1842.] Malayan species of Cuculidw. 901 



one, wax-yellow: orbits brilliant gamboge-yellow; irides the same: 

 feet comparatively dull yellow. An adult female had the bill pale- 

 greenish at the basal half of the upper mandible, and on nearly the 

 whole of the lower mandible, the rest being dusky ; irides brownish- 

 yellow. Size exactly that of the male, and plumage only differing in 

 being less vividly coloured, the breast mottlings dingy 'and indistinct. 

 The young have the irides paler and greenish ; the usual rufous bar- 

 ring of the upper-parts not very distinct, being almost obsolete on the 

 back, and chiefly visible on the wings and about the nape ; head 

 ashy ; and the longitudinal markings of the lower-parts much less 

 dark than in the preceding species. Very young birds have the bill 

 wholly yellow. 



This Cuckoo, originally discovered (if identical with radiatus) in 

 the Phillipines, and since observed in Java by Dr. Horsfield, is very 

 common in Bengal, and apparently throughout India — equally so 

 with the British Cuckoo in England. It feeds largely on fruit, espe- 

 cially (as remarked by Mr. Jerdon) on the small figs of the banyan 

 tree, but it also preys on caterpillars and other insects. It is a noisy 

 bird, and has two or three different notes, the most remarkable of 

 which is the shrill whistling crescendo note adverted to by Mr. Jerdon, 

 and which Mr. Elliot endeavours to express by the sound " whe- 

 wheewa, whe-whee-wa, whe-whe-e-wa, uttered eight or ten times, 

 and sometimes oftener ; at first lower, and gradually rising till the later 

 repetitions become extremely loud and shrill ;" — indeed, so much so, 

 that it is impossible for one's attention not to be aroused by it, and the 

 bird often delivers this cry perched conspicuously upon a bare branch 

 near the top of a high tree, being answered to, at times, by others, and 

 not unfrequently two or three of them may be heard engaged in noisy 

 contest, emitting then a continuously reiterated squeaking cry, which 

 also increases gradually in loudness. This bird is the Choke-dello of 

 the Bengalees, a name meant to be imitative of its note, but which is 

 not very expressive of it. 



3. C. canorus, Lin. (The European Cuckoo.) This species is to- 

 lerably TOli<m on on the Himalayas, and Lieut. Tickell informed me 

 that it is not rare in the jungles of Borabhum and Dholbhum, but Mr. 

 Jerdon states that " it is seldom met with Southward of North latitude 

 20° [that is, in India, for in Africa I believe it is not unfrequent in the 



