212 BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF GEELONG i 
The young Cuckoo (which, having ejected the 
other inmates soon after their hatching, using its ] 
shoulders as a lever, easily fills up all the space in a [ 
small nest) has a mottled plumage of black, buff, ] 
and v^hite, very different from the olive-brown upper ! 
surface and grey breast of the adult bird. This is 
easily the largest of our four Cuckoos, and should ) 
be recognisable by its note alone. 
FAN-TAILED CUCKOO | 
Cacomantis ruhricatus rubricattis ] 
This Cuckoo is smaller than the Pallid, and has ; 
two separate calls, one a trill of about five or six j 
slightly-varying notes repeated so quickly as to run ! 
into each other, the other a call (usually heard in 
damp weather) which sounds like " whit-wee," with : 
the stress on the last syllable, which is protracted. : 
I have records of the appearance of this species in i 
and about Geelong in every month from June to i 
February, and am convinced that many individuals • 
stay with us all the year round ; and that while of the 
majority there may be some movement northward in 
winter, it is irregular and cannot be compared with ; 
the settled seasonal migration of the Pallid Cuckoo. ■ 
Still, the birds are more plentiful in the spring \ 
months, and being then in full voice are more readily i 
noticed. In the Eastern Park in a normal year 1 
this species is commoner than the Pallid Cuckoo. j 
The mode of life of the two birds is similar, but this i 
i 
