258 Sir R. H. Schomburgk on the Birds of Siam. 



metallic lustre ; wings greyish black, barred with white spots ; 

 throat yellowish, and the head tufted with red. 



23. ]\Iegal^ma philippensis. (Nock tshang-tong.) 



The " Tshang-tong " is a solitary bird ; it selects a convenient 

 branch of a tree, and there sits, jDouring out, in measured terms 

 and melancholy strain, a sound compared to the pronunciation 

 oi pock-jjoclc. 



24. CyxMbirhynchus nasutus. 



This interesting and splendid bird was first met with when 1 

 ascended the Menam at Cansovan (translated literally, the " place 

 of heaven^'). The bill, excessively broad at its root, strong and 

 horny, is at its upper part of a beautiful smaragdinous blue, 

 below bright yellow (these colours are lost in preserved speci- 

 mens) ; the back is of a glossy black ; wings and tail of the same 

 colour, but the feathers of the wing nearest the back are of a 

 pure white ; those of the throat, belly, and near the base of the 

 tail are of a deep red, like the plumage of the Red Chatterer 

 {Phoenicocercus camifex), to which the Siamese bird may in ge- 

 neral be compared, distinguishing itself, however, by the re- 

 markable form of its beak. 



25. Centropus philippensis. (Nock budh.) 



The Crow-Pheasant of the colonists has much the manners of 

 the Croto'pliagcR, or Black Witches of the western tropics. Like 

 them, they live in societies ; but whether they make a nest for 

 the community, where the females deposit their eggs and take 

 their brooding in turns, I cannot say. The sound which the 

 bird produces is loud. As I have already observed, they are 

 gregarious ; and when I approached for the first time a copse 

 of wood where there was a colony of them, I was astonished at 

 the deep sound which emanated from it, and ascribed it to birds 

 of the size of an Eagle. But after I had brought down some 

 with my gun, I found that they were not larger than our 

 Cuckoos, to which family they indeed belong. It is said that 

 they announce the turn of the tide by their crj^, in rivers flowing 

 to the sea, where such influence is felt ; the same is said of the 

 Nock changtong, but navigators will hardly pay regard to such 

 indications when desiring to avail themselves of a favourable 



