MR. J. II. GURNEY ON THE ECONOMY OF THE CUCKOO. 383 
be half normal and half hepatic, inasmuch as it had a broad reddish- 
brown mark over the head and down the back, and two similar 
reddish marks on the wings. One of the brightest hepatic Cuckoos 
ever seen was shot in Norfolk fifty-three years ago (cf. Gurney, Zool. 
1S4G, p. 1315), and the cinnamon* colour is hardly faded at all; but 
another shot in May, 1877, was considered by Mr. Stevenson to be 
also of an exceptionally vivid red. There must be just a week or 
two when the new feathers are at their best, and the bird just 
arrived from Africa’s sunny climate has had no time to bleach 
their brilliancy. Such birds are very beautiful, and are the more 
appreciated, now that they are protected by the law, by collectors 
who have already got them. The idea that individual Cuckoos 
which have acquired the hepatic plumage always retain it is quite 
inconsistent with what science leads us to expect : as well might 
we suppose that hepatic Cuckoos are always fostered in some 
particular kind of nest. None of this variety were met with by 
my party in Egypt or Algeria, but I saw a good one last } T ear at 
Yevey in Switzerland, and they are not very uncommon on 
the Continent according to continental authors, especially 
Temminck, who met with a great many in Italian markets ; and 
Mr. Meade Waldo saw many on the Ionian Islands exposed for 
sale dead. 
As regards the bird’s ordinary plumage, the fourth edition of 
‘ Yarrell ’ says that there is no outward distinction of sex in 
Cuckoos, except it be that the female is commonly a little smaller, 
but she certainly very often shows a rufous tinge on the chest. 
One shot at Yarmouth, in May, 1882, had this rufous colour so 
unusually, having perhaps been a late hatched bird the year before, 
that it extended over the wings, the whole of the nape, and a part 
of the crown ; but its sex was not ascertained. Another got in 
Egypt on May 10th, 1895, is all in rufous brown plumage, except 
the low r er part of the back, which is slaty blue, but not at all 
bright. I once skinned a Cuckoo (but not in England) in which 
the upper side of the wings and most of the back were dull, mealy 
white, shot on September 20th, and apparently a bird of the year, 
with the usual white patch on the occiput. The whole subject has 
been recently treated by Messrs. J. E. Harting and F. Coburn 
(Zool. 1895, pp. 257, 321), the former of whom concludes that 
