Mid-largest poultry leading wood or terrestrial life. Of the external signs for kukushek characterized by having two fingers (2 nd and 3rd) directed forward and two (1 st and 4 th) - ago. The wings and tail long. The flight is very maneuverable, and many forest birds. All of our species kukushek parasitic on other birds, podkladyvaya them in their nest eggs to nasizhivaniya and rearing chicks. The total number of species vorobinyh birds, which are parasitic cuckoo, is very large, but each locality has its own biological race kukushek prefer to parasitize on a very limited number of bird species: in some localities for the Cuckoo elect zaryanok or gorihvostok, others - tryasoguzok, in third - Kamyshevek etc. The young born naked, without Pooh, and then borne ptentsovym pen. The food - insects, including hairy caterpillars and other silkworm moths, which do not eat other birds. Within Russia, only one family: Kukushkovye Cuculidae (Shtegman, Ivanov, 1978).

In the fauna of Russia and adjacent regions, except mentioned in the list of species found:

Shirokokrylaya cuckoo Hierococcyx fugax Horsfield, 1821
Indian cuckoo Cuculus micropterus Gould, 1838
Low cuckoo Cuculus poliocephalus Latham, 1790
Cristate cuckoo Clamator glandarius (Linnaeus, 1758)

References.