common hawk-cuckoo

{{multiple image|align=left|total_width=300|image1=Common Hawk Cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius) at Narendrapur W IMG_4111.jpg|image2=Shikra (Female) at Hodal I IMG 9156.jpg|footer=The hawk-cuckoo has evolved as a visual mimic{{cite journal|author1=Davies, N.B.|author2=Welbergen, J.A.|year=2008|title=Cuckoo–hawk mimicry? An experimental test |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=275|pages=1817–1822|url=http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zoostaff/BBE/Welbergen/Papers/Davies%20&%20Welbergen%202008.pdf|doi=10.1098/rspb.2008.0331|pmid=18467298|issue=1644|pmc=2587796|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603231310/http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/zoostaff/bbe/Welbergen/Papers/Davies%20%26%20Welbergen%202008.pdf|archive-date=2011-06-03}} of the shikra (right)}}

The common hawk-cuckoo is a medium- to large-sized cuckoo, about the size of a pigeon (ca. 34 cm). The plumage is ashy grey above; whitish below, cross-barred with brown. The tail is broadly barred. The sexes are alike. They have a distinctive yellow eye ring. Subadults have the breast streaked, similar to the immature shikra, and there are large brown chevron marks on the belly. At first glance they can be mistaken for a hawk. When flying they use a flap and glide style that resembles that of sparrowhawks (especially the shikra) and flying upwards and landing on a perch they shake their tails from side to side. Many small birds and squirrels raise the alarm just as they would in the presence of a hawk. The sexes are alike, but males tend to be larger.

They can be confused with the large hawk-cuckoo, which, however, has dark streaks on the throat and breast. Young birds have a pale chin, but young large hawk-cuckoos have a black chin.{{cite book|author=Payne, RB|year= 2005|title=The Cuckoos|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-850213-3|pages=16,469, 471–473}}

File:Common Hawk Cuckoo I2 IMG 0801.jpg)]]

During summer months, before the monsoons, the males are easily detected by their repeated calls but can be difficult to spot. The call is a loud screaming three-note call, repeated 5 or 6 times, rising in crescendo and ending abruptly. It is heard throughout the day and frequently during moonlit nights.{{cite book|last = Ali |first = Salim|author-link=Salim Ali (ornithologist)|author2=J C Daniel |author-link2=J. C. Daniel (naturalist) |title = The book of Indian Birds, Thirteenth Centenary edition|year = 2002|publisher=Bombay Natural History Society/Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-566523-6}} The calls of females are a series of grating notes. Common hawk-cuckoos feed mainly on insects and are specialised feeders that can handle hairy caterpillars. Caterpillar guts often contain toxins and like many cuckoos they remove the guts by pressing the caterpillar and rubbing it on a branch before swallowing it. The hairs are swallowed with the caterpillar and are separated in the stomach and regurgitated as a pellet.

The type locality of the species is Tranquebar in Tamil Nadu, once a Danish settlement and from where a specimen reached Martin Hendriksen Vahl who described the species in 1797.{{cite book|author=Vahl, MH|year=1797|title= Skrivter af Naturhistorie-Selskabet, Kjøbenhavn, 4, Heft 1|page=60}} This species is placed under the genus Hierococcyx, which includes other hawk-cuckoos, but is sometimes included in the genus Cuculus.

There are two subspecies, the nominate from India and ciceliae of the hill regions of Sri Lanka.{{cite journal|author= Phillips, WWA |year=1949|title= A new race of the Common Hawk Cuckoo from Ceylon |journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club |volume=69|issue=6|pages= 56–57|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40588208}} The Indian population has paler plumage than ciceliae.

The common hawk-cuckoo occurs in most of the Indian subcontinent, from Pakistan in the west, across the Himalayas foothills, east to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and North East India{{Cite web |title=BirdLife International (2022) Species factsheet:Hierococcyx varius. |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=datazone.birdlife.org}} and south into Sri Lanka. Some birds of the Indian population winter in Sri Lanka. In the hills of central Sri Lanka, ciceliae is a resident. It is generally resident but in high altitudes and in arid areas is locally migratory. It is found in the lower elevations (mostly below 1000m) of the Himalayas but in the higher areas, the large hawk-cuckoo tends to be more common.{{cite book|vauthors=Ali S, Ripley SD|year= 1981 |pages=200–202|title=Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 3|edition=2nd|publisher=Oxford University Press|place=New Delhi}}

The species is arboreal and rarely descends to the ground. Its habitat includes garden land, groves of tree, deciduous and semi-evergreen forests.

File:Common Hawk Cuckoo I IMG 7711.jpg

Like many other cuckoos, this species is a brood parasite, preferring babblers mainly in the genus Turdoides (possibly the only host{{cite book|author1=Rasmussen, PC |author2=JC Anderton|year=2005|title= Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. |publisher=Smithsonian Institution & Lynx Edicions. |volume= 2|page=229}}) and also reportedly on laughing-thrushes of the genus Garrulax.{{cite journal|author1=Gaston, AJ|author2=Zacharias VJ|year=2000|title=Hosts of the Common Hawk Cuckoo.|journal=Forktail|volume=16|page=182|url=http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/forktail/16pdfs/Gaston-Cuckoo.pdf|access-date=2009-05-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828051907/http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/forktail/16pdfs/Gaston-Cuckoo.pdf|archive-date=2008-08-28|url-status=dead}}

Its breeding season is March to June, coinciding with that of some of the Turdoides babblers. A single egg is laid in each nest, blue, like that of the host. The hatchling usually evicts the eggs of its host and is reared to maturity by foster parents, following them for nearly a month. T C Jerdon noted that it may not always evict the host and that young birds may be seen along with young babblers.{{cite book|author=Jerdon, TC|year=1862|title= The birds of India. Volume 1|publisher=Military Orphan Press|page=330|url=https://archive.org/stream/birdsofindiabein01jerd#page/330/mode/1up}} When moving with a flock of babblers the chick makes a grating kee-kee call to beg for food and the foster parents within the group may feed it. The predominant host species in India are Turdoides striatus and Turdoides affinis.{{cite journal |author1=Prasad G |author2=Nameer PO |author3=MV Reshmi |year=2001 |title=Brood parasitism by Indian Hawk-Cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius Vahl). |journal=Zoos' Print Journal |volume=16 |issue=8 |pages=554–556 |url=http://www.zoosprint.org/ZooPrintJournal/2001/August/554-556.pdf |doi=10.11609/jott.zpj.16.8.554-6 |access-date=2009-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929014317/http://www.zoosprint.org/ZooPrintJournal/2001/August/554-556.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-29 |url-status=dead |doi-access=free }} Hawk-cuckoos also parasitise the large grey babbler Turdoides malcolmi.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/birdsindia03oaterich#page/214/mode/2up|title=The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Birds Volume 3. |year=1895|publisher=Taylor and Francis, London|author=Blanford, WT|pages=213–214}} In Sri Lanka, their host is Turdoides striatus.{{cite journal|author=Lushington, Cicely|year=1949|title= Change in habits of the Ceylon Hawk-Cuckoo (Hierococcyx varius ciceliae Phillips) |journal= Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume= 48|issue=3|pages=582–584|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48732148}}

Parasitic eye-worms in the genus Oxyspirura have been found in the orbital cavity of the species.{{cite journal|journal=Parasitology Research|title=Some new eye-worms from birds in India|volume=23|issue=6|pages=532–547|year=1964|author=Sultana, Ameer|doi=10.1007/BF00259692|pmid=14134900|s2cid=9569721}}

The call of this bird has been popularly transcribed as brain-fever in English (in some old books, this name is also incorrectly used for the Asian koel). Frank Finn noted that [H]is note, however, fully entitles him to his ordinary designation, whether from its "damnable iteration" or from its remarkable resemblance to the word "brain-fever" repeated in a piercing voice running up the scale.{{cite book|title=The birds of Calcutta |year=1904|author=Finn, Frank|publisher=Thacker, Spink & Co.|url=https://archive.org/details/birdsofcalcutta00finnrich}} Other interpretations of the bird call include piyaan kahan in Hindi ("where's my love") or chokh gelo (in Bengali, "my eyes are gone") and paos ala (Marathi, "the rains are coming"). In Bodo, the call sounds like "haab fisha houwa", which means dear son (where are you).

The call "Pee kahan" or "Papeeha" is more accurately represented by the shrill screaming "pi-peeah" of the large hawk-cuckoo Hierococcyx sparverioides, which replaces the brainfever bird along the Himalayas and its foothills.

The brainfever bird's call may be heard all through the day, starting early before dawn and frequently during moonlit nights. A novel by the Indian author Allan Sealy is named after this bird.{{Cite book|title=The Brainfever Bird|author=Sealy, I Allan |publisher=Picador|year=2003|isbn=0-330-41205-1}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite journal|author=Whistler, H |year=1918|title= The Common Hawk-Cuckoo Hierococcyx varius in the Punjab |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume= 26|issue=1|page= 287|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2049854}}
• {{cite journal|author=Osmaston, AE |year=1912|title= Eggs of the Large Hawk-Cuckoo Hierococcyx sparverioides |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society |volume= 21|issue=4|pages= 1330–1331| url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30222795 }}
• {{cite journal|author=Umar, M |year=1977|title= On the onset of brain-fever |journal=Newsletter for Birdwatchers |volume=17|issue=2|page= 9}}
• {{cite journal|author=Himmatsinhji, MK|author-link=Himmatsinhji M. K. |year=1980|title= The Common Hawk-Cuckoo, Cuculus varius Vahl in Kutch |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|volume= 77|issue=2|page=329|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/44708251}}
• {{cite journal|author=Waite, HW |year=1963|title= The Common Hawk-Cuckoo (Cuculus varius varius Vahl) in the Punjab. |journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|volume= 60|issue=1|page=260|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48053411}}
• {{cite journal|author= Gay, Thomas |year=1976| title= Onset of 'brain-fever'|journal=Newsletter for Birdwatchers |volume=16| issue=3| page=15| url=https://archive.org/stream/NLBW16#page/n44/mode/1up}}
• {{cite journal|author= Mohan, D |year=1976| title=Onset of brainfever|journal=Newsletter for Birdwatchers |volume=16|issue=5|page=11|url=https://archive.org/stream/NLBW16#page/n79/mode/1up}}
• {{cite journal|author= Ramamoorthi, MS |year=1976| title=Onset of Brainfever|journal=Newsletter for Birdwatchers |volume=16|issue=5| pages=9–11| url=https://archive.org/stream/NLBW16#page/n77/mode/1up/}}
• {{cite journal|author=Gay, T |year=1988| title=First calls of the Common Hawk Cuckoo|journal=Newsletter for Birdwatchers |volume=28|issue=3–4|page=16|url=https://archive.org/stream/NLBW28_34#page/n16/mode/1up}}

{{Commons category|Hierococcyx varius}}

• [http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/common-hawk-cuckoo-cuculus-varius Internet Bird Collection]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q221928}}

common hawk-cuckoo

Category:Birds of South Asia

common hawk-cuckoo

Category:Taxa named by Martin Vahl