Cuculim;.— Cuckoos. 
HE genera of this extensive family are dispersed universally over the face of the globe, and many of the 
JL species are remarkable for their parasitic habits. As a family they are more numerous in the old world 
than in the new. In Asia, Africa, India, and Polynesia they are equally numerous, but while the genera 
are widely distributed, the species are limited in their range. All the Australian species with the exception of 
one, the genus Centropus, are parasitic, and deposit their eggs in the nests, leaving their young to be hatched 
and tended by other birds. 
