CUCKOOS. 
ii 
Ground-Cuckoos. 
nest is placed high on a tree, and is a loose, flat structure of twigs, the egg being- 
chalky white. In India and the Malayan countries there occurs an assemblage 
of genera of bush-cuckoos, of which the best known are the malkohas ( Rhopodytes ). 
These birds are met with in 
gardens, thin tree-jungles, 
and secondary scrub, being 
and having a marvellous 
capacity for making their 
way through dense cover. 
The notes of the malkohas r 
seem to vary considerably, 
being described as a “ cat¬ 
like chuckle ” in one species, 
in another as a “ hoarse 
chatter, much like that of a 
magpie,” while another of 
the malkohas has a “ cat-like 
mew.” These cuckoos build 
their own nests, and lay 
white eggs. 
Another 
subfamily 
(Neomorphince) is repre¬ 
sented by the four genera 
of ground - cuckoos, all of 
which are terrestrial birds 
with powerful feet for run¬ 
ning, and weak wings in which the secondary quills are 
as long as the primaries. In Borneo and Sumatra the 
pheasant-cuckoos ( Carpococcyx ) represent the group ; 
the species from the former island being two feet in 
length, with the aspect and ways of a game-bird. 
In South America the subfamily is represented by the 
genus Neomorphus, which extends from Northern 
Brazil to Guiana, Amazonia, and Ecuador, thence to 
Colombia and to Nicaragua. All the five species of 
this genus are extremely rare, and nothing is known of 
their habits. In all the genera above mentioned the 
bill is very stout, but there remain the two American 
genera Geococcyx and Morococcyx, in which it is 
longer; a familiar example of the former of these being 
the so-called road-runner ( Geococcyx mexicanus). In 
plumage this curious cuckoo has nothing striking to recommend it, being brown 
with rufous or white streaks; the under surface whitish; and a buff - coloured 
throat, which is also streaked with black. But if its coloration is somewhat 
sombre, it has some bright colour on the face, similar to that of the preceding 
GREEN-BILLED MALKOHA 
(| nat. size). 
