OXYLOPHUS GLANDARIUS. 
Great Spotted Cuckoo. 
Ciiculus glandarius, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 169. 
pisaniis, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 416. 
Andalusia, Briss. Orn., tom. iv. p. 126. 
macrourus, Brehm, Vdg. Deutsclil., p. 153. 
gracilis, Brehm, ib., p. 154. 
Coccyzus pisanms, Vieill. Ency. Meth., Orn., part iii. p. 1349. 
Coccysiis glandarius, Savi, Orn. Tosc., tom. i. p. 154. 
Oxylophus glandarius, Bonap. Geog. and Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 40. 
Coccystes glandarius. Keys, et Bias. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 34. 
It may seem an act of supererogation to include a figure and account of this curious Cuckoo in a work on 
the Birds of Great Britain, since its native country is Africa, whence it migrates to a limited extent in 
spring to Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Syria, and, after reproducing its kind (somewhat, but not precisely, after 
the manner of the Common Cuckoo), departs southward again to winter in a warmer climate ; but, anxious 
to render this woi'k as perfect as possible up to the time of its completion, I have followed the example of 
my late friends Thompson and Yarrell, and given it a place herein on the ground of an undoubted wild 
example having been captured in Ireland, and because I think it probable that others may have from time to 
time visited that country and even England, but have so far escaped detection, and that more may yet 
favour us with their presence during some unusual wandering. 
The following, with one or two verbal alterations, is Mr. Yarrell’s account of the above-mentioned 
example: — The Great Spotted Cuckoo was taken near Clifden, in the county of Galway, about Christmas 
1843, and is now in the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin. It was taken by two persons walking on the 
Island of Omagh, where, pursued by Hawks, it flew for refuge into a hole in a stone fence or wall, was 
captured alive, and lived for four days (attempts being made to feed it on potatoes). The inhabitants had 
never seen any bird like it before. When chased by the Hawks, it appeared fatigued, weak, and emaciated, 
as though it had taken a long flight — as Woodcocks and other birds of passage do on their first arrival. 
This fine bird has especially attracted the notice of every ornithological traveller who has visited the 
southern countries of Europe, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, and Palestine, many of whom have published 
interesting notices respecting its peculiar habits and manners ; and of these, not having myself had the 
advantage of observing the bird in a state of nature, I shall make a selection of the more important, with 
due acknowledgment. ' 
The first correct account of the reproduction of this Cuckoo was inserted by Dr. A. E. Brehm, in Cabanis’s 
‘Journal fiir Ornithologie,’ of which a translation by P. L. Sclater, Esq., appeared in the ‘ Zoologist’ for 
1853, from which the following is an extract : — “ It is well known to have hitherto been undecided whether 
Cuculus glandarius sits upon its own eggs or not. Even I, notwithstanding my somewhat lengthened sojourn 
in Africa, could for a long time learn nothing certain on the subject. I was well acquainted with the bird, 
its laughing Magpie-like cry and all its habits ; and I knew that it usually dwelt among the thick low mimosa- 
woods, in which it is to be seen, generally in battle with another of its own species, as it flies quick as an 
arrow through the thickest bushes. On the 5th of March, 1850, seven examples were collected near Siut, 
in Upper Egypt. Among them was a female with a fully developed egg in the oviduct. Unfortunately this 
was destroyed by the shot ; the broken fragments were bright green, with darker brown spots. On the •2nd 
of March, two years later, I attentively watched the motions of a Great Spotted Cuckoo in a garden near 
Thebes, and at last saw it slip into a large nest plaeed upon a rather low Salicarla tree. After rather more 
than a quarter of an hour, out it flew again and departed from the garden ; I climbed up to the nest and found 
it to belong to Cormis cornLv, and containing altogether six eggs. Among them I found two smaller ones 
belonging to some other bird, but nearly resembling those of the Crow in size and colour.” Having on 
comparison found these eggs to agree with the fragments of the one taken from the oviduct of the female 
above mentioned. Dr. Brehm says “ This discovery would have been quite sufficient to settle the question ; 
but on the 12th of March it was still further confirmed. In one of the village gardens, thickly planted with 
trees, my attention was attracted by the clear-sounding but harmonious cry of an old Cuckoo, ‘ Idek-kiek-kielc- 
kiek,’ when I obtained two old birds, and soon after found a young one also, which was being fed and 
provided for by Hooded Crows.” 
