270 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



actly like hypopinarus and he considered them nearer to jacobinus 

 with which race he united them, giving the range of the typical bird 

 as India, northeast and southwest Africa, while that of hypopinarus 

 as South Africa. 



But little has been determined concerning the immature plumages 

 of this cuckoo. Baker ^^ writes of the typical race that young birds 

 are brown instead of black above; the wing bar is smaller than in 

 adults and often fulvous white, the chin and throat fulvous gray, 

 the tips of the rectrices and the edgings of the wing coverts fulvous 

 gray. No mention is made of any other differences between young 

 and adults and the natural inference on the part of the reader is 

 that there are none. On the other hand, Reichenow ®^ writes that 

 young birds have the back and wings dark brown, the top of the 

 head and the tail black, throat gray, washed with ochraceous j^ellow, 

 and the rest of the underparts light ochraceous yellow. The two 

 immature males collected by Mearns agree better with Reichenow's 

 description than with Baker's, but the top of the head and the tail 

 are dark brown, and not black. If it should be found that the 

 Indian birds have white underparts in the immature as well as the 

 adult stage, and African ones are yellowish below when young, it 

 will probably be necessary to follow Hartert's classification and 

 recognize pica Hemprich and Ehrenberg. 



The two young birds are molting into adult plumage, but the one 

 from Reishat, May 25, is much less advanced than the one taken 

 June 15 at Turturo. As far as can be made out, the sequence of 

 feather replacement is as follows : 



The first feathers to be shed are the middle pair of rectrices, then 

 some of the inner lesser upper wing coverts and scapulars, then the 

 forehead, upper tail coverts, back, upper wing coverts, inner second- 

 aries and tertials. The underparts are the last to be affected and the 

 molt begins on the flanks and progresses anteriorly and medially. 

 The primaries and most of the secondaries are not shed. 



In the region represented by this collection, this cuckoo is not 

 very common. In Ethiopia it has been reported definitely from the 

 following localities: Catchiocha (Hawasli district); Mane River; 

 Webi Shebelli; Gadjinja (Hawash district); Barsa River; Anseba 

 Valley (Eritrean- Abyssinian border); Bogosland; Arussiland; Gal- 

 laland; Erer Valley in the Harrar district; Waliko; Ambukol; Blue 

 Nile (Sudan border) and near by in Sennar and northern Somali- 

 land and Eritrea, but not commonly. 



Thus, Blanford •''^ writes that this cuckoo was very rare in the 

 Anseba Valley, and not seen elsewhere. Neumann **' saw it but once 



»' Fauna of Brit. India, Birtls, vol. 4, 1927, p. 168. 



^VOg. Afr., vol. 2, 1902, p. 79. 



»» Geol. and Zool. Abyss., 1870, p. 313. 



•"Journ. f. Ornith., 1904, p. 381. 



