Diederik cuckoo either "cuprea" (coppery) or "capensis" (of Cape of Good Hope). The English name is an onomatopoeic rendition of its call. Diederik cuckoo The Diederik cuckoo ("Chrysococcyx caprius"), formerly dideric cuckoo or didric cuckoo, and sometimes called Diederik's cuckoo, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners and the anis. The diederik cuckoo is a smallish cuckoo at 18 to 20 cm. Adult males are glossy green above with copper-sheened areas on the back and whitish underparts. They have a broken white eye-stripe and a short, green malar stripe. All remiges have three
Common cuckoo since that species is a predator, the mimicry gives the female time to lay her eggs without being seen to do so. The species' binomial name is derived from the Latin "cuculus" (the cuckoo) and "canorus" (melodious; from "canere", meaning to sing). The cuckoo family gets its common name and genus name by onomatopoeia for the call of the male common cuckoo. The English word "cuckoo" comes from the Old French "cucu" and it first appears about 1240 in the poem "Sumer Is Icumen In" - "Summer has come in / Loudly sing, Cuckoo!" in modern English. The scientific name