African Cuckoo-Hawk

SCI Name:  Aviceda cuculoides
Protonym:  Aviceda cuculoides BirdsW.Afr. 1 p.104 pl.1
Taxonomy:  Accipitriformes / Accipitridae / Aviceda
Taxonomy Code:  afrcuh1
Type Locality:  no locality. Type from Senegal.
Author:  Swainson
Publish Year:  1837
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

AVICEDA
(Accipitridae; Ϯ African Cuckoo Falcon A. cuculoides) L. avis  bird; -cida  killer  > caedere  to kill; "one we have received from Western Africa, and to which we have given the name Aviceda.  This subgenus, for as such we consider it, appears to follow that of Lophotes: both have the bills bidentate; both have remarkably long wings, and short tarsi; but the bill of Aviceda is much more powerful, while the feet are stout, and the claws strong and well curved. In the structure of its feet it differs from all the falcons we have yet examined. The tarsus is not longer than the hind toe and claw, and, from being feathered for more than half its length, it appears even shorter: the sole of the foot is remarkably broad, and is entirely destitute of those prominent callous pads which belong to Falco, Harpagus, and most of the hawks. Unlike all these genera, the inner toe is decidedly longer than the outer; so that the bird, in fact, may be said to have the feet and wings of Cyminidis, with the bill of Harpagus and Lophotes: it is a falcon in the disguise of a kite, — as such, at least, we view it; and by placing it next Lophotes, its station in the circle actually confirms this analogy." (Swainson 1836); "AVICEDA, Swain.  ...  A. cuculoïdes.  West. Afr. i. pl. 1." (Swainson 1837); "Aviceda Swainson, Classif. Bds., 1, 1836, p. 300 (diagnosis; no included species). Type, by subsequent designation, Aviceda cuculoides Swainson, op. cit., 2, 1837, p. 214." (Peters, 1931, 1, p. 195).
Var. Avecida, Avicida (“For Aviceda, Sw., write Avicida ... after the analogy of regicida, &c.” (Strickland 1841)).
Synon. Baza, Hyptiopus, Lepidogenys, Lophastur, Lophotes, Nesobaza.

cuculoides
L. cuculus  cuckoo; Gr. -οιδης -oidēs  resembling (e.g. grey-coloured, long-tailed, barred underparts).
● "AUTOUR COUCOÏDE.  FALCO CUCULOIDES.  TEMM.  ...  CET Autour, beaucoup plus petit que notre Epervier d'Europe, est à peu près de la taille du Rochier, mais ses formes sont celles de l'Autour et de l'Epervier.  ...  Le petit rapace de cet article a été indiqué d'une manière trop succincte par M. Horsfield, sous le nom de Falco soloënsis." (Temminck 1822) (syn. Accipiter soloensis). 
● "CUCKOO FALCON.  Aviceda cuculoides, SWAINS.  PLATE 1.  Above cinereous, with the back and scapulars brown; the throat and breast pale cinereous; body whitish, crossed by broad brown bars; vent and under tail coverts fulvous, immaculate; tail even, cinereous, with a broad terminal bar.  ...  It is such a perfect prototype of the hook-billed kites [Harpagus] of tropical America, that but for its bill, it would be impossible to distinguish the two genera, while both are disguised in the plumage of the cuckoos; or that family they both represent in their respective circles." (Swainson 1837) (Aviceda).
● "CYMINDIS, Cuvier.  ...  Tarsi very short, not exceeding the hind toe and claw; the anterior part plumed half way from the knee.  ...  Wings long; the fourth quill the longest.   C. cuculoïdes.  Pl. Col. 103, 104." (Swainson 1837) (syn. Chondrohierax uncinatus).
● "from the Himalayan mountains.   ...   As also a small Owl, very nearly allied to the Noctuæ passerina and Tengmalmi of Europe.   NOCTUA CUCULOÏDES.  Noct. brunneo-fusca; capite, dorso, tectricibus alarum, corporeque subtus albo graciliter fasciatis; remigibus externe albo maculatis; rectricibus utrinque fasciis albis quinque notatis; gula alba." (Vigors 1831) (Glaucidium).
● "GENUS NOCTUA, Sav.  ...  46.—N. cuculoides, Vig.—Gould Cent. pl. 4.—Junglee choghud, H.—Jungle Hawk Owl.   This very handsomely plumaged little owl is said in Gould's Century to be "supposed to be confined to the Himalayas."  I have found it wherever there is lofty jungle.  In Goomsoor, on the eastern side; and on the west, in Travancore and Malabar, where it is by no means rare." (Jerdon 1839) (syn. Glaucidium radiatum malabaricum).
● "Mr. Smith's next species is by far a more interesting bird, as it seems to form the connecting link between the ground and tree Cuckoos, partaking of the manners and general appearance of the former, and having the short hind toes of the latter.  It will probably form a new genus of Cuculidæ; but in the meantime till this be determined, perhaps the name of Centropus Cuculoïdes may be admitted." (C. W. Smith 1841) (syn. Taccocua leschenaulti sirkee).

SUBSPECIES

African Cuckoo-Hawk (cuculoides)
SCI Name: Aviceda cuculoides cuculoides
cuculoides
L. cuculus  cuckoo; Gr. -οιδης -oidēs  resembling (e.g. grey-coloured, long-tailed, barred underparts).
● "AUTOUR COUCOÏDE.  FALCO CUCULOIDES.  TEMM.  ...  CET Autour, beaucoup plus petit que notre Epervier d'Europe, est à peu près de la taille du Rochier, mais ses formes sont celles de l'Autour et de l'Epervier.  ...  Le petit rapace de cet article a été indiqué d'une manière trop succincte par M. Horsfield, sous le nom de Falco soloënsis." (Temminck 1822) (syn. Accipiter soloensis). 
● "CUCKOO FALCON.  Aviceda cuculoides, SWAINS.  PLATE 1.  Above cinereous, with the back and scapulars brown; the throat and breast pale cinereous; body whitish, crossed by broad brown bars; vent and under tail coverts fulvous, immaculate; tail even, cinereous, with a broad terminal bar.  ...  It is such a perfect prototype of the hook-billed kites [Harpagus] of tropical America, that but for its bill, it would be impossible to distinguish the two genera, while both are disguised in the plumage of the cuckoos; or that family they both represent in their respective circles." (Swainson 1837) (Aviceda).
● "CYMINDIS, Cuvier.  ...  Tarsi very short, not exceeding the hind toe and claw; the anterior part plumed half way from the knee.  ...  Wings long; the fourth quill the longest.   C. cuculoïdes.  Pl. Col. 103, 104." (Swainson 1837) (syn. Chondrohierax uncinatus).
● "from the Himalayan mountains.   ...   As also a small Owl, very nearly allied to the Noctuæ passerina and Tengmalmi of Europe.   NOCTUA CUCULOÏDES.  Noct. brunneo-fusca; capite, dorso, tectricibus alarum, corporeque subtus albo graciliter fasciatis; remigibus externe albo maculatis; rectricibus utrinque fasciis albis quinque notatis; gula alba." (Vigors 1831) (Glaucidium).
● "GENUS NOCTUA, Sav.  ...  46.—N. cuculoides, Vig.—Gould Cent. pl. 4.—Junglee choghud, H.—Jungle Hawk Owl.   This very handsomely plumaged little owl is said in Gould's Century to be "supposed to be confined to the Himalayas."  I have found it wherever there is lofty jungle.  In Goomsoor, on the eastern side; and on the west, in Travancore and Malabar, where it is by no means rare." (Jerdon 1839) (syn. Glaucidium radiatum malabaricum).
● "Mr. Smith's next species is by far a more interesting bird, as it seems to form the connecting link between the ground and tree Cuckoos, partaking of the manners and general appearance of the former, and having the short hind toes of the latter.  It will probably form a new genus of Cuculidæ; but in the meantime till this be determined, perhaps the name of Centropus Cuculoïdes may be admitted." (C. W. Smith 1841) (syn. Taccocua leschenaulti sirkee).

African Cuckoo-Hawk (batesi)
SCI Name: Aviceda cuculoides batesi
batesi / batesiana
● George Latimer Bates (1863-1940) US planter, ornithologist, collector in Gabon, French Congo and the Cameroons 1895-1928 (syn. Accipiter erythropus, syn. Alcedo leucogaster, Apus, subsp. Aviceda cuculoides, syn. Baeopogon indicator, syn. Batis minor erlangeri, syn. Campethera punctuligera, syn. Canirallus oculeus, Caprimulgus, subsp. Chlorophoneus multicolor, Cinnyris, syn. Dendropicos obsoletus, subsp. Dryotriorchis spectabilis, syn. Euplectes axillaris bocagei, subsp. Geokichla princei, syn. Hieraaetus ayresii, subsp. Iduna natalensis, subsp. Illadopsis cleaveri, syn. Lanius meridionalis elegans, syn. Merops muelleri, subsp. Mirafra africana, syn. Muscicapa sethsmithi, subsp. Oreocossypha isabellae, Ploceus, syn. Sarothrura pulchra, syn. Spizaetus africanus, syn. Sylvietta denti, Terpsiphone, syn. Urotriorchis macrourus).
● Henry Walter Bates (1825-1892) English naturalist, entomologist who developed the theory of Batesian mimicry, explorer and collector in Amazonia 1848-1859 (subsp. Melidectes ochromelas).

African Cuckoo-Hawk (verreauxii)
SCI Name: Aviceda cuculoides verreauxii
verreauxii / verreauxius / verreauxorum
● Jules Pierre Verreaux (1807-1873) French natural history dealer, collector (subsp. Alcedo meninting, Aquila, Carpodacus, ?syn. Graminicola bengalensis, syn. Hypargos margaritatus, subsp. Tauraco macrorhynchus, subsp. Turdus libonyanus, syn. Vidua paradisaea).
● Jules Pierre Verreaux (1807-1873) and his brothers, Jean Baptiste Édouard Verreaux (1810-1868) and Joseph Aléxis Verreaux (d. 1868) French natural history dealers (Maison Verreaux in Paris) (subsp. Aviceda cuculoides).
● Jean Baptiste Édouard Verreaux (1810-1868) and Jules Pierre Verreaux (1807-1873) French natural history dealers (syn. Campylopterus hemileucurus, Trichoglossus x Glossopsittacus hybrid, syn. Verreauxia africana).
● Jean Baptiste Édouard Verreaux (1810-1868) French natural history dealer, collector (subsp. Celeus grammicus, Lophornis).
● see also veroxii