

HEPATIC PLUMAGE OF THE CUCKOO. 259 



Here we may note that from the expression " reddish brown 

 back speckled with blackish and white" that Bechstein was 

 describing a young bird in the nestling plumage, in which we 

 are accustomed to see it in late summer and early autumn — 

 that is, before it quits this country, and before it has moulted. 

 For the specimen which I have just examined, and which I 

 take to be the Cuculus hepaticus of Sparrman, but not the Cuculus 

 riifns of Bechstein, has no white spots on the back, the dorsal 

 plumage being, as above stated, of a cinnamon colour, each 

 feather with three or more bars of brownish black, and the rump 

 of a uniform cinnamon colour without any barring. 



Latham, in his 'Index Ornithologicus,' 1790 (vol. i. p. 215), 

 followed Sparrman (op. cit.) in treating it as a distinct species 

 from Cuculus canorus, and his description contains no mention 

 of white spots on the dorsal region. 



Naumann, in his ' Vogel Deutschlands,' 1826, has figured a 

 red Cuckoo (vol. v. pi. 128, fig. 2) with the bill black, and yellow 

 at the base, which he characterises as a female in the second year 

 ( ? ziveijcihrig) of Cuculus canorus. 



Amongst others of the older writers who have referred to this 

 red phase of plumage may be mentioned Gmelin, Syst. Nat. (1788), 

 i. p. 409 ; Le Vaillant, ' Oiseaux d'Afrique,' v. pi. 201 ; Betzius, 

 1 Fauna Suecica,' 1800 (p. 100, no. 51); and Nilsson, ' Ornithologia 

 Suecica,' 1817 (i. p. 119, no. 58), who at that date felt persuaded 

 that it could not be the plumage of the young bird of the year. 

 But see ' Scand. Fauna,' pi. 66. 



Temminck, who has devoted several pages to a consideration 

 of Le Coucou roux, ou le Cuculus hepaticus des methodes (Man. 

 d'Orn. 1820, Partie Ire, pp. 383 — 388), states that, according to 

 his observations, it is merely the common grey Cuckoo in its 

 second year (p. 384), and further on he expresses the opinion 

 (p. 385) that the Cuculus hepaticus of Sparrman is the young 

 " a year old" of the common Cuckoo. It is to be presumed from 

 this that he means " after it has once moulted," for he draws a 

 distinction between the young bird in its first plumage and the 

 so-called " Coucou roux (non point les jeunes de l'annee qui sont 

 aussi roussatres, mais le Cuculus hepaticus"), which he says is 

 very common in the south, beyond the Alps, throughout Italy, 

 and in Eastern Europe, where the grey Cuckoo is rare. "In 

 early spring," he says, " I have often followed for hours pairs 



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