CUCU LUS OA N () R() I I) KS (Mulkr). 



AUSTHALIAX CUCKOO. Genus: Cuculus. 



rilHOSE who knov the common Cuckoo in England will readily recognise this variety as its Australian 

 * representative. It is very like it in every particular, excepting that the true note so well known 

 at home is wanting. 



The eggs are deposited precisely after the manner of the European Cuckoo, being laid in the 

 nests <>l other birds, which, obeying a strange law. hatch and nourish the young intruder. The 

 foster-mother is even frequently known to show more care for it than for her own progeny. The 

 Cuckoo always grows up vigorous and most exacting. He demands a full share of whatever food is 

 brought to the nest, and gets it. Not only that -the Cuckoo is frequently the most powerful of the 

 family, and makes himself so thoroughly at home that his weaker brethren often suffer thereby, being 

 frequently thrown out by him before they are able to shift for themselves, and all this without any 

 intervention on the part of the owner of the nest. 



The adult birds are ravenous feeders, and this fact, coupled with their fierce appearance, gives 

 them th<' aii- of Hawks. They never prey on other birds, however, their food consisting mainly of 

 insect> ami larva-. 



Upper surfaces, slaty -grey ; inner webs of the primaries, white: tail feathers, dark grey-brown, 

 speckled with white on the inner webs anil tipped with a lighter shade of grey ; throat, grey ; all the 

 under surfaces dark buff-colour, with curved markings of black : bill, almost black, bordered with yellow 

 round the base ; irides and feet, deep yellow. 



Length, I •"! inches: bill. 1} inch: wing, 7| inches: tail, (>£ inches: tarsi, | inch. 



Habitats: Northern inland portions of Australia generally. 



GENUS CACO MANTIS (Muller). 



FOUR examples of this genus inhabit principally the more southern parts of Australia ; all are 

 parasitic in their habits. 



CAC0MANT1S PALLIDUS. 



PALLID CUCKOO. Genus: Cacomantis. 



rill IIS bird i> common over most of the southern parts of Australia. It is met with in Tasmania, 

 J- but much more seldom, and only in the early part of summer, after which time it migrates thence 

 to Australia. During the winter months many of the birds move northward. It is a noisy bird, gay. 

 and often quarrelsome, and continually makes its whereabouts known, even if not visible itself, by its cry, 

 which is a succession of ringing notes on a rising scale, finishing up with several repetitions 

 of the final note. 



