242 coucal. 



6. -EGYPTIAN COUCAL. 



Cuculus JEgyptius, Ind. Orn. i. 212. Gm. Lin. i. 420. 

 Polophilus jEgyptius, Egyptian Coucal, Gen. Zool. ix. p. 54. 

 Houhou d'Egypte, Buf. vi. 367. Levail. Afr. v. 72. pi. 219. 

 Egyptian Cuckow, Gen. Syn. ii. 522. 



LENGTH between fourteen and sixteen inches. Bill near one 

 inch and a half long, and black ; irides bright red ; head and neck 

 behind dull green, glossed with polished steel; the feathers all round, 

 stiff in their texture ; upper wing coverts brownish rufous, inclining 

 to green ; quills rufous, terminated with shining green, except the 

 three last, which are wholly green, and the two or three preceding 

 them, mixed in colour; back greenish brown; rump and upper tail 

 coverts brown ; tail cuneiform, three inches in length, shining green, 

 with a steely gloss ; throat, and under parts of the body white, paler 

 on the belly ; lower belly, thighs, and under tail coverts pale blackish 

 green, with fine dusky stripes ; legs blackish ; Ihe inner hind toe 

 long, with a strong, straitish claw. The male and female do not 

 essentially differ, but the latter is smaller, and the colours less bright. 



It is seen in Egypt, frequently in the Delta, and called by the 

 Arabs, Houhou, from its repeating that word several times together ; 

 the male and female rarely seen asunder, nor are more than two often 

 together ; the principal food is locusts ; chiefly breed on low bushes 

 near running water, seldom on high trees, nor often on the ground. 

 Authors assert, that it makes the nest in the hole of a decayed tree, 

 at the bottom of which the eggs are laid, and that they are four in 

 number, placed on the decayed pieces at the bottom of the hole ; 

 both sexes sit in turn. 



M. Levaillant met with it first in the forests, adjoining the 

 Gamtoos, as far as Caflre Land ; also in Camdeboo, but not towards 

 the Cape itself; he mentions one particular habit of this bird, which 



