Host species recorded for the violet cuckoo are sunbirds and spiderhunters (thirteen species of the genus "Arachnothera", small birds related to sunbirds). Host species often recognise adult cuckoos as a threat and chase them off, but then do not recognise that the cuckoo eggs in the nest are aliens. Cuckoo chicks are usually larger than host chicks. The chicks of many cuckoo species have been observed to throw the host chicks out of the nest, although this behaviour has not been recorded for the violet cuckoo yet.