THE SHINING CUCKOO

Forest and Bird, Issue 53, 1 August 1939, Page 8

THE SHINING CUCKOO

PIPIWHARAUROA

(Lamprococcyx lucidus)

“FTIHE call of the shining cuckoo, harbinger X of spring,” is the wording, translated, of an old Maori proverbial saying. The clearness and peculiar quality of the call notes of this little migrant singled it out for this special notice, just as in Europe the common cuckoo has been regarded from time immemorial as “sweet messenger of spring.” This call bears no resemblance to that of the European bird. It has been rendered by the Maori words “kui, kui,kui, kui, whiu whitiora.” The first series may be repeated any number of times, and the last notes, with their sighing cadence, usually twice. In early spring the song often consists of the first series alone, and the final notes are acquired later. Other features are a certain ventriloquial quality that makes it difficult to detect the exact whereabouts of the singer, and a crescendo in which the swelling notes make it appear that the singer is approaching. Furthermore, the shining cuckoo is semi-nocturnal and may occasionally be heard singing during the hours of darkness. The exact winter range of the species in islands to the north of New Zealand is not definitely known. From the fact that some have been found in Northern Queensland, it is surmised that others winter near New Guinea. There is at any rate no doubt that a number arrive in New Zealand from overseas in September. Such birds are sometimes found in the Auckland district in an exhausted state, as if after a long flight, but otherwise in good condition. The first records of birds seen and heard are published each year from all over New Zealand and become progressively later from north to south. By November the little visitors are well distributed. Being comparatively small they are more often heard than seen, but may sometimes be detected on account of a habit of flying from one tree to another after whistling. Their food consists of insects, notably such furry caterpillars as are avoided by other birds, the ones best known in New Zealand being the larvae of the black and white magpie-moth (Nyctemera annulata), the black and orange

“chimney-sweep” or “woolly-bear.” This caterpillar feeds on ragwort, Cape “ivy” groundsel, and other plants of the great order Compositae and, where patches of these grow, cuckoos are usually to be found. As in Europe, the cuckoos build no nest, but leave the hatching of their eggs and the rearing of their young to other birds, usually the little grey warbler (riroriro), whose nests are among the most comfortable found in the bush, the birds themselves being remarkable for their care of their young. The newly-hatched cuckoo throws out any rival eggs or young birds that may be in the nest, soon outgrows its cradle, and, leaving it a sad wreck, remains perched about in the neighbourhood, calling plaintively for food, more, and more, and more; and this is regularly supplied by the faithful fosterparents, and by other small birds, instinctively attracted by the hungry squeaker. Some of them remain dependent on foster-parents so long that they are not prepared for the sea journey to the northward in February or March. It is v/ell known that a number of cuckoos do not leave New Zealand, and it is fairly certain that these are young birds which have been fledged too late to get away. The migratory instinct is stimulated only at regular seasons, and the birds thus left remain here contented on adequate if reduced fare till the following autumn.