| 70th | Top animal sounds |
| Cuckoos | |
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| Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Cuculiformes |
| Family: | Cuculidae Vigors, 1825 |
| Genera | |
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Around 26, see text. |
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The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos (family Musophagidae, sometimes treated as a separate order, Musophagiformes). Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute. The cuckoo family, in addition to those species named as such, also includes the roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families, the Centropodidae and Crotophagidae respectively.
The cuckoos are generally medium sized slender birds. The majority are arboreal, with a sizeable minority that are terrestrial. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the majority of species being tropical. The temperate species are migratory. The cuckoos feed on insects, insect larvae and a variety of other animals, as well as fruit. Many species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species, but the majority of species raise their own young.
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Cuckoos are medium sized birds that range in size from the Little Bronze Cuckoo, at 17 g and 15 cm (6 inches), to the Channel-billed Cuckoo, at 630 g (1.4 lbs) and 63 cm (25 inches).[1] There is generally little sexual dimorphism in size, but where it exists, it can be either the male or the female that is larger. One of the most important distinguishing features of the family are the feet, which are zygodactyl, meaning that the two inner toes pointed forward and the two outer backward. There are two basic body forms, arboreal species (like the Common Cuckoo) which are slender and have short tarsi, and terrestrial species (like the roadrunners) which are more heavy set and have long tarsi. Almost all species have long tails which are used for steering in terrestrial species and as a rudder during flight in the arboreal species. The wing shape also varies with lifestyle, with the more migratory species like the Black-billed Cuckoo possessing long narrow wings capable of strong direct flight, and the more terrestrial and sedentary cuckoos like the coucals and malkohas having shorter rounded wings and a more laboured gliding flight.
The subfamily Cuculinae are the brood-parasitic cuckoos of the Old World.[1] They tend to conform to the classic shape, with (usually) long tails, short legs, long narrow wings and an arboreal lifestyle. The largest species, the Channel-billed Cuckoo, also has the most outsized bill in the family, resembling that of a hornbill. The subfamily Phaenicophaeinae are the non-parasitic cuckoos of the Old World, and include the couas, malkohas, and ground-cuckoos. They are more terrestrial cuckoos, with strong and often long legs and short rounded wings. The subfamily typically has brighter plumage and brightly coloured bare skin around the eye. The coucals are another terrestrial subfamily of long tailed long legged and short winged cuckoos. They are large heavyset birds with the largest, the Greater Black Coucal, being around the same size as the Channel-billed Cuckoo. The subfamily Coccyzinae are arboreal and long tailed as well, with a number of large insular forms. The New World ground-cuckoos are similar to the Asian ground-cuckoos in being long legged and terrestrial, and includes the long billed roadrunner, which can reach speeds of 30 km/h when chasing prey. The final subfamily are the atypical anis, which include the small clumsy anis and the larger Guira Cuckoo. The anis have massive bills and smooth glossy feathers.
The feathers of the cuckoos are generally soft, and often become waterlogged in heavy rain. Cuckoos will often sun themselves after rain, and the anis will hold their wings open in the manner of a vulture or cormorant while drying. There is considerable variation in the plumage exhibited by the family. Some species, particularly the brood parasites have cryptic plumage, whereas others have bright and elaborate plumage. This is particularly true of the Chrysococcyx or glossy cuckoos, which have iridescent plumage. Some cuckoos have a resemblance to hawks with barring on the underside, this apparently alarms potential hosts which allows the female to access a host nest .[2] The young of some brood parasites are coloured so as to resemble the young of the host. For example, the Asian Koels breeding in India have black offspring to resemble their crow hosts, whereas in the Australian Koels the chicks are brown like the honeyeater hosts. Sexual dimorphism in plumage is uncommon in the cuckoos, being most common in the parasitic Old World species.
Cuckoo genera differ in the number of primary wing feathers as below.
The cuckoos have a cosmopolitan distribution, ranging across all the world's continents except Antarctica. They are absent from the south west of South America, the far north and north west of North America, and the driest areas of the Middle East and North Africa (although they occur there as passage migrants). They generally only occur as vagrants in the oceanic islands of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but one species breeds on a number of Pacific islands and another is a winter migrant across much of the Pacific.[3]
The Cuculinae is the most widespread subfamily of cuckoos, and is distributed across Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Oceania. Amongst the Phaenicophaeinae cuckoos the malkohas and Asian ground-cuckoos are restricted to southern Asia, the couas are endemic to Madagascar and the Yellowbill widespread across Africa. The coucals are distributed from Africa through tropical Asia down into Australia and the Solomon Islands. The remaining three subfamilies have a New World distribution, all three are found in both North and South America. The Coccyzinae reaches the furthest north of the three subfamilies, breeding in Canada, whereas the anis reach as far north as Florida and the typical ground-cuckoos the south west United States.
For the cuckoos suitable habitat provides a source of food (principally insects and especially caterpillars) and a place to breed, for brood parasites the need is for suitable habitat for the host species. Cuckoos occur in a wide variety of habitats. The majority of species occur in forests and woodland, principally in the evergreen rainforests of the tropics. Some species inhabit or are even restricted to mangrove forests, these include the Little Bronze-cuckoo of Australia, some malkohas, coucals, and the aptly named mangrove Cuckoo of the New World. In addition to forests come species of cuckoo occupy more open environments, this can include even arid areas like deserts in the case of the Greater Roadrunner or the Pallid Cuckoo. Temperate migratory species like the Common Cuckoo inhabit a wide range of habitats in order to make maximum use of the potential brood hosts, from reed beds (where they parasitise Reed Warblers), to treeless moors (where they parasitise Meadow Pipits).
Most species of cuckoo are sedentary, but several species of cuckoo undertake regular seasonal migrations, and several more undertake partial migrations over part of their range. The migration may be Diurnal, as in the Channel-billed Cuckoo, or nocturnal, as in the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. For species breeding at higher latitudes food availability dictates that they migrate to warmer climates during the winter, and all do so. The Long-tailed Koel which breeds in New Zealand flies migrates to its wintering grounds in Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, a feat described as "perhaps the most remarkable overwater migration of any land bird";[4] and the Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Black-billed Cuckoo breed in North America and fly across the Caribbean Sea, a non-stop flight of 4000 km. Other long migration flights include the Lesser Cuckoo, which flies from India to Kenya across the Indian Ocean (3000 km) and the Common Cuckoos of Europe which fly non-stop over the Mediterranean Sea and Sahara Desert on their voyage to southern Africa. Within Africa 10 species make regular intra-continental migrations that are described as polarised, that is they spend the non-breeding season in the tropical centre of the continent and move north and south to breed in the more arid and open savannah and deserts.[5] This contrasts with the situation in the Neotropics, where no species have this migration pattern, or tropical Asia, where a single species does. 83% of the Australian species are partial migrants within Australia or travel to New Guinea and Indonesia after the breeding season.[6]
The cuckoos are for the most part solitary birds that seldom occur in pairs or groups. The biggest exception to this are the anis of the Americas which have evolved cooperative breeding and other social behaviours. For the most part the cuckoos are also diurnal as opposed to nocturnal, but many species will call at night (see below). The cuckoos are also generally a shy and retiring family, more often heard than seen. The exception to this are again the anis, which are often extremely confiding towards humans and other species.
Most cuckoos are insectivorous; and in particular are specialised in eating larger insects and caterpillars, including noxious hairy types avoided by other birds. They are unusual amongst birds in processing their prey prior to swallowing, rubbing it back and forth on hard objects such as branches and then crushing it with special bony plates in the back of the mouth.[7] They will also take a wide range of other insects and animal prey. The lizard-cuckoos of the Caribbean have, in the relative absence of birds of prey, specialised in taking lizards. Larger, ground types such as coucals and roadrunners also feed variously on snakes, lizards, small rodents, and other birds, which they bludgeon with their strong bills. Ground species may employ different techniques to catch prey. A study of two coua species in Madagascar found that the Coquerel's Coua obtained prey by walking and gleaning on the forest floor, whereas the Red-capped Coua ran and pounced on prey. Both species also showed seasonal flexibility in prey and foraging techniques.[8] The parasitic cuckoos are generally not recorded as participating in mixed-species feeding flocks, although some studies in eastern Australia found several species would participate in the non-breeding season, but were mobbed and unable to do so in the breeding season.[9] Ground-cuckoos of the genus Neomorphus are sometimes seen feeding in association with army ant swarms, although they are not obligate ant-followers as are some antbirds.[10] The anis are ground feeders that follow cattle and other large mammals when foraging; in a similar fashion to Cattle Egrets they snatch prey flushed by the cattle and enjoy higher foraging success rates in this way.[11]
Several koels, couas and the Channel-billed Cuckoo feed mainly on fruit,[12] but they are not exclusively frugivores. The parasitic koels and Channel-billed Cuckoo in particular consume mainly fruit when raised by frugivore hosts such as the Australasian Figbird and Pied Currawong. Other species will occasionally take fruit as well. Couas consume fruit in the dry season when prey is harder to find.[8]
The cuckoos are an extremely diverse group of birds with regards to breeding systems.[1] The majority of species are monogamous, but there are exceptions. The anis and the Guira Cuckoo lay their eggs in communal nests, although this behaviour is not completely cooperative; a female may remove others' eggs when laying hers.[13] Polyandry has been confirmed in the African Black Coucal and is suspected to occur in the other coucals, perhaps explaining the reversed sexual dimorphism in the group.[14] The majority of cuckoo species, including malkohas, couas, coucals, and roadrunners and most other American cuckoos, build their own nests, although a large minority engage in brood parasitism (see below). Most of these species nest in trees or bushes, but the coucals lay their eggs in nests on the ground or in low shrubs. Though on some occasions non-parasitic cuckoos parasitize other species, the parent still helps feed the chick.
Non-parasitic cuckoos, like most other non-passerines, lay white eggs, but many of the parasitic species lay coloured eggs to match those of their passerine hosts.
The young of all species are altricial. Non-parasitic cuckoos leave the nest before they can fly, and some New World species have the shortest incubation periods among birds.[13]
About 56 of the Old World species and 3 of the New World species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds.[13] These species are obligate brood parasites, meaning that they only reproduce in this fashion. This behavior has led to the entry of the term cuckold into the English language, which describes a man with an unfaithful wife. In addition to the above noted species, yet others sometimes engage in non-obligate brood parasitism, laying their eggs in the nests of members of their own species in addition to raising their own young. The best-known example is the European Common Cuckoo. The shells of the eggs of brood-parasites is usually thick.[15] They have two distinct layers with an outer chalky layer that is believed to provide resistance to cracking when the eggs are dropped in the host nest.[16] The cuckoo egg hatches earlier than the host's, and the cuckoo chick grows faster; in most cases the chick evicts the eggs or young of the host species. The chick has no time to learn this behavior, so it must be an instinct passed on genetically. The chick encourages the host to keep pace with its high growth rate with its rapid begging call [17] and the chick's open mouth which serves as a sign stimulus [18].
Female parasitic cuckoos specialize and lay eggs that closely resemble the eggs of their chosen host. This has been produced by natural selection, as some birds are able to distinguish cuckoo eggs from their own, leading to those eggs least like the host's being thrown out of the nest.[18] Host species may engage in more direct action to prevent cuckoos laying eggs in their nest in the first place - birds whose nests are at high risk of cuckoo-contamination are known to mob cuckoos to drive them out of the area.[19] Parasitic cuckoos are grouped into gentes, with each gens specializing in a particular host. There is some evidence that the gentes are genetically different from one another. Host specificity is enhanced by the need to imitate the eggs of the host.
Cuckoos are often highly secretive and in many cases best known for their wide repertoire of calls. Calls are usually relatively simple, resembling whistles, flutes, or hiccups.[20] The calls are used in order to demonstrate ownership of a territory and to attract a mate. Within a species the calls are remarkably consistent across the range, even in species with very large ranges. This suggests, along with the fact that many species are not raised by their true parents, that the calls of cuckoos are innate and not learnt. Although cuckoos are diurnal, many species call at night.[13] The cuckoo family gets its English and scientific names from the call of the Common Cuckoo, which is also familiar from cuckoo clocks. Some of the names of other species and genera are also derived from their calls, for example the koels of Asia and Australasia. In most cuckoos the calls are distinctive to particular species, and are useful for identification. Several cryptic species are best identified on the basis of their calls.
FAMILY CUCULIDAE
CUCKOO, or Cucxow, as the word was formerly spelt, the common name of a well-known and often-heard bird, the Cuculus canorus of Linnaeus. In some parts of the United Kingdom it is more frequently called gowk, and it is the Gr. xoxrcu , the Ital. cuculo or cucco, the Fr. coucou, the Ger. Kuckuk, the Dutch koekkoek, the Dan. kukker or gjOg, and the Swed. gOk. The oldest English spelling of the name seems to have been cuccu.
No single bird has perhaps so much occupied the attention both of naturalists and of those who are not naturalists, or has had so much written about it., as the common cuckoo, and of no bird perhaps have more idle tales been told. Its strange and, according to the experience of most people, its singular habit of entrusting its offspring to foster-parents is enough to account for much of the interest which has been so long felt in its history; but this habit is shared probably by many of its Old World relatives, as well as in the New World by birds which are not in any degree related to it. The cuckoo is a summer visitant to the whole of Europe, reaching even far within the Arctic circle, and crossing the Mediterranean from its winter quarters in Africa at the end of March or beginning of April. Its arrival is at once proclaimed by the peculiar and in nearly all languages onomatopoeic cry of the cock - a true song in the technical sense of the word, since it is confined to the male sex and to the season of love. In a few days the cock is followed by the hen, and amorous contests between keen and loud-voiced suitors are to be commonly noticed, until the respective pretensions of the rivals are decided. Even by night they are not silent; but as the season advances the song is less frequently heard, and the cuckoo seems rather to avoid observation as much as possible, the more so since whenever it shows itself it is a signal for all the small birds of the neighbourhood to be up in its pursuit, just as though it were a hawk, to which indeed its mode of flight and general appearance give it an undoubted resemblance - a resemblance that misleads some into confounding it with the birds of prey, instead of recognizing it as a harmless if not a beneficial destroyer of hairy caterpillars. Thus pass away some weeks. Towards the middle or end of June its "plain-song" cry alters; it becomes rather hoarser in tone, and its first syllable or note is doubled. Soon after it is no longer heard at all, and by the middle of July an old cuckoo is seldom to be found in the British Islands, though a stray example, or even, but very rarely, two or three in company, may occasionally be seen for a month longer. Of its breeding comparatively few have any personal experience. Yet a diligent search for and peering into the nests of several of the commonest little birds - more especially the pied wagtail (Motacilla lugubris), the titlark(A nthuspratensis), the reed-wren (Acrocephalus streperus), and the hedge-sparrow (Accentor modularis) - will be rewarded by the discovery of the egg of the mysterious stranger which has been surreptitiously introduced, and those who wait till this egg is hatched may be witnesses (as was Edward Jenner in the 18th century) of the murderous eviction of the rightful tenants of the nest by the intruder, who, hoisting them one after another on his broad back, heaves them over to die neglected by their own parents, of whose solicitous care he thus becomes the only object. In this manner he thrives, and, so long as he remains in the country of his birth his wants are anxiously supplied by the victims of his mother's dupery. The actions of his foster-parents become, when he is full grown, almost ludicrous, for they often have to perch between his shoulders to place in his gaping mouth the delicate morsels he is too indolent or too stupid to take from their bills. Early in September he begins to shift for himself, and then follows the seniors of his kin to more southern climes.
So much caution is used by the hen cuckoo in choosing a nest in which to deposit her egg that the act of insertion has been but seldom witnessed. The nest selected is moreover often so situated, or so built, that it would be an absolute impossibility for a bird of her size to lay her egg therein by sitting upon the fabric as birds commonly do; and there have been a few fortunate observers who have actually seen the deposition of the egg upon the ground by the cuckoo, who, then taking it in her bill, introduces it into the nest. Of these, the earliest in Great Britain seem to have been two Scottish lads, sons of Mr Tripeny, a farmer in Coxmuir, who, as recorded by Macgillivray (Brit. Birds, iii. 130, 131) from information communicated to him by Mr Durham Weir, saw most part of the operation performed, June 24, 1838. But perhaps the most satisfactory evidence on the point is that of Adolf Muller, a forester at Gladenbach in Darmstadt, who says (Zoolog. Garten, 1866, pp. 374, 375) that through a telescope he watched a cuckoo as she laid her egg on a bank, and then conveyed the egg in her bill to a wagtail's nest. Cuckoos, too, have been not unfrequently shot as they were carrying a cuckoo's egg, presumably their own, in their bill, and this has probably given rise to the vulgar, but seemingly groundless, belief that they suck the eggs of other kinds of birds. More than this, Mr G. D. Rowley, who had much experience of cuckoos, declares (Ibis, 1865, p. 186) his opinion to be that traces of violence and of a scuffle between the intruder and the owners of the nest at the time of introducing the egg often appear, whence we are led to suppose that the cuckoo ordinarily, when inserting her egg, excites the fury (already stimulated by her hawk-like appearance) of the owners of the nest by turning out one or more of the eggs that may be already laid therein, and thus induces the dupe to brood all the more readily and more strongly what is left to her. Of the assertion that the cuckoo herself takes any interest in the future welfare of the egg she has foisted on her victim, or of its product, there is no good evidence.
But a much more curious assertion has also been made, and one that at first sight appears so incomprehensible as to cause little surprise at the neglect it long encountered. To this currency was first given by Salerne (L'Hist. nat. &c., Paris, 1767, p. 42), who was, however, hardly a believer in it, and it is to the effect, as he was told by an inhabitant of Sologne, that the egg of a cuckoo resembles in colour that of the eggs normally laid by the kind of bird in whose nest it is placed. In 1853 the same notion was prominently and independently brought forward by Dr A. C. E. Baldamus (Naumannia, 18 53, pp. 3 0 7-3 2 5), and in time became known to English ornithologists, most of whom were naturally sceptical as to its truth, since no likeness whatever is ordinarily apparent in the very familiar case of the blue-green egg of the hedge-sparrow and that of the cuckoo, which is so often found beside it.' Dr Baldamus based his notion on a' series of eggs in his cabinet, 2 a selection from which he figured in illustration of his paper, and, however the thing may be accounted for, it seems impossible to resist, save on one supposition, the force of the testimony these specimens afford. This one supposition is that the eggs have been wrongly ascribed to the cuckoo, and that they are only exceptionally large examples of the eggs of the birds in the nests of which they were found, for it cannot be gainsaid that some such abnormal examples are occasionally to be met with. But it is well known that abnormally large eggs are not only often deficient in depth of colour, but still more often in stoutness of shell. Applying these rough criteria to Dr Baldamus's series, most of the specimens stood the test very well.
There are some other considerations to be urged. For instance, Herr Braune, a forester at Greiz in the principality of Reuss (Naumannia, tom. cit. pp. 307, 313), shot a hen cuckoo as she was leaving the nest of an icterine warbler (Hypolais icterina). In the oviduct of this cuckoo he found an egg coloured very like that of the warbler, and on looking into the nest he found there an exactly similar egg, which there can be no reasonable doubt had just been laid by that very cuckoo. Moreover, Herr Grunack (Journ. fiir Orn., 18 73, p. 454) afterwards found one of the most abnormally coloured specimens, quite unlike the ordinary egg of the cuckoo, to contain an embryo so fully formed as to show the characteristic zygodactyl feet of the bird, thus proving unquestionably its parentage.
On the other hand, we must bear in mind the numerous instances in which not the least similarity can be traced - as in the not uncommon case of the hedge-sparrow already mentioned, and if we attempt any explanatory hypothesis it must be one that will fit all round. Such an explanation seems to be this. We know that certain kinds of birds resent interference with their nests much less than others, and among them it may be asserted that the hedge-sparrow will patiently submit to various experiments. She will brood with complacency the egg of a redbreast (Erithacus rubecula), so unlike her own, and for aught we know to the contrary may even be colour-blind. In the case 1 An instance to the contrary has been recorded by Mr A. C. Smith (Zoologist, 18 73, p. 35 16) on Mr Brine's authority.
2 This series was seen in 1861 by the writer.
of such a species there would be no need of anything further to ensure success - the terror of the nest-owner at seeing her home invaded by a hawk-like giant, and some of her treasures tossed out, would be enough to stir her motherly feelings so deeply that she would without misgiving, if not with joy that something had been spared to her, resume the duty of incubation so soon as the danger was past. But with other species it may be, and doubtless is, different. Here assimilation of the introduced egg to those of the rightful owner may be necessary, for there can hardly be a doubt as to the truth of Dr Baldamus's theory as to the object of the assimilation being to renkr the cuckoo's egg "less easily recognized by the foster-parents as a substituted one." It is especially desirable to point out that there is not the slightest ground for imagining that the cuckoo, or any other bird, can voluntarily influence the colour of the egg she is about to lay. Over that she can have no control, but its destination she can determine. It would seem also impossible that a cuckoo, having laid an egg, should look at it, and then decide from its appearance in what bird's nest she should put it. That the colour of an egg-shell can be in some mysterious way affected by the action of external objects on the perceptive faculties of the mother is a notion too wild to be seriously entertained. Consequently, only one explanation of the facts can here be suggested. Every one who has sufficiently studied the habits of animals will admit the influence of heredity. That there is a reasonable probability of each cuckoo most commonly putting her eggs in the nest of the same species of bird, and of this habit being transmitted to her posterity, does not seem to be a very violent supposition. Without attributing any wonderful sagacity to her, it does not seem unlikely that the cuckoo which had once successfully foisted her egg on a reed-wren or a titlark should again seek for another reed-wren's or another titlark's nest (as the case may be), when she had another egg to dispose of, and that she should continue her practice from one season to another. It stands on record (Zoologist, 1873, p. 3648) that a pair of wagtails built their nest for eight or nine years running in almost exactly the same spot, and that in each of those years they fostered a young cuckoo, while many other cases of like kind, though not perhaps established on so good authority, are believed to have happened. Such a habit could hardly fail to become hereditary, so that the daughter of a cuckoo which always put her egg into a reed-wren's, titlark's or wagtail's nest would do as did her mother. Furthermore it is unquestionable that, whatever variation there may be among the eggs laid by different individuals of the same species, there is a strong family likeness between the eggs laid by the same individual, even at the interval of many years, and it can hardly be questioned that the eggs of the daughter would more or less resemble those of her mother. Hence the supposition may be fairly credited that the habit of laying a particular style of egg is also likely to become hereditary. Combining this supposition with that as to the cuckoo's habit of using the nest of the same species becoming hereditary, it will be seen that it requires only an application of the principle of natural selection to show the probability of this principle operating in the course of time to produce the facts asserted by the anonymous Solognot of the 8th century, and by Dr Baldamus and others since. The particular gens of cuckoo which inherited and transmitted the habit of depositing in the nest of any particular species of bird eggs having more or less resemblance to the eggs of that species would prosper most in those members of the gens where the likeness was strongest, and the other members would (ceteris paribus) in time be eliminated. As already shown, it is not to be supposed that all species, or even all individuals of a species, are duped with equal ease. The operation of this kind of natural selection would be most needed in those cases where the species are not easily duped - that is, in those cases which occur the least frequently. Here it is we find it, for observation shows that eggs of the cuckoo deposited in nests of the red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio), of the bunting (Emberiza miliaria), and of the icterinewarbler approximate in their colouring to eggs of those species - species in whose nests the cuckoo rarely (in comparison with others) deposits eggs.
Of species which are more easily duped, such as the hedgesparrow, mention has already been made.
More or less nearly allied to the British cuckoo are many other forms of the genus from various parts of Africa, Asia and their islands, while one even reaches Australia. In some cases the chief difference is said to lie in the diversity of voice - a character only to be appreciated by those acquainted with the living birds, and though of course some regard should be paid to this distinction, the possibility of birds using different "dialects" according to the locality they inhabit must make it a slender specific diagnostic. All these forms are believed to have essentially the same habits as the British cuckoo, and, as regards parasitism the same is to be said of the large cuckoo of southern Europe and North Africa (Coccystes glandarius), which victimizes pies (Pica mauritanica and Cyanopica cooki) and crows (Corvus cornix). True it is that an instance of this species, commonly known as the great spotted cuckoo, having built a nest and hatched its young, is on record, but the later observations of others tend to cast doubt on the credibility of the ancient report. It is worthy of remark that the eggs of this bird so closely resemble those of one of the pies in whose nest they have been found, that even expert zoologists have been deceived by them, only to discover the truth when the cuckoo's embryo had been extracted from the supposed pie's egg. This species of cuckoo, easily distinguishable by its large size and long crest, has more than once made its appearance as a straggler in the British Isles. Equally parasitic are many other cuckoos, belonging chiefly to genera which have been more or less clearly defined as Cacomantis, Chrysococcyx, Eudynamis, Oxylophus, Polyphasia and Surniculus, and inhabiting parts of the Ethiopian, Indian and Australian regions;' but there are certain aberrant forms of Old World cuckoos which unquestionably do not shirk parental responsibilities. Among these especially are the birds placed in or allied to the genera Centro pus and Coua - the former having a wide distribution from Egypt to New South Wales, living much on the ground and commonly called lark-heeled cuckoos; the latter bearing no English name, and limited to the island of Madagascar. These build a nest, not perhaps in a highly finished style of architecture, but one that serves its end.
Respecting the cuckoos of America, the evidence, though it has been impugned, is certainly enough to clear them from the charge which attaches to so many of their brethren of the Old World. There are two species very well known in parts of the United States and some of the West Indian Islands (Coccyzus americanus and C. erythrophthalmus), and each of them has occasionally visited Europe. They both build nests - remarkably small structures when compared with those of other birds of their size - and faithfully incubate their delicate sea-green eggs. In the south-western states of the Union and thence into Central America is found another curious form of cuckoo (Geococcyx)- the chaparral-cock of northern an .d paisano of southern settlers. The first of these names it takes from the low brushwood (chaparral) in which it chiefly dwells, and the second is said to be due to its pheasant-like (Pisan corrupted into paisano, properly a countryman) appearance as it runs on the ground. Indeed, one of the two species of the genus was formerly described as a Phasianus. They both have short wings, and seem never to fly, but run with great rapidity. Returning to arboreal forms, the genera Neomorphus, Diplopterus, Saurothera and Piaya (the last two commonly called rain-birds, from the belief that their cry portends rain) may be noticed - all of them belonging to the Neotropical region; but perhaps the most curious form of American cuckoos is the ani (Crotophaga), of which three species inhabit the same region. The best-known species (C. ani) is fond throughout the Antilles and on the opposite continent. In most of the British colonies it is known as the black witch, and is accused of various malpractices - it being, in truth, a perfectly harmless if not a beneficial bird. As regards its propagation this aberrant form of cuckoo departs in one direction 1 Evidence tends to show that the same is to be said of the curious channel-bill (Scythrops novae-hollandiae), though absolute proof seems to be wanting.
from the normal habit of birds, for several females, unite to lay their eggs in one nest. It is evident that incubation is carried on socially, since an intruder on approaching the rude nest will disturb perhaps half a dozen of its sable proprietors, who, loudly complaining, seek safety either in the leafy branches of the tree that holds it, or in the nearest available covert, with all the speed that their feeble powers of flight permit. (A. N.)
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Categories: CRO-CUN
(Heb. shahaph), from a root meaning "to be lean; slender."
This bird is mentioned only in Lev 11:16 and Deut 14:15 (R.V., "seamew"). Some have interpreted the Hebrew word by "petrel" or "shearwater" (Puffinus cinereus), which is found on the coast of Syria; others think it denotes the "sea-gull" or "seamew." The common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) feeds on reptiles and large insects. It is found in Asia and Africa as well as in Europe. It only passes the winter in Palestine. The Arabs suppose it to utter the cry Yakub, and hence they call it tir el-Yakub; i.e., "Jacob's bird."
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| Cuculus canoris: the colour difference between the female (reddish) and the males (greyish) is exaggerated here. | |||||||||||
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The Cuckoos are a family of near-passerine birds. They are the main part of the order called Cuculiformes.
Many of them have a unique kind of parastism called brood parastism. This means it lays its eggs in the nests of other kinds of birds, who then rear the baby cuckoo instead of their own.
Cuculus canorus, the most common species, is a well known bird in many parts of the world. The cuckoo gets its names because the male Common Cuckoo sings two notes which sound like the word “cu – ckoo”. The female does not make this sound. She has a loud bubbling call.
The cuckoo is a Spring migrant to many parts of Europe and Asia. It spends the winters in Africa. The cuckoo only stays in its summer location for about 10 weeks. In Britain, for example, it will arrive around the end of April and the adults may be returning to Africa by the end of June or early July.
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The Common cuckoo (usually just called “cuckoo” in countries where it lives) is a greyish bird with a slender body, long tail and strong legs. It looks a little bit like a small bird of prey when it flies. The male is dark grey above with a blackish brown tail, spotted and tipped with white and unevenly barred in black. The female is similar but a bit more reddish on the upper breast. It likes to eat hairy caterpillars. It is often found where woods border on to open land.
The Common cuckoo does not make a nest of its own, and they do not bring up their own young. Instead, the female lays her eggs in the nests of other birds. Each female cuckoo specialises in just one host species, and lays camouflaged eggs in that bird's nest. For example, a cuckoo which lays its eggs in reed warbler nests will lay eggs that look like those of a reed warbler.[1]
The female cuckoo spends a lot of time watching the birds at the nest where she wants to lay an egg. She has to work out the exact time to go and lay her egg while the 'host' parents are not looking. If the cuckoo lays her egg in the nest before the other bird lays, the reed warbler will notice and knows it is not her egg, and so she will get rid of it. If the cuckoo lays her egg too late, when the reed warbler has finished laying, this will be noticed, too.
When the female cuckoo thinks it is the right moment she will fly down to the reed warblers' nest, pushes one reed warbler egg out of the nest, lays her egg and flies off. This only takes about 10 seconds. The reed warbler does not notice, and carries on looking after the eggs. When the cuckoo chick hatches it soon grows very fast. It pushes the other eggs or reed warbler chicks out of the nest. At 14 days old, it is about 3 times the size of the adult reed warblers. The chick has a huge mouth which it opens very wide. It also makes a very fast “cheeping” sound which sounds like a nest full of reed warbler chicks. This makes the parents behave as if they had a nest full of their own chicks.
About 56 of the Old World and 3 of the New World cuckoo species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds.[1] These species are obligate brood parasites, meaning that they only reproduce in this fashion. The shells of the eggs of brood-parasites is thick.[2] They have two distinct layers with an outer chalky layer that is believed to provide resistance to cracking when the eggs are dropped in the host nest.[3]
Female parasitic cuckoos specialize and lay eggs which look like the eggs of their chosen host. This has been produced by natural selection, as some birds are able to distinguish cuckoo eggs from their own, leading to those eggs least like the host's being thrown out of the nest.[4]
Host species may take direct action to stop cuckoos laying eggs in their nest. Birds whose nests are at high risk of cuckoo-eggs often mob cuckoos and drive them out of the area.[5]
Parasitic cuckoos are grouped into gentes: each gens specializes in a particular host species. This permits each gens to evolve a particular egg colouring. Thus, the species as a whole parasitizes a wide variety of hosts, but individual females specialize in a single species.
Genes regulating egg colour are passed down only along the maternal line, no doubt on the sex chromosome. This allows females to lay mimetic eggs in the nest of their host species.
Females are thought to imprint on the host species which raised them; later they only parasitize nests of that species. Male cuckoos fertilize females of all lines, so gene flow takes place between the different maternal lines.[6]
The detail and near-perfection of the cuckoo nest parasitism, and the defences of the host birds, are extraordinary. Many of the host species can spot and throw out almost perfect cuckoo eggs. This system is a fine example of an evolutionary arms race, a type of co-evolution. There are other birds which practise nest parasitism (such as the cowbirds) but these other systems are much less specialized.
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pcd:Cocou
   | Cuckoo videos - the Internet Bird Collection |
| | Cuckoo sounds from the Neotropics - xeno-canto :: bird sounds from the Americas :: cuculidae |
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