A large, dark-backed cuckoo with a floppy crest, white wing patches, and pale underparts; throat and lower flanks both heavily streaked. It is a brood parasite on babblers and other medium-sized birds. It calls a shrill “kreeeuu”, which is often followed by harsh chattering notes. Levaillant’s Cuckoo is similar to the smaller Pied Cuckoo, which lacks throat streaking and has a smaller crest. Dark morphs of both species are almost identical and can only reliably be told apart by size.