• Korean Journal of Ornithology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.133-135
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• 2018

Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) is a small cuckoo species in Family Cuculidae that is mainly distributed in the Oriental Region. On May 1. 2016, one juvenile Plaintive Cuckoo was found at Somaemuldo Island, Korea ($34^{\circ}37^{\prime}38.73^{{\prime}{\prime}}N$ $128^{\circ}33^{\prime}0.44^{{\prime}{\prime}}E$). The bird was identified as C. merulinus by its morphological traits, especially primary projection, the shape of bars on tertials, and pale supercilium. These characteristics were distinctive from other similar small cuckoos in genus Cacomantis and Cuculus, during the field observation and examination of photographs. This record is the first of this species in Korea, and the northernmost record of this species.