| Plaintive cuckoo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| at Nai Yang,Phuket | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Cuculiformes |
| Family: | Cuculidae |
| Genus: | Cacomantis |
| Species: | C. merulinus |
| Binomial name | |
| Cacomantis merulinus (Scopoli, 1786) | |
Theplaintive cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) is a species ofbird belonging to the genusCacomantis in thecuckoo family Cuculidae. It is native toAsia, fromIndia,Nepal andChina toIndonesia.
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The plaintive cuckoo is fairly small, measuring about 21–24 cm (8.3–9.4 in) long. The adult male is grey-brown above and orange below with a grey head, throat and upper breast. The tail feathers have white tips. The legs and feet are yellow, the eye is red and thebill is black above and yellow below. The adult female is sometimes similar to the male but often occurs in a "hepatic"morph. This form is reddish-brown above with dark bars. The underparts are paler with fainter barring. There is a pale stripe over the eye and the tail has dark bars along its whole length.Juvenile birds are similar to hepatic females but are paler and have dark streaks rather than bars on the crown and throat.
The male has several plaintive whistling calls. These include an ascending series of three-note phrases and a series of 11 or 12 descending notes.
There are foursubspecies. The nominate formC. m. merulinus is found in thePhilippines where it is common on many of the larger islands.C. m. querulus is the most widespread form, occurring in north-eastIndia,Bangladesh, southernChina,Indonesia,Myanmar,Thailand,Cambodia,Laos andVietnam. It is a summer visitor to most of its Chinese range,migrating south for the winter.C. m. threnodes is found in theMalay Peninsula,Sumatra andBorneo whileC. m. lanceolatus occurs inJava,Bali andSulawesi.
Thegrey-bellied cuckoo (C. passerinus) was formerly classified as a subspecies of the plaintive cuckoo but is now often treated as a separate species.
The plaintive cuckoo inhabitsforest edge, openwoodland,scrub,grassland,farmland, parks and gardens. It feeds oninvertebrates. It is normally solitary and is often difficult to see.
It is abrood parasite, laying itseggs in thenests ofcisticolas,prinias andtailorbirds. The eggs are similar to those of the host species but are larger. Small birds oftenmob the cuckoo to drive it away from their nests.
