PALLID CUCKOO. 
say that there is a vast difference between the sexes in adult plumage. . . . 
In August and September, 1911, while working over an extended piece of 
country on Eyre’s Peninsula, the Pallid Cuckoo was met with in numbers coming 
from the north . They were calling all day long in their monotonou s series of notes, 
like the running of the scale; in fact, when there was the slightest moonlight or 
bright starlight their call was often heard in the silent watches. Each day 
specimens were collected, and on being dissected were found to be males. Not 
one female bird was procured during the trip. When passing through the 
Gawler Ranges in August and September of 1912 we again came upon these 
birds travelling south in great numbers. The first five specimens were aU 
females, and there seemed to be more of that sex than males. . . . There were 
no young birds, and every female handled had well-developed ovaries, in many 
cases within a few hours of being laid. Every one of these females had the 
rusty-brown and grey-mottled plumage. All males were in their fuU plumage, 
and there was little or no variation in their coloration.” 
Thus confirming my original opinion as in the Austral Avian Record, 
January, 1912. 
The subspecies of this Cuckoo have not yet been accurately determined, 
chiefly through the idea that there could not be subspecies of migratory birds. 
These birds, however, perform movements which are not yet understood, but 
scarcely come under the peculiar meaning of migrations. Of course. Could was 
not troubled with such details, and wrote : “ The specimens of this bird from 
Western Australia are somewhat smaller, and have the white marks of the tail 
less distinct than specimens from Tasmania, but these differences are, in my 
opinion, too trivial to be regarded as other than mere local variations : but 
MM. Cabanis and Heine think otherwise, and have assigned to them the specific 
appellation of occidentalis.’’' 
Upon examining my collection for the preparation of my “ Reference List ” it 
was obvious that two races, even as Gould admitted, were recognisable, and 
therefore I allowed them, using, of course, trinomials for the purpose. I have 
since named the Tasmanian form, and it is now suggested, as it is agreed 
that only local movements take place, that many more will be separated. At 
the present time the Cuckoo is more or less resident in New South Wales, while 
Dove suggests the Tasmanian form might migrate to that locality. As it is now 
known that the North Victorian birds are separated by the mountains from 
those of the south, it is here proposed that the Tasmanian form does not 
cross the Ranges. Macgillivray points out that it did not occur at Cape York, 
while it was common in the Gulf country. Its movements in South Australia 
are somewhat peculiar, so that it probably does not cross Central Australia; 
and, moreover, the northern and southern parts of West Austraha may provide 
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