Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Any one of six species of cuckoos of the genus Hierococ cyx which resemble small hawks in appearance and flight. They are gray above, more or less rufous below, and have a banded tail and large yellow eye. All are Asiatic.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • These are known respectively as the large and the common hawk-cuckoo (_Hierococcyx sparverioides_ and _H. varius_).

    Birds of the Indian Hills Douglas Dewar 1916

  • Like all its family the young hawk-cuckoo has a healthy appetite.

    A Bird Calendar for Northern India Douglas Dewar 1916

  • The hawk-cuckoo, or brain-fever bird (_Hierococcyx varius_), to which allusion has already been made, deposits its eggs in the nests of various species of babblers.

    A Bird Calendar for Northern India Douglas Dewar 1916

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