129 
employed apply equally to our Eudynamis, even to the general words “ deep brown above with a chocolate gloss, all the feathers 
of the upper surface broadly edged with rufous.” 
The coincident existence of such a remarkable resemblance to a New-World form cannot of course be any protection to an 
inhabitant of New Zealand, and I do not pretend in this instance to apply the rule ; but in the light of natural selection, to 
which at present no limit can be assigned, the fact itself is a suggestive one, and sufficiently striking to call for special mention. 
I he illustration which accompanies this article, although it may have the appearance of an exaggera- 
tion, is in reality a true picture of bird-life. The Long-tailed Cuckoo, which is a native of the warm 
islands of the South Pacific, visits our country in the summer and breeds with us ; but the task of 
rearing its young (as many witnesses can testify) is entrusted to the Grey Warbler ( Gerygone 
flamventris), figured in our Plate— a species that performs the same friendly office for the Shining 
Cuckoo ( Clirysococcyx lucidus), another summer visitant. 
Drs. Finsch and Hartlaub, in their valuable work on the Birds of Central Polynesia, record the 
occurrence of this species in Samoa, as well as in the Friendly *, the Society, the Marquesas, and the 
Fiji groups of islands ; but although it migrates to New Zealand, there is no mention of its occurrence 
in any part of Australia or Tasmania. 
In the still summer’s evening when the landscape is wrapped in the gloom of faded twilight- 
when no sound meets the ear but the low musical song of the pihareinga cricket and the occasional 
hum of a Prionoplus on the wing — there comes from the thicket a long-drawn cry, shrill and clear • 
then a pause of five minutes or more, followed by another cry; and so on at intervals till long after 
the pihaieingas have ceased to chirp and the nocturnal beetles have folded their wings in sluggish 
lepose. This is the first intimation we get that the Long-tailed Cuckoo has come amongst us. 
It begins to arrive about the second week in October, but is not numerous till the following 
month, when the pairing commences. It is, however, somewhat irregularly dispersed over the 
country ; for in the far north it is at all times a very rare bird. In the southern portion of the North 
Island, and throughout the wooded parts of the South Island, it is comparatively common. It 
appears to be most plentiful in November and December, becoming scarcer in January and dis- 
appearing altogether by the end of February. I have a note, however, of its occurrence at Otaki (in 
the North Island) as late as the first week in April. 
Young birds are not unfrequently met with in the month of March or even later; but it seems 
probable that these are only solitary individuals hatched too late to permit of their joining in the 
return migration, and accordingly left to perish as the cold season advances ; and this is likewise the 
case with our Shining Cuckoo. As an illustration of this, I may mention that a young bird of this 
latter species, which had been picked up dead in a garden, was brought to me at the end of February 
(long after the old biiffis had quitted the country), and that I found it excessively fat, and the stomach 
crammed with caterpillars— strong presumptive evidence that the bird had not suffered from the 
neglect of its foster-parents, but had succumbed to the exigencies of its late birth. 
In the early dawn and during the cool hours of the morning, the Long-tailed Cuckoo resorts to 
the low underwood and brushes ; but although its cry may be frequently heard, it is not easy to find 
the bird, inasmuch as the sound, though produced within a few yards of the listener, has the effect 
on the ear of one coming from a remote distance. This species, in fact, appears, like some others of 
tne same family, to be endowed with a sort of natural ventriloquism, and its apparently far-off cry is 
often very deceptive. 
While searching for his food the Koheperoa moves about with much activity; but as soon as 
the sun is up he betakes himself to the top branches of a kahikatea or other lofty tree, where he 
remains closely concealed till sunset. He continues to utter, at intervals of ten or fifteen minutes, 
Dr. Einseh has identified a young male in the spotted dress in a collection of birds from the island of Eua. 
S 
