Species Chalcites basalis (Horsfield, 1821)
Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo
- Cuculus basalis Horsfield, T. 1821. Systematic arrangement and description of birds from the island of Java. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 13: 133-200 [179].
Type data:
Holotype BMNH 1880.1.1.4773 unsexed adult, Java
Comment: for identification of holotype, see Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. - Sylvia versicolora Latham, J. 1801. Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici, sive Systematis Ornithologiae. London : G. Leigh, J. & S. Sotheby 74 pp. [56] [also as incorrect subsequent spelling, versicolor by Gray, G.R. 1843. Some rectification of the nomenclature of Australian birds. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 189–194; based on the Variable Warbler in Latham, J. 1802. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. pls CXX–CXL [publication dated as 1801] (250), in turn based on Thomas Watling drawing no. 155 in BMNH, see Sharpe, R.B. 1906. Birds. pp. 79–515 in, The History of the Collections contained in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum. London : British Museum Vol. 2. (137); for identity of drawing, see Hindwood, K.A. 1970. The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1968–69: 16–32 pls IV–VII; cf. Gray, G.R. 1843. Some rectification of the nomenclature of Australian birds. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 189–194; Strickland, H.E. 1843. Remarks on a collection of Australian drawings of birds, the property of the Earl of Derby. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1 11: 333–338; Shelley, G.E. 1891. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Picariae-Cuculidae. London : British Museum Vol. 19 xii 484 pp. 13 pls; Latham, J. 1802. Supplement II. to the General Synopsis of Birds. London : Leigh, Sotheby & Son 376 pp. pls CXX–CXL [publication dated as 1801]; Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2–22; and Mathews, G.M. 1913. A List of the Birds of Australia containing the names and synonyms connected with each genus, species, and subspecies of birds found in Australia, at present known to the author. London : Witherby xxvii 453 pp. (Appendix B): its dull-barred ventrum, cream-grey iris and wash of rufous in the base of the tail identify it with female Chalcites basalis (Horsfield, 1821); although senior to basalis Horsfield, 1821, versicolora Latham, 1802 has never been employed as the senior synonym for any species of bronze-cuckoo—accordingly, it is not taken up here because, under ICZN Art. 80, it has been referred, by the Standing Committee on Ornithological Nomenclature of the Ornithological Committee, to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature for suppression under Art. 79 as an unused senior synonym; type locality restricted here to central coast of New South Wales because that region was the source of material for paintings of the Thomas Watling series, see Hindwood, K.A. 1970. The "Watling" drawings, with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1968–69: 16–32 pls IV–VII].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost, figured on Thomas Watling drawing no. 155 in BMNH), central coastal New South Wales (as Nova Hollandia). - Lamprococcyx modesta Diggles, S. 1876. Australian birds. Brisbane Courier 31(2874): 3 [Date published 5 Aug 1876] [3] [also published in Diggles, S. 1878. Some new and rare species of birds. Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Queensland 2(appendiced pamplet): 9–12, see Mathews, G.M. 1912. Diggles's new species of Australian birds. Austral Avian Records 1: 68–72; Mathews, G.M. 1915. Diggles' Ornithology of Australia and other works. Austral Avian Records 2: 137–153; holotype not traced in QM by Ingram, G.J. 1987. Avian type specimems in the Queensland Museum. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 25: 239–254, but illustrated on p. 75 in volume 2 of drawings in the unpublished volume 4 of Diggles' Ornithology of Australia in the Mitchell Library, Sydney (cat. no. A1525; notes A1526)].
Type data:
Holotype whereabouts unknown (lost), Norman's Creek, Brisbane, QLD (as Norman's Creek)
Comment: for identity of holotype, see Mathews, G.M. 1915. Diggles' Ornithology of Australia and other works. Austral Avian Records 2: 137–153.Type locality references:
Mathews, G.M. 1913. A List of the Birds of Australia containing the names and synonyms connected with each genus, species, and subspecies of birds found in Australia, at present known to the author. London : Witherby xxvii 453 pp.; Mathews, G.M. 1915. Diggles' Ornithology of Australia and other works. Austral Avian Records 2: 137-153; Ingram, G.J. 1987. Avian type specimens in the Queensland Museum. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 25: 239-254. - Chrysococcyx basalis mellori Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [14] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 626764 ♂ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 9683), Warunda Creek, Eyre Peninsula, SA (as Eyre's Peninsula, South Australia)
Comment: for identification of holotype and type locality, see Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1–306. - Chrysococcyx basalis wyndhami Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 [14] [published anonymously—authorship credited in Austral Avian Rec. 1: 65].
Type data:
Holotype AMNH 628706 ♀ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 8662), Point Torment, north WA
Comment: for identification of holotype, see Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1–306.
Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy
- Hartert, E. & Stresemann, E. 1925. Ueber die indoaustralischen Glanzkuckucke (Chalcites). Novitates Zoologicae 32: 158-163 [158]
Generic Combinations
- Chalcites (Chalcites) basalis (Horsfield, 1821).
Distribution
States
Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia
Extra Distribution Information
All Australia except heavily forested sectors of south-west and east coasts and treeless deserts inland—also islands in Bass Strait (King and Furneaux Group), Kangaroo Is., northern coastal islands and, as passage migrant, islands in Torres Strait and Christmas Is.
IBRA
ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Finke (FIN), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)
Original AFD Distribution Data
Australian Region
- Australia
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Victoria
- Western Australia
Ecological Descriptors
Arboreal, arthropod-feeder, diurnal, low open shrubland, low open woodland, low shrubland, low woodland, mangrove, migratory, nomadic, open forest, open heath, open scrub, sand hill desert, sand plain desert, solitary, tall open shrubland, tall shrubland, territorial, volant, woodland.
Extra Ecological Information
Territorial during breeding, randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, rarely in twos or small groups except during courtship, in mid to lower strata of dry sclerophyll forest to open woodlands, commonly perches on exposed branches, feeds by perch-and-pounce sallying and gleaning in shrubbery and occasionally on the ground, taking insects and their larvae, flies directly in shallow undulations, courting males advertise territories by loud calling, courtship feeding, chasing and tail and wing fanning, brood parasite parasitizing mainly Maluridae (Malurus Vieillot, 1816) and Acanthizidae (Acanthiza Vigors & Horsfield, 1827), lays white eggs sparsely speckled red-brown, disperses north after breeding over N Australia as far as New Guinea, Moluccas, Lesser and Greater Sundas and Malay Peninsula, returning in June-Aug. to breed, though small numbers overwinter in S Australia and others remain in N Australia to breed.
General References
Brooker, L.C., Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, A.M.H. 1990. An alternative population-genetics model for the evolution of egg mimesis and egg crypsis in cuckoos. Journal of Theoretical Biology 146: 123-143 (nidification)
Brooker, M. & Brooker, L. 1986. Identification and development of the nestling cuckoos, Chrysococcyx basalis and C. lucidus plagosus, in Western Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 13: 197-202 [Mathews, G.M. 1925. The Birds of Australia. Supplements 4 & 5. Bibliography of the Birds of Australia Pts 1 & 2. London : H.F. & G. Witherby viii 149 pp. (cf. Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240))] (developmental morphology, nidification)
Brooker, M.G., Brooker, L.C. & Rowley, I. 1988. Egg deposition by the bronze-cuckoos Chrysococcyx basalis and Ch. lucidus. The Emu 88: 107-109 (nidification)
Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. Cuckoo hosts in Australia. Australian Zoological Reviews 2: 1-67 (nidification)
Brooker, M.G. & Brooker, L.C. 1989. The comparative breeding behaviour of two sympatric cuckoos, Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo Chrysococcyx basalis and the Shining Bronze-Cuckoo C. lucidus, in Western Australia: a new model for the evolution of egg morphology and host specificity in avian brood parasites. Ibis 131: 528-547 [Duncan, F.M. 1937. On the dates of publication of the Society's 'Proceedings', 1859–1926. With an appendix containing the dates of publication of 'Proceedings', 1830–1858, compiled by the late F.H. Waterhouse, and of the 'Transactions', 1833–1869, by the late Henry Peavot, originally published in P.Z.S. 1893, 1913. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 107: 71–84] (nidification)
Campbell, A.J. 1898. Notes on the Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoo. Victorian Naturalist 14: 151-153 [Zimmer, J.T. 1926. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Field Museum of Natural History Publications, Zoological Series 16: 1–364 (Pt 1, Publ. 239), 365–706 (Pt 2, Publ. 240)] (nidification)
Harrison, C.J.O. 1969. A reconsideration of Horsfield Bronze Cuckoo depositing its eggs using the bill. The Emu 69: 178-181 (nidification)
Kloot, T. 1969. Courtship feeding in Horsfield Bronze Cuckoo. The Emu 69: 116 (nidification)
Lea, A.M. & Gray, J.T. 1935. The food of Australian birds. An analysis of the stomach contents. Part II. The Emu 35: 63-98 (diet)
Marchant, S. 1972. Evolution of the genus Chrysococcyx. Ibis 114: 219-233 (nidification, evolution)
Mathews, G.M. 1912. Notes on Australian cuckoos. Austral Avian Records 1: 2-22 (presenting alternative taxonomic arrangement also subsequent revisions)
Shelley, G.E. 1891. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Picariae-Cuculidae. London : British Museum Vol. 19 xii 484 pp. 13 pls. (synonymy and specific limits)