The birds of Australia (16839356996)

Description:

PLATE II.
CACOMi XTIS F LA B ELL. FORM IS.
FAN-TAILED CUCKOO. Genus: Cacomantis.
TIlHIS is the "Doo-Laar" of the aborigines, and to those who have heard its strange call, half
-■L ringing and half harsh, the name will recall the cry of the strange solitary bird. It frequents,
generally, patches of scrub or thick timber, and is so shy that unless special search is made for it,
it is seldom seen.
The food consists, as with most of the other Cuckoos, of larva) and insects: in its general
habits also it resembles other members of the tribe. Us flight is straight and somewhat heavy : on
alisrhtincj it waves its broad tail slowly up and down several times, and also woes through this
movement before taking wing.
This species is migratory ; it spends the summer in Tasmania, returning to Australia in
January and February.
The single egg is deposited in the nest of some other bird, nearly always in that of a much
smaller variety : the young Cuckoo has the same tyrannical way of treading upon and often throwing
out the proper tenants of the nest. The egg is a true oval, pale pink in colour, and spotted finely
with purplish-brown : it is nine lines long hy seven and a half broad.
The female is somewhat smaller than the male, but the colouring of the sexes is prdcisely similar.
Head and upper surfaces, dark grey : tail, a deeper shade, with a tinge of brown, the leathers
having serrated markings of white at the edge, which increase in breadth towards the point ; wings,
brown, tinged with green: chin, grey; under surfaces, rusty brown, deeper on the chest; bill, blaek,
with a flesh-coloured strip at the base of the lower mandible ; irides, brown : eyelash, bright yellow :
feet, olive given.
Habitats: Central and Southern Australia. Tasmania.
C ACO M A N T I S I N" S P E R A T US t Gould.)
BRUSH (TCKno. Genus: Cacomantis.
K KN apart from the foregoing example, this variety might be easily confounded with it. However,
a glance at the two when side by side shows a considerable variation in size and contour, as
well as a distinct difference in the tail, that of the present species being more rounded and
differently marked.
It is much rarer than the C. Flabellijbrmis, but so far a.-- is known its habits are similar.
As the name indicates, it frequents scrub and thickly timbered patches.