coucal. 243 



is, the perching lengthwise on a branch, and not transversely.* The 

 note not unaptly expresses Courou-Courou cou, &c. &c. ; at day break 

 begins its song, continuing it the greater part of the morning, and 

 commences again an hour or two before sunset. 



This bird, M. Levaillant supposes, may be the Courou coucou of 

 Buffon, our Red-crested Cuckow;t to this we may fairly object, for 

 many reasons. Seba, indeed, calls it a Brazilian Cuckow — but it 

 does not appear to be a Cuckow at all, the bill being more like some 

 of the Parrot kind, or, at least, one of the thick-billed Grosbeaks. £ 

 The toes likewise are placed three before and one behind ; and as to 

 the colours of the plumage, it seems more to correspond with the 

 Cardinal Grosbeak; although it measures, in the figure, two inches 

 longer. 



A.— Coucou des Philippines, Ind. Orn. i. 213. Buf. vi. 369. PL enl. 824. 

 Egyptian Cuckow, Gen. Syn. ii. 523. 16. A. 



This is so like the last, that one description might serve, and is, 

 by BufTon, supposed to be a male bird. 



7— CHESTNUT COUCAL— Pl. liv. 



LENGTH sixteen or seventeen inches, of which the tail occupies 

 one half, and the wings, when closed, reach one-third thereon ; the 

 shape of the tail rounded, or moderately cuneiform. Bill one inch 

 and three quarters long, compressed, strong, and black, the upper 

 mandible bent downwards ; nostrils covered with a flat rim, 



* The European Goatsucker does the same. 



f Cuculus Brasiliensis, Ind. Orn. i. 222. Red-crested Cuckow, Gen. Syn. ii. 545. 

 X Seba merely says, " Rostrum breve, incurvum est, quale Pseudo Psittacorum. 



I i 2 



