e u c K o w.
I5t
MADAGASCAR
CRESTED
C.
D escrip t ion.
Place.
i 6.
EGYPTIAN
C.
D escription.
F emale.
Cuculus criftatus, Lin, Syjl. i. p. 171. N® 19.
Le Coucou hupe de Madagafcar, Brif. orn. iv. 149. N° 22. t. 12. f. 2*
Le Coua, Buf. oif.vi. p. 365. N^4. t. 16.
Coucou huppe de Madagafcar, PL enl. 589.
SIZE of a Jay: length fourteen inches. Bill above an inch
long, black: irides orange : the head and upper parts of the
body are of an elegant alh-colour, inclining to green:-the feathers
on the head are long, forming a creft: throat and fore part
of the neck cinereous: lower part of the neck and bread: vi-
naceous: belly and lides whitifh, with a tinge of rufous : under
tail coverts rufous white : thighs white, marked with bars of
light alh : quills pale green, with a glofs of blue and violet; beneath
cinereous: tail much the fame ; the fide feathers tipped
with white; the two middle feathers rather longeft : legs black.
Inhabits Madagafcar; where it is called Com. M. Commerfon,
by whom a defcription of the bird was fent to Buffon, adds, that
it carries its tail fpread : that the neck is fhort: the noltrils bare,
obliquely placed : tongue pointed, and cartilaginous: the cheeks
bare, wrinkled, and white: and adds, that the Belli is good to
eat; and frequents the woods about Fort Dauphin.
Le Houhou d’Egypte, Buf. oif. vi. p. 367.
J ;ENGTH between fourteen and fixteen inches. Bill an inch
and a quarter long, or more, and black: irides bright red: the
head and hind part of the neck dull green, with a glofs of po-
lilhed fteel, and the feathers ftifF in their texture: upper wing
10 coverts
C U C K O W.
coverts rufous, inclining to green : quills rufous, terminated with
Ihining green, except the three laft, which are wholly of this colour,
and the two or three preceding them, which are of a mixed
colour: the back is brown, with a tinge of green: rump, and
upper tail coverts, brown: tail cuneated, eight inches in length,
o f a fiiining green, with a glofs of polifiied fteel: throat, and
under parts of the body, rufous white, paleft on the belly : legs
blackifti.
This defcription taken from a female. The bird is feen fre- Place an »
quently in the Delta, in Egypt; where it is called by the Arabs, Manners.
Houhou, repeating that word feveral times together. The male
and female are leldom afunder; but it is rarely that more than
two are feen together. Locufts are their principal food. They
are feldom feen on large trees, nor often on the ground;, buc
chiefly frequent low bullies near, running water.
Coucou des Philippines, B u f o f vi. p. 36g.— Pt. enl.. 824. J5.
V ar. A.
AT VHIS is fo like the laft, that one defcription might ferve. M ale.
■ *" The wings only in this are rufous, and all the reft of the
plumage ftiining black.
Buffon feems to think this the male of the laft.
Coucou vert d’Antigue, Son. Poy. p. 181. pi. 80. ‘
V ar. B.
L ESS than a Cuckow. Irides black: eyelids furhillied with Description.
hairs like eyelalhes : head, neck, breaft, and belly, dull
green, almoft black: wings of a deep red brown : the feathers in
3 X 2 general