Jacobin cuckoo
Template:Short description Template:Speciesbox The Jacobin cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus), also pied cuckoo or pied crested cuckoo, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds that is found in Africa and Asia. It is partially migratory and in India, it has been considered a harbinger of the monsoon rains due to the timing of its arrival.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It has been associated with a bird in Indian mythology and poetry, known as the chātaka (Sanskrit: चातक) represented as a bird with a beak on its head that waits for rains to quench its thirst.
TaxonomyEdit
The Jacobin cuckoo was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1780.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle. This was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Cuculus jacobinus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The type locality is the Coromandel Coast of southeast India.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The current genus Clamator was erected by German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829 with the great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) as the type species.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The name is the Latin word for "shouter" from clamare, "to shout". The specific epithet jacobinus and the English name Jacobin refer to the pied plumage which resembles the black and white garments of monks belonging to the Dominican Order. In France Dominicans were known as "Jacobins".<ref name=job>Template:Cite book</ref>
The three subspecies with their breeding ranges are:<ref name=ioc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- C. j. serratus (Sparrman, 1786) – South Africa, southern Zambia
- C. j. pica (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) – Africa south of the Sahara to north Zambia and Malawi, northwest India to Nepal and Myanmar
- C. j. jacobinus (Boddaert, 1783) – south India, Sri Lanka, south Myanmar
DescriptionEdit
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This medium-sized, slim black and white cuckoo with a crest is distinctive. The white wing patch on the black wing and the pattern make it unmistakable even in flight. They are very vocal during the breeding season. The call is a ringing series of whistling notes "piu-piu" with the calls of the nominate form more rapid and slightly Mellower.<ref name=pcr>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=payne>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In India the subspecies serratus (Sparrman, 1786) is a summer breeding visitor to northern India and is believed to migrate to southern Africa. This is larger and longer winged than the nominate subspecies found in the southern peninsular region and Sri Lanka is said to be a local migrant.<ref name=gaston>Template:Cite journal</ref> No ringing evidence exists to support the actual migration to Africa.<ref name=hbk>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In Africa, subspecies serratus and pica (Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1833) show two phases, a pied phase with white or whitish below and a black phase where the only white is on the wing patch. Mating appears to be assortative, with pied phase males pairing with pied phase females. An all-rufous color phase has been noted in Central Africa.<ref name=payne/> There is lack of clarity on the migration and plumage variation involved. Subspecies pica has been said to be the form that migrates between Africa and India<ref name=payne/> however Rasmussen & Anderton (2005) suggest serratus as being the valid name for the Afro-Indian migrants.<ref name=pcr/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In the past some other African subspecies have been suggested such as hypopinarus from South Africa and caroli from the Gabon.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Distribution and habitatEdit
The species is distributed south of the Sahara in Africa and south of the Himalayas in India. Also found in Sri Lanka and parts of Myanmar. Within Africa, there are movements of the species although they are resident in tropical Africa. The east African population is migratory and moves over southern Arabia into India during April.<ref name=payne/> The habitat of the species is mainly in thorny, dry scrub or open woodland<ref name=pcr/> avoiding areas of dense forest or extremely dry environments.<ref name=payne/>
Behaviour and ecologyEdit
In the breeding season, birds call from prominent perches and chase each other with slow wing-beats and pigeon like clapping flight. Courtship feeding has been observed in Africa.<ref name=payne/> The species is a brood parasite and in India the host is mainly species of babblers in the genus Turdoides. The colour of the eggs matches those of the host, typically turquoise blue. The eggs are slightly larger than those of the common babbler (T. caudatus) or the jungle babbler (T. striata). Other hosts include the red-vented bulbul, and the eggs laid are then mostly white.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Eggs are laid hurriedly in the morning into the nest of the host often dropped from above while the bird perches on the rim of the nest and over the host eggs often resulting in the cracking of one or more host eggs.<ref name=gaston/> In Africa, the males distract the host while the female lays the egg.<ref name=payne/> Multiple eggs may be laid in the nest of a host and two young cuckoos were found to fledge successfully in several occasions.<ref name=gaston/> In Africa, the hosts include Pycnonotus barbatus, P. capensis,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Turdoides fulvus, Turdoides rubiginosus,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Lanius collaris, Andropadus importunus, Terpsiphone viridis, Dicrurus adsimilis<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and a few other species.<ref name=payne/><ref name=hbk/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Babblers in the genus Turdoides are communal breeders and cuckoo chick are raised by several members of the group. A pied cuckoo chick was observed to be fed by four jungle babblers.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The skin of young birds darkens form pink to purplish brown within two days of hatching. The mouth linking is red with yellow gape flanges. Unlike some cuckoos, nestlings do not evict the eggs of the host from the nest although they claim most of the parental attention and food resulting sometimes, in the starvation of host nestlings.<ref name=payne/>
These cuckoos feed on insects including hairy caterpillars that are picked up from near or on the ground. Caterpillars are pressed from end to end to remove the guts before they are swallowed. They sometimes feed on fruits.<ref name=gaston/>
Jacobin cuckoos are occasionally targeted as prey by the sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), which has been recorded attacking the significantly larger cuckoo by forcing it to the ground with its talons, then ripping away with its hooked beak.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In cultureEdit
This species is widely mentioned in ancient Indian poetry as the chātaka.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Indian mythology it has a beak atop its head and it thirsts for the rains.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The poet Kalidasa used it in his "Meghadoota" as a metaphor for deep yearning and this tradition continues in literary works.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Satya Churn Law, however noted that in Bengal, the bird associated with the "chataka" of Sanskrit was the common iora unlike the Jacobin cuckoo suggested by European orientalists. He further noted that a captive iora that he kept drank water only from dew and spray picked up from plant leaves suggesting that it may have been the basis for the idea that the "chatak" only drank raindrops.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> To compound the issues with matching vernacular names, it has been pointed out that in Bengal chātak also refers to skylarks (which are also crested).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
It is also mentioned in the poem 'Are ghaas ki roti' where it is said that if Maharana Pratap was to surrender to Akbar, a dystopian future will ensue where the chātak will drink water from the ground.
ReferencesEdit
Other sourcesEdit
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