The Indian cuckooshrike (''Coracina macei'') is a species of bird in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae that is found on the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. Formerly under the English name "large cuckooshrike" this species included many subspecies and had a large range that included Southeast Asia.

Taxonomy

Two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised * ''C. m. macei'' ( Lesson, RP, 1831) – central, south India * ''C. m. layardi'' ( Blyth, 1866) – Sri Lanka The Indian cuckooshrike formerly included additional subspecies (under the English name "large cuckooshrike"): * Oriental cuckooshrike now includes 5 former subspecies of the large cuckooshrike. * Malayan cuckooshrike was formerly a subspecies of the large cuckooshrike.

Description

Adult males have a broad and well-marked eye stripe which is pale in females. The throat and breast are grey in males and the abdomen and flanks are finely barred. Females have the throat and breast also with barring which extends further down and lacks the prominent whitish vent of the male. They are mostly

insectivorous A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores we ...

but also feed on figs and forest fruits and usually fly in small groups with a bounding flight just above the forest canopy. The Indian population has a loud call ''klu-eep'' and the birds have a characteristic habit of flicking their closed wings one after the other upon landing on a perch. The same wing movements are also used during courtship.

Breeding

The species breeds in the dry months of winter. The nest is a shallow saucer placed in the fork of a horizontal branch at some height above the ground. The saucer is made of twigs and grass decorated on the outside with cobwebs and with little lining. The typical clutch is three eggs in peninsular India and two around Bengal.

References

Coracina Birds of South Asia Birds described in 1830 Taxa named by René Lesson {{Campephagidae-stub