18 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 26 5 



a bronzy wash over the copper-brown of the upperparts, and are 

 usually less brownish, more bronze than in Haas. 



Another similarity between these two species is the bright green 

 gorget on the sides of the throat in adult males of the two. The fact 

 that the chin and middle of the throat in males oi flavigularis is bright 

 yellow may be looked upon as a "step" that "ties it in" between 

 klaas &nd cupreus, and it is of interest to find that in both flavigularis 

 and cupreus the yellow fades to white in post-mortem changes in old 

 specimens suggesting an identity in the chemical nature of the pigment 

 in the two. 



Some notes on the actual plumage of flavigularis based on study 

 of specimens, and comments on what some other authors have UTitten 

 about this species may now be given. Aside from the recorded differ- 

 ences between flavigularis and klaas in the plumages of females and 

 juvenals, and of the chin and throat color and that of the abdomen, 

 in the males, it may be said that the upper parts of males oi flavigularis 

 have more coppery-bronze tones than do those of klaas. At this point, 

 it may be well to correct one detail in the description given by 

 Mackworth-Praed and Grant (1957, p. 512), who wTite that the under- 

 parts of the body oi flavigularis are narrowly barred with dark green; 

 it would be more accurate to say it is marked with brown bands with 

 not more than a slightly greenish-bronzy wash. 



The tail pattern in flavigularis is unique; the two median rectrices 

 are uniform purplish-coppery color, the next pair dark bro^^^l glossed 

 uith coppery and with white tips and broad, white outer margins to 

 the basal three-quarters of their outer webs; the remaining three 

 pairs are pure white with a subterminal bar of blackish-bronze, the 

 bars becoming narrower centrifugally. In klaas, on the other hand, 

 there is no white on the four median rectrices, and the three outer 

 pairs are white 'with five or six narrow, incomplete dark bars. 



Shelley's colored plate (1879, p. 679) accompanying the original 

 description of flavigularis shows the bird as having superciliary 

 streaks and the ear-coverts a bright purplish-copper color; these 

 characters are certainly not present in the adult males I have ex- 

 amined. An adult male from River Ja, Cameroon, in the British 

 Museum (B.M. 1911-5-31-119) has the entire top and sides of the 

 head, upper back, lower back, and upper wing coverts a dark bronze- 

 green, quite devoid of any "fiery copper" or "lilac bronze" mentioned 

 by Shelley. Bannerman (1953, vol. 1, p. 583) also gives an inaccurate 

 picture when he writes ihsit flavigularis "has not the brilliance in the 

 plumage of the other Golden Cuckoos, the upper side appearing in 

 both sexes more of a purplish bronze . . . ." It is darker green, less 

 glittering but hardly purplish-bronze. 



It seems correct, however, to agree with Shelley's conclusion that 



