coucaln.
/ˈkuːkəl/ A non-parasitic bird of the cuckoo family, belonging to the genus Centropus, which is found in Africa, southern Asia, and Australia, and includes the Indian crow-pheasant and the Australian swamp pheasant.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Cuculiformes (cuckoos, etc.) > [noun] > family Cuculidae > member of genus Centropus (coucal)
coucal1815
1815 J. F. Stephens Shaw's Gen. Zool. IX. i. 54 Egyptian Coucal.
1821 T. E. Bowdich tr. G. Cuvier Ornithol. 53 Coucals, Vaillant Centropus..Nail of the great toe long, straight, pointed.
1831 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom I. 333 Centropus..or the Coucals, species of Africa and India, in which the thumb nail is long, straight and pointed, as in Larks.
1873 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1872 40 603 A Pheasant Coucal (Centropus phasianus) from Australia..being the first example of this fine species received by the Society.
1883 E. H. Aitken Tribes on my Frontier 155 That ungainly object the coucal, crow-pheasant, jungle-crow, or whatever else you like to call the miscellaneous thing.
1901 A. J. Campbell Nests & Eggs Austral. Birds II. 591 The Coucal is the only member of the Australian Cuculidæ that undertakes the responsibility of rearing its own family.
1935 D. F. Thomson Birds of Cape York Peninsula 52 Pheasant-Coucal... The Coucal is well named, for its long tail lends an extremely pheasant-like appearance to the bird.
1966 N. W. Cayley What Bird is That? (ed. 4) 271 Swamp Pheasant, Centropus phasianinus... Also called Coucal and Swamp Cuckoo.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1972; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
<
n.1815