Its food consists of insects, which it pursues with great noise and vigour among the trees. 
Its flight is straight, strong and rapid, never indulging in fancy evolutions on the wing. When not 
searching after food or engaged in noisy sport among the branches, its favourite resting point is on a 
high, commanding branch. 
The manner of reproduction is after the parasitic manner of most of the Cuckoos. The young, 
after being carefully tended in the nest, as soon as it is able to move for itself, takes it^ stand on some 
convenient branch and is still faithfully ministered to by the foster-parents till fully fledged. The egg is 
seven-eisrhths of an inch long bv five-eighths broad : it is cream-coloured and is speckled over thickly with 
brown markings. 
Specimens from widely-separated localities show varieties in the markings which have been held 
by some to warrant a specific distinction being made. 
Upper surfaces, dark grey, tinged with brown : under surfaces, grey : w ings and tail, darker : 
inner webs of the primaries, white : tail feathers, edged with white, which is broadest on the outer feathers 
and narrow on the inner. Down each feather runs a serrated marking of dark grey : irides, blown ; ring 
round the eye, yellow ; bill, dark at the tip, streaked with yellow at the base ; feet, brownish-yellow. 
The female has tin- upper surfaces lighter brown, and has the wing-coverts tipped witli light 
brown : the fainter markings of the tail are yellow. 
Habitats: Tasmania, southern colonies of Australia and Lower portions of Queensland. 
