Cuculus canorus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 110;
Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19, 245; Blanford, Fauna
Brit. Ind. Bds. (1895), 3, 205, fig. 60 (head); Sharpe, Hand-List
(1900), 2, 158; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1903), 3, 105;
McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 61.
Basilan (McGregor); Batan (McGregor); Calayan (McGregor); Palawan
(Platen); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester). Europe and northern
Asia; in winter to Africa, Indian Peninsula, Malayan subregion
to Australia.
"Adult male.--General color above leaden gray, slightly shaded with
olive on the mantle and wings; quills dark brown, more or less notched
with white on the inner webs; lateral upper tail-coverts narrowly
edged and partially barred with white; tail slaty black, with white
ends to all the feathers and with about seven double white spots along
their shafts and white notches on their inner webs never forming bars
across the feathers; sides of the head and neck, chin, and throat gray,
slightly paler than the crown; remainder of the under parts white,
shaded with buff on the abdomen and under tail-coverts, and very
regularly barred with dusky black; axillars and under wing-coverts
barred like the breast, with a portion near the bend of the wing and
most of the greater series leaden gray; quills beneath dusky brown,
with white bars on their inner webs, broadest and most strongly marked
toward the base of the feathers. Bill black, yellowish at the base
and edges; iris and legs yellow. Length, 356; culmen, 229; wing, 226;
tail, 178; tarsus, 20.
"Adult female.--Differs only in plumage from the male in having the
base of the throat shaded with rufous. Length, 320; culmen, 22; wing,
211; tail, 173; tarsus, 19.
"Nestling.--General plumage above dark brown, partially barred with
rufous, with a narrow white terminal margin to each of the feathers,
broadest on the wings and tail; crown and nape much mottled with
white; sides of the head, chin, and throat blackish brown and white
in broad bars of nearly even breadth; remainder of the under surface
of the body white, with blackish brown bars not half the width of
the intervening white spaces. Length, 170; wing, 127.
"Young nearly full-grown.--Above gray, passing into brownish black on
the head, wings, and tail; crown and nape mottled with white feathers;
feathers of the head, neck, wings, and tail strongly barred with
rufous; remainder of the back much less distinctly barred, each
feather being tipped with white next to a subterminal dark bar;
tail with waved rufous bars passing into white near the shafts of
the feathers and with white ends; general color of the under parts
buffish white, with blackish brown bars, slightly broader on the chin
and throat than on the breast. Length, 297; wing, 184.
"Hepatic phase.--General color of the upper parts cinnamon, barred
on the head, mantle, and wings with dusky black; lower back and
upper tail-coverts with a few black spots next to their shafts;
outer tail-coverts with partial traces of dark bars; tail partially
barred with black and marked with white near the shafts, the tips,
and some of the edges of the feathers, and with a broad subterminal
black band; under parts buffish white, rather darker on the throat,
and all the feathers barred with dusky black. Length, 297; culmen,
22; wing, 216; tail, 170; tarsus, 19." (Shelley.)
"We secured a single specimen in Siquijor in February, 1891; a second
specimen was seen but not secured. The specimen in question, a male,
measures, 311 in length; wing, 201; tail, 161; culmen, 27; tarsus, 22;
middle toe with claw, 26. Iris brownish yellow, with inner ring of dull
brown; feet bright yellow; nails yellowish, except that of middle toe,
which is black; upper mandible black, lower light yellowish." (Bourns
and Worcester MS.)