262 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



hind neck appear to be the last to molt. The wings and tail are 

 shed in the post ju venal molt but are retained throughout the first 

 " winter " or its ecological equivalent. Apparently the immature 

 plumage resembles that of the adult, except for the fact that in 

 the former the rufous breast is lighter and is barred with blackish. 

 Judging by the fact that birds in this plumage have either worn 

 Juvenal remiges and rectrices or new ones more brownish, less bluish 

 black than those of the adults, it appears that the first " winter " 

 plumage is followed by a complete molt, which ushers in an imma- 

 ture breeding plumage which differs only in the wings and tail. 

 The adult plumage, .which is characterized by unbarred rufous 

 breast and bluer, less brownish wings, apparently is not acquired 

 until the third year. However, the birds breed in the second year, 

 as many birds with barred breasts have been collected and found to 

 be in breeding condition. 



Bannerman ^^ has studied the plumage changes in this cuckoo and 

 records conclusions somewhat different from those presented above. 

 His " first stage " is the same as what is here called the ju venal 

 plumage, but his " second stage," which is like the first except in that 

 the white tips to the feathers are less conspicuous, and that the abdo- 

 men and under-tail coverts are more whitish, less buffy, and that the 

 rectrices have four white spots, seems to me but a worn juvenal bird 

 molting into immature plumage, especially in the tail. His " third 

 stage " appears to be the same as the first or immature " winter " 

 plumage. Suffice it to say that Cucxilus solitarius can always be iden- 

 tified as follows: Except in juvenal plumage it may always be told 

 from specimens of clanwsus^ gdbonensis^ and chdlyheus by the pres- 

 ence of four white spots in the webs of the central pair of rectrices, 

 which the latter three do not have. In juvenal plumage it may be 

 told by the fact that the abdomen and under-tail coverts are whitish 

 or buffy banded with black, while in clmnosus, gabonensis, and 

 chdlyheus these parts are black throughout like the rest of the body. 



Mearns noted this cuckoo at the following places: Aletta, March 

 7-13, 100 seen; Loco, March 13-15, 10 birds; Gidabo River, March 

 15-17, 10 noted ; Lake Abaya, March 18, 4 seen ; Gato River, March 

 29 to May 17, 20 noted. The record of 100 birds in two days at Aletto 

 suggests a migratory movement in the northern part of the range of 

 this bird comparable to that in South Africa. 



CUCULUS CLAMOSUS CLAMOSUS Latham 



Cuculus clamosus Latham, Genl. Syn., vol. 2, Suppl., p. 30, 1802: Cape of 

 Good Hope. 



Specimens collected: 



Male, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, April 12, 1912. 



soibis, 1921, pp. 89-91. 



