The Himalayan Cuckoo is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of cuckoo

Cuckoo

The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos . Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute...

 in the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Cuculus

Cuculus

Cuculus is a genus of cuckoos which has representatives in most of the Old World, although the greatest diversity is in tropical southern and southeastern Asia...

. It breeds from the Himalayas

Himalayas

The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

 eastward to southern China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 and Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. It migrates to southeast Asia and the Greater Sunda Islands

Greater Sunda Islands

The Greater Sunda Islands are a group of large islands within the Malay archipelago. Jawa , smallest but by far the most populous and important; Sumatera in the west, directly across the Strait of Malacca from Malaysia; Kalimantan, the Indonesian sector of large, compact, minicontinent Borneo; and...

 for the winter.

It was formerly known as "Oriental Cuckoo" and contained several subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 found over most of Asia. In 2005, it was determined that this "species" consists of three distinct lineages:

• Himalayan Cuckoo, Cuculus (saturatus) saturatus
• Oriental Cuckoo
  Horsfield's Cuckoo
  The Oriental Cuckoo or Horsfields Cuckoo is a bird belonging to the genus Cuculus in the cuckoo family Cuculidae. It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Himalayan Cuckoo with the name Oriental Cuckoo used for the combined species. Differences in voice and size suggest that they should...
  
   proper, Cuculus (saturatus) optatus
• Sunda Cuckoo
  Sunda Cuckoo
  The Sunda Cuckoo or Sunda Lesser Cuckoo is a South-east Asian bird belonging to the genus Cuculus in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae. It was formerly classified with the Himalayan Cuckoo and Oriental Cuckoo in a single species, C...
  
  , Cuculus (saturatus) lepidus

These are usually seen as distinct species nowadays. As the type specimen of the former "Oriental" Cuckoo is a bird of the Himalayan population, the name saturatus applies to the Himalayan Cuckoo if it is considered a species.

External links

• http://www.soc.nii.ac.jp/osj/japanese/katsudo/Journal_E/ornsci1_1pdfs/os010206.pdf