THE S.A. ORNITHOLOGIST 87 SOME OBSERVATIONS OF A PALLID 'S EARLY LIFE by A. HARDY and J. HARDY This is an account of a family's observa­ times during the day feeding the cuckoo, tions of a young Pallid Cuckoo. which kept within thirty-five feet or so of pallidus made during the first six weeks the nest. The male continued to feed it after it left the nest in a suburban garden frequently and energetically from early in Salisbury, north of Adelaide, South morning till dark until November 18. During Australia. The nest of its initial foster­ all this time it remained in a very parents, White-plumed Meli­ circumscribed area not far from the Black­ phaga penicillata was first looked for and 's nest, usually quite conspicuous on an located about October 19, 1970, because of open branch. the very noisy occupant. The nest was about On the morning of November 20 the ten feet above the ground in the outer cuckoo was sitting in a new place, another canopy of an Acacia longifolia. At this time White-plumed 's nest, about the young bird was not visible and we were twenty feet up in the cypress. The honey­ unaware that it was a young cuckoo, though eaters were attacking it vigorously, the cuckoo later a member of the family recalled having meanwhile begging energetically without seen dead nestlings on the ground beneath avail and sometimes attempting to sit on the the tree. nest. Later in the day the Blackbird was The young cuckoo, close to adult size, was seen feeding it once. The cuckoo spent first seen on the morning of October 27 some time lurking around our aviary, sitting clinging tightly to the nest in a boisterous on the wire or on the ground beside it. wind. Between 1600-1700 hr. it left the nest For the next three days it was very noisy and perched about six feet away from it. It and plaintive and we did not see it being spent the next day in a Homolanthus tree fed at all; it lurked about the honeyeater's about thirty feet away and the succeeding nest and was consistently attacked. Then on day in a eucalypt about ninety feet from the the 24th there was a sudden change in its nest. On following days it moved about the behaviour. It was discovered sitting rather garden more and more and flew away when quietly, half hidden in a very dense and approached. During this time it was fed inaccessible part of the cypress, about fifteen assiduously by the honeyeaters but by feet above ground level. A pair of Green­ November 9 and 10 it was noticed that the finches were visiting it incessantly though honeyeaters were feeding it much less secretively. They flew usually into the dense frequently. On November 12 it was located, growth and stayed out of sight, but on one beside a Blackbird's nest containing four well occasion actual feeding was witnessed.. We grown young. The nest was about six feet assumed that the Greenfinches had a nest up in a Laurestinus bush. The cuckoo hidden in the thick growth but could not gaped widely, called loudly and rapidly and detect it. For two days the cuckoo was not shook its wings frantically whenever the seen to move from this position. On the parents approached. Later in the day both 27th it was flying about rather more but parents were observed feeding the cuckoo always in the same tree or close by, and in a large cypress which overhangs the often returning to the same half-hidden spot. Laurestinus. It is likely that the cuckoo was The following day it was flying about the also fed at the nest site though observations garden again, calling plaintively and mono­ were difficult due to the shyness of the tonously, apparently without avail. On the Blackbirds. 29th it had gone back to the honeyeater's Next morning one young Blackbird had nest in the cypress. Their behaviour towards already left the nest by 0730 hrs, and the it had altered most markedly. They visited others were very restless. The cuckoo was it frequently but did not attack -as before. again perched beside the nest. By 1030 hrs. The cuckoo stayed by this nest most of the all the young and the cuckoo had left the day though it was once seen drinking from nest. The male Blackbird was seen several a birdbath at the other side of the garden. 88 THE S.A. ORNITHOLOGIST

This was the first time we had seen it drink. locate. Owing to this favourable set of Its begging calls were heard frequently, and circumstances it was possible to keep the bird the next day the honeyeaters were actually under close and frequent observation for six seen feeding it. The next three days were weeks. It became accustomed to people­ hot. The cuckoo was again seen drinking many of the neighbourhood watched it being and many begging calls were heard. No fed-and could be approached quite closely, observations were made on December 4-5. though its hosts were much shyer. It is On the 6th in the morning a honeyeater perhaps worth noting that on December 5, was seen going to and from the cuckoo at the day before it left us, a large number of the far side of the garden and busily feeding people came to a wedding in the garden, it. This was the last sighting, though we which may have prompted it to go further thought we could hear it in the trees along afield. the Little Para Creek some two hundred I have never read or heard of young yards away across open ground. persistently and deliberately haunting the vicinity of nests with nestlings in them COMMENT as this bird did, although it is well known Pallid cuckoos are usually heard quite that passing will casually feed a commonly here for a few weeks in the early demanding young cuckoo. Of Cuculus spring, generally calling from the River canonus; the English cuckoo, it is noted that Red-Gums along the creek, and a couple had "apparently the voice of the young cuckoo been seen pair-feeding earlier in the season has commanding, almost hypnotic power, for of 1971. The garden is nearly an acre of birds other than those which have cherished irregular shape, full of trees and shrubs, and it as a nestling will feed it . . . the alarm is almost surrounded by open ground and a cries of the foster parents have no effect in road, which may be why the young cuckoo silencing its continuous demands." (The remained in this limited area. The nests it Birds of the British Isles, Part 1.) That parasitised were all within fifty feet of the description could well be applied in the house and its loud voice made it easy to present case.