Besides cuckoos, members of this family are known as Anis, Couas, Coucals, Malkohas and Roadrunners. They are a diverse family found in many habitats from open moorland through savannah and desert to tropical rainforest. Many cuckoos are relatively dull coloured birds with various forms of mottling, i.e. stripes and spots. Some however, such as those in the genera Chrysococcyx and Cerococcyx have bright colourful glossy plumage. The best example is the Emerald Cuckoo Chrysococcyx cupreus from Africa which is green and gold.
Many parasitic cuckoos are mimics of either the species they parasitise or of hawks.
Those species which are hawk mimics usually parasitise smaller birds and use there mimicry to scare host females away from their nests, those species which mimic their hosts have hosts of a similar size to themselves and use their mimicry to allow them to get closer to their hosts without being mobbed. Many Cuckoos, particularly the parasitic ones are shy retiring birds not often seen. There is great diversity of nesting habits within the Cuculiformes, perhaps greater than in any other order. C. canorus spends the cold European winter in Africa and migrates to Europe in the spring to breed, quite why I have no idea. Males set up vague territories which will overlap with one or more female territories.