Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2005

emergence o f a m echan ical b ird fro m a sm a ll door. The H in d u re lig io n has an observance re la tin g to the cuckoo's voice, w h e re in w om en take a v o w n o t to eat any fo o d u n til the y have heard the cuckoo's call as the cuckoo is said to call so sweetly tha t it seems to be chanting some m y s tic teaching. One hears its voice, b u t does n o t n e ce s sa rily see it. O v e r in E n g la n d , the rom a n tic poet W o rd sw o rth w rites: Cuckoo! shall I call thee Bird, O r but a wandering Voice? To seek thee did I often rove Through woods and on the green; A n d thou wert still a hope, a love; Still longed for, never seen. (From ‘To th e C ucko o ') Cuckoos Found on Campus The In d ia n C uckoo is a m e d ium -size d cuckoo w ith a grey-head and b ro w n is h up pe rparts. Its lo u d fo u r-n o te w h is tle 'k o -k o -ta -to ' (w ith the fo u rth note low e r) can be heard from m id -A p ril. The C h e s tn u t-w in g e d C u ckoo is a d is tin c tiv e b ird w ith a lo n g b la c k crest, d a rk glossy b lue uppe rparts, and a w h ite band on its h in d neck. It has a persistent 'peep peep' w h istle . The call o f the y e llow -b ille d Large H a w k Cuckoo is said to s o u n d lik e 'b r a in fe v e r'. I t is som e tim e s repeated in a crescendo scale u n til it ends in a piercing scream, after w h ic h the b ird is silent fo r a few m inutes, before it resumes from another vantage po in t. The persistent, d is tin c tiv e cry o f the P la in tive Cuckoo makes it m ore often heard tha n seen. A sm all-sized cuckoo, its call consists o f e ig h t notes, the firs t fo u r o f w h ic h are long, slow and risin g , and the la tte r fo u r, short, fast, and falling . The Koel is named after the lo u d and incessant call o f its male, 'ko-el', w hich, in certain com m u n itie s, is in te rp re te d as a h a rb in g e r o f e vil. Impact of Construction C h un g C h i College, w ith its lake and p le n ty o f m a tu re trees, used to p ro v id e the best h a b ita t fo r b ird s on campus. H o w e v e r the loss o f big, o ld trees and w o o d y plants caused b y ambitious construction have im pacted rare forest birds and water-dependent species. A large flo c k o f egrets w h ic h used to roo st in the acacia trees b e h in d the Fong Shu Chuen B u ild in g each n ig h t fo r fou r m on th s o f the year no lo ng er return . A lso gone are the s trik in g Scarlet-backed Flowerpeckers, p re vio u sly resident at CU H K . A n o th e r resident, the B lack-crowned N ig h t H e ron is d w in d lin g in num ber. A t th e sam e tim e , n e w s p e c ie s h a v e colon ized the h ills id e adjacent to Shaw College due to the m a tu ra tio n o f its sh ru b la n d . These in clud e the Rufous-necked S cim itar Babbler, the Rufous-capped Babbler, and the V elvet-fronted Nu thatch. The Rufous-capped Scim itar Babbler, w h ich favours forest unde rgrow th , has a reddish b ro w n crow n and a b ro w n m an tle tin g e d w ith olive. Its call is a m usical p ro lo nge d 'd o -d o -d o - do '. The b e a u tifu l V elvet-fronted N u th a tc h is a sm all b ird w ith lavender cheeks and mantle, and a red b ill. It roves along tree trun ks and branches, s o m e tim e s u p s id e - d o w n . I t is a li k e ly Rufous-capped Babbler Indian Cuckoo Koel