It is parasitic on various species of babblers. (Illus. B. B., p. 53.)
[130]. Eudynamis honorata: The Indian Koel, sometimes wrongly called (e.g. in The Common Birds of Bombay) the Brain-fever Bird. (F. 1120), (J. 214), (III, but with a tail 8 inches long.)
Cock: A glossy black bird with a green bill and crimson eye. As he flies he looks like a slenderly built crow with an unusually long tail.
Hen: A brown bird, spotted and barred all over with white. Bill and eye as in cock. This is an exceedingly noisy bird, and is most vociferous at dawn. It has three distinct calls. The commonest is a crescendo: ku-il, ku-il, KU-IL, whence its name. Another call is ku-y-o. The third is a torrent of kekaree, kekarees. (Illus. B. D., pp. 218 and 220; also B. C., p. 92.)
It is parasitic on crows.
[131]. Centropus sinensis: The Common Coucal, or Crow-Pheasant. (F. 1130), (J. 217), (-IV, but with a tail 10 inches long.)
A great black fowl with chestnut-red wings. It feeds largely on the ground, and its long tail sometimes causes the “griff” to mistake it for a pheasant.
Its call, which is heard at all times of the day, but more especially at dawn, is a low, loud, sonorous whoot, whoot, whoot, the kind of call that one associates with an owl.
It is not parasitic, but builds a large domed nest in the innermost recesses of a dense thicket. (Illus. I. F., p. 80. [Illustration not a good one.])
[131a]. Taccocua leschenaulti: The Sirkeer Cuckoo. (F. 1129), (J. 222), (IV.)