. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. Tlie Cuckoo iis a well-known bird at the Cape of (Jootl Hope durin;;- the English winter, and specimens are in the national collection. It is much rarer on the west coast of Africa, but was shot by Covernor Ussher near Cape Coast Castle, evidently on migration. Tiie main route of the birds visiting the Cape in winter is, however, evidently down tlie Nile Valley and along the east coast to the Cape Colony and South Africa generally. A second line of migration extends to India, and it probably goes further, and has been found in tlie island
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. Tlie Cuckoo iis a well-known bird at the Cape of (Jootl Hope durin;;- the English winter, and specimens are in the national collection. It is much rarer on the west coast of Africa, but was shot by Covernor Ussher near Cape Coast Castle, evidently on migration. Tiie main route of the birds visiting the Cape in winter is, however, evidently down tlie Nile Valley and along the east coast to the Cape Colony and South Africa generally. A second line of migration extends to India, and it probably goes further, and has been found in tlie island of Celebes. In Asia, however, and Australia, there are several .species of Cuckoo, very like the English bird, but smaller and differing in voice, which have not been sufficiently studied to enable one to say whether they are actually distinct or not. The Cuckoo when adult is ashy-grey, with a white breast, barred across with narrow lines of greyish-black ; the tail is long, barred with white on the outer feathers, and spotted with white on the centre ones ; the bill is black, with a little yellow at the gape and at the base of the lower mandible ; the feet and the eye are yellow; the length of the bird is about thiiteen inches. The female is a trifle smaller, and has the chest slightly tinged with rufous. The young bird is quite different, being blackish, mottled with yellow and grey, and having a good deal of white ahout the hind neck. Rarely in England, but more often on the Continent, the Cuckoo is rod instead of grey, and this is called the "hepatic" phimage. It is found ahso in Owls, , and a few other birds, and exists in almost all the true Cuckoos. THE THIKD FAMILY OF THE ZYGODACTYLE PICARIAN BIRDS. THE HONEY GUIDES [Indicatoruht). These constitute a small family of Scansorial birds allied to the Cuckoos, and, like the latter, they are parasitic, and lay their eggs in other birds' nests. Eleven species are known, of which eight are peculiar to Afri
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecta, booksubjectanimals
