Voice
A loud, shrill, spaced, stressed 'pwi pwee-wru' or 'pi-phu', steadily repeated on rising pitch to a screaming crescendo, territorial call. Also a rapid sequence of more hurried paired-notes, 'pipi-pipi-pipi--pipi...' or 'phuphu-phuphu-phuphu-phuphu...', rising to a fever pitch, then falling away.
Eggs (Guide)
1; variable but like those of the host, but larger and rounder; 27 x 19 mm.
Subspecies
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
sparverioides Vigors, 1832 - Himalayas from northern Pakistan and India to Nepal, Naga Hills and Manipur, whence east to China (Sichuan and lower Yangtze valley), and south to Myanmar, Thailand and Indochina. Winters mainly from Bangladesh and Thailand south to southern and southern and eastern India and Greater Sundas, and east to Philippines.
bocki (R. G. W. Ramsay, 1886) - Mountains of Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Dark Hawk-cuckoo (Hierococcyx bocki).
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
A Field Guide to the Birds of South-east Asia Robson, C., 2000, New Holland ISBN 1 84330 118 0
BirdLife International Species Factsheet