India. In the Himalayas during the months 
of April, May, and June its melodious voice is heard 
unceasingly from early morn to dewy eve. This bird 
does not venture in great numbers into the plains; but 
it does come, and has been seen as far south as the 
Godavery District. 
The two essentially Indian cuckoos are our ubiquitous 
friends—the Brain-fever bird and the Koel. The former 
is known to scientists as Hievococcyx varius. It is also 
called the hawk-cuckoo, on account of its resemblance 
to a hawk. Its face is its fortune; for the little birds, 
when they see it, are said to mistake it for a hawk, and 
so allow it to drive them out of their nests and deposit 
its eggs in them. The “seven sisters” are its usual 
victims. 
The brain-fever bird is, perhaps, the noisiest creature 
in India. It can boast of a variety of calls; the one of 
which it is most fond and which it utters throughout 
the hot weather, both by day and by night, is a pene- 
trating crescendo, “brain fever, brain fever, BRAIN FEVER,” 
which pierces one through and through. The koel 
(Endynamys honorata) is another vociferous cuckoo, 
which exhibits a great predilection for the climate of 
Madras. In that part of the world it is only less 
common than the crow. The male is a glossy black 
