Cuckoos (Cuculidae)

African Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx cupreus) - HBW 4, p. 565

French: Coucou foliotocol German: Smaragdkuckuck Spanish: Cuclillo Esmeralda Africano
Other common names: Emerald Cuckoo

Taxonomy: Cuculus cupreus Shaw, 1792, Gambia.
Sometimes treated as polytypic, with races based on length of tail and wing, with tail length shorter on São Tomé, Príncipe and Pagalu (insularum), intermediate on Bioko (intermedius), longer in most of continental Africa (cupreus) and short in S Africa (sharpei), and on markings on undertail-coverts, but these traits overlap considerably between regions. Monotypic.

Distribution: Sub-Saharan Africa from Gambia and S Senegal to S Sudan and N Ethiopia, S to N Angola and E South Africa; also Gulf of Guinea islands.