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Notes Comments
Vol. II. Page 218. Indian Cuckoo, Cuculus m. micropterus note.-kwei
Vol. II. Page 220. Vol. III. Page 147.
kwei kwo kwo.
Indian Koel, Eudynamis orientalis honorata.
The Koel is known to Europeans as the Rain Bird." It is this last statement which has set me writing. I lived some twenty years on Hong Kong Island and never heard the Koel, I then migrated to Tai Po and made the acquaintance of a bird which, for want of a better name I called the How-are-you bird, an attempt to put its monotonous repetition note into writing, there should be a slight accent on the are."
I found afterwards it was the Indian Koel, Eudynamis honorata. The bird which I had always known as the Rainbird was a smaller bird, Cacomantis merulinus. In later years I have heard this latter bird called the
Brain-fever Bird."
E
I find support for the above view in an article published in 1926 by A. H. Crook in the Yellow Dragon."
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I believe the Kowloon Residents Association once "logged the Rain Bird as a nuisance and that the suggestion was made that the Govern- ment should be called on to suppress it. If it had come to law the bird would probably have got off on the plea of mistaken identity.
L. GIBBS.
Mr. L. Gibbs in his note on the confusion that exists through multiplicity of names for certain birds has raised a question which all of us would like to see satisfactorily answered. But who is to decide which name should be selected? The two chief works of reference which we use, -neither of which were written when the Hong Kong Naturalist was found- ed, are:-La Touche A Handbook of the Birds of Eastern China " Vol. I, published in parts, 1925-1930, Vol. II, part I May 1931 (containing the Cuculidae), and Caldwell “South China Birds 1931.
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In La Touche Vol. I p. 149, for Copsychus saularis prosthopellus, Oberhsr, is given the English name, Chinese Dayal Bird; but later, The Magpie-Robin, Dayal Bird, or, as it is generally known in China, the Canton Robin.
Caldwell, p. 80, also calls this bird the Chinese Dayal Bird and gives as synonyms, Magpie Robin and Canton Robin.
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The Hawk Cuckoo, the Indian Cuckoo, the Indian Koel and the Brain-fever bird are four different birds.
Of the Great Hawk Cuckoo Cuculus sparverioides, Vigors, Caldwell p. 240, writes "No bird of the entire Cuckoo group has provoked so much conjecture and talk as has this bird. Weary travellers in some inn or chapel far back in the mountain have groaned out curses upon the loud calling bird seemingly just outside, which never tired of its monotonous song.
Some people have questioned us about the bird which calls at night, often running the musical scale, always dropping back to take up the note again, but seem- ing never to tire. The call of the bird is a double noted Ter-da Ter-da,"
the first two syllables uttered upon a lower pitch. During the period of egg laying the bird utters a loud guttural trill which resounds far and wide." La
The Hong Kong Naturalist.
Notes Comments
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Touche Vol. II p. 46, calls the same bird the Large Hawk-Cuckoo, Hierococcyx sparveroides (Vigors) and writes of it Kershaw reports it as not uncommon in East Kwangtung during summer.
During
嘻
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its passage, which takes place in May, it is commonly heard calling in the Chinkiang hills. The call, not unlike that of the Koel, is very loud and vociferous. Styan describes it as follows:-"It has a peculiar note, which may be rendered by the syllables pee-pee-wa.' This is uttered first moder- ately loud in rather a low key; after a few seconds it is repeated louder and higher; again a pause and another call, and so in a crescendo scale until it ends in a piercing scream, after which the bird is silent for some minutes." As Styan writes, it is very difficult to locate the bird in thick cover, each call sounding as if the bird were approaching,"
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The Indian Cuckoo, Cuculus m. micropterus, Gould; Caldwell p. 238, writes:-
The call of the Indian Cuckoo is a series of four whistled notes, the first higher, the middle two on a lower tone, and the last lower. Another call is a shrill scolding “ kieh-kieh." This cuckoo is not common in Fukien, though very common in Kwangtung." La Touche Vol. II, p. 46 writes While very common in Kwangtung, Rickett and I did not notice it at Foochow Neither was it observed at Shaweishan. It practically ranges throughout all South-Eastern Asia and all over India except in the extreme North-West and Sind" (Baker).” "The loud musical call may be heard at Chinkiang from the time of the bird's arrival. The four-note whistle "Kwikwi-kwikwok "is rendered by the peasants by the Chinese words “ Ko mai, tsai yang" (reap your corn and plant your rice) according to Père Courtois, Kwa kwa tsa ma (quick, quick, reap your wheat), or Kwa kwa tsoong Hwoo" (quick, quick, plant the cotton) the Rev. Lacy L. Moffet (Common Birds of Yangtse Delta, Shanghai, 1912, p. 11).”
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The Indian Koel, Eudynamis orientalis honorata (Linnaeus). Caldwell P. 242, writes
The incessant calling of the male of this species becomes a great nuisance in any community where a pair of the birds take up their abode for the summer. The untiring call of the bird readily identifies it. For hours during the day, and even long before daylight the monotonous gu-o gu-o gu-o," with accent on the latter syllable will be heard. The bird estab lishes a beat over which it travels during the day, uttering its loud call from the tree-tops.
In many communities the call of this bird is interpreted as an Great satisfaction was manifested by the populace in a harbinger of evil. walled city stricken by both cholera and bubonic plague when we killed a very noisy bird for study. The call of the bird seems to promise more rain, more flood, or more of any calamity abroad over the land." In Touche Vol. II p. 54 calls this same bird, The Chinese Koel, Eudynamis scolopaceus chinensis, Cab, and Heine. At Foochow it is only of late years that it has appeared, the first recorded having been obtained in June 1903 by Rickett. It is now quite common there, and lays its eggs, I believe, in the nests of the Black-necked Mynah. At Swatow, and in Kwangtung generally, it is very abundant. It arrives at Swatow in April, and remains to the end of Septem- ber,' The bird on the East Coast frequents large trees in the vicinity of villages, and feeds largely on the banyan-figs and probably on other available fruit. It is also partly insectivorous according to Baker. The call of the Koel
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December 1932.