FAN-TAILED CUCKOO 213 
one has a habit of perching on low boughs close in 
to the trunk of a tree, while the Pallid Cuckoo rests 
more on tree-tops and fences and in exposed positions. 
I have only noted the eggs in the nests of small 
birds which build domed nests ; almost invariably 
the Sericornis is the chosen foster-parent. At Lake 
Connewarre, in 1888, I found an egg in the nest of 
the Blue Wren. This Cuckoo is a very early layer. 
On July 20 th, 1891, I found two Fan-tailed Cuckoo's 
eggs, which, to judge from their marked resemblance 
to each other, had been laid by the same bird, in 
separate nests of the Sericornis ; the nests were 
about a hundred yards apart. 
The Fan-tailed Cuckoo lives largely upon cater- 
pillars and insect-larvae. 
In flight it is slower than the Pallid Cuckoo, and 
rarely flies more than a few yards, nor is it mistrustful of 
the approach of a human being. 
The egg is purplish white in ground-colour, thickly 
freckled with reddish and brown spots, which form 
a ring slightly nearer the larger end. It is about 
the size of a Sparrow's egg. 
NARROW-BILLED BRONZE CUCKOO 
Neochalcites basalts mellori 
There are two small Cuckoos, neither much bigger 
than a Sparrow, but of longer, slenderer build, which 
are so much alike that I consider them impossible 
to distinguish from each other in the field. It is 
