GEEAT SPOTTED CUCKOO. 



OXYLOPHUS GLANDARIUS {Linn.). 



Cuculus glaiidarius, Linn. S. N. i. p. 169 (1766) ; Naum. v. 

 p. 237. 



Coccystes glandarius, Yarr. ed. 4, ii. p. 408 ; Dresser, v. 

 p. 219. 



Coucou-geai, Coucou tachete, French ; Eichel - heher , 

 German ; Cuco real, Spanish. 



Two instances only of the occurrence of this species 

 in our Islands are on record : the first of these was 

 taken alive off the coast of Connemara in 1842, and is, 

 according to Mr, Saunders (' Manual of British Birds,' 

 p. 279), still preserved in the Museum of Trinity 

 College, Dublin; the same authority [loc. supra cit.) 

 informs us that a second was shot near Bellingham, 

 Northumberland, on August 5th, 1870, and is now in 

 the Newcastle Museum. This Cuckoo is by no means 

 a common bird in any part of Europe as politically 

 defined, with the exception of Spain and Portugal ; in 

 certain districts of the former country it was, in my 

 experience, abundant as a summer visitor, and as I only 

 once saw the bird at large elsewhere, the following 

 notes, from personal acquaintance, refer exclusively to 

 Spain. The Spotted Cuckoo is extremely local in its 



