Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS

THE CUCKOOS

Violet and Emerald Cuckoos

Passing over the little Plaintive Cuckoos (Cacomantis), the dozen species of which range from India to Australia and the Fiji Islands, and which are so called from their mournful whS-whew, whe-•whe-e-w, or some similar note, the allied Banded Bay Cuckoo (Penthoceryx sonnerati), which is alternately barred with rufous and blackish brown, brief mention may be made of the beautiful Violet and Emerald Cuckoos (Chalco-coccyx) of the Oriental and Australian regions, of which there are fifteen or eighteen species recognized, and in which the sexes are distinctly different in coloration and the females usually smaller in size.

They arc small birds, mostly between five and six and a half inches in length, the males exhibiting brilliant colors with a metallic luster. Thus in the Violet Cuckoo (C. xanthorhynchus) the male is glossy violet above with blackish brown wings, and alternately barred below with white and violet or green, while the female is greenish or coppery bronze above and alternately barred with bronze-green below; in the males the bill is orange-yellow and the iris red. They are silent birds, quiet in their movements, and frequent dense groves.

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