18. CKNTKOPUS. 351 



Oorydonix tolu, Vieill. N. Did. xxxiv. p. 295 (1819). 



Oonti'opus toulou, Teinm. Tabl. Meth. p. 53 (I838j ; Cass. I'l: Aciul. 



I'hilwL 1804, p. 243; Grai/, Haud-l. B. ii. p. 214, no. H970; 



Sharpe, F. Z. S. 1873, p. 024 ; JIartl. Jot/. Mada,/. p. 251 (1877). 

 ContropiLS melauorhjiiclui.s, Grai/, Gen. B. ii. p. 455 (1840) ; Cub. ^ 



Heine, Mus. Hein. iv. p. 108, note (1800). 

 Ceiitropus superciliosus (wee llempr. ^- Ehr.), Hartl. J.f. 0. 1800, 



p. 108 ; id. Faun. Maday. p. 00 (1801). 

 (Jeutropus inailagascariensis, Scld. Mus. Pays-Bas, Cuculi, p. 05 



(1804) ; id. ^- Poll. Faun. Maday., Ois. p. 57 (1808) ; Milne-Ediv. 

 i)- Grandid. Hist. Nat. Madag., Ois. i, p. 179, Atlas, i. pis. 67, 68, 

 09, 70, 84, fig. juv. (1879). 



Cimtropus lalresnayanus, Verr. in Vinson, Voy. Madny. pp. 3, 5 



(1805) ; id. Nouv. Arch. Mus. ii. p. 23, pi. 2 (180G) ; Gray, Hand-l. 

 B. ii. p. 214, no. 8971 (1870). 



Ceiitropus sakalava, Grandid. llev. et May. Zool. 1807, p. 87. 

 Ceuti'opus leucLiropyga, Grandid. liev. et May. Zool. 1867, pp. 87, 

 255. 



Adult male in breediny-phiniage. Similar to C. viridis, but dis- 

 tinguished by the darker and more bluish shade of the head, neck, 

 and upper back ; the rufous colour of the wings slightly paler, and 

 the under wing-coverts mostly rufous, often with no black on them ; 

 bill blackish, inclining to grey towards the tip and ou the lower 

 mandible ; iris red ; feet slaty grey. Total length 15-7 inches,' 

 culmcu 1'2, wing o'U, tail 9'4, tarsus 1'4. 



Adult male ill non-breeding jjlumage. Differs in the head, neck, 

 and front of chest being brown, mottled with black and rufous, and 

 with a buff shaft-stripe to each feather. 



Immature. Differs from the adult in having the wings barred 

 with dusky black ; the head, neck, and chest mottled with butt' or 

 rufous-buii' bars, with only slight indications of shaft-stripes ; entire 

 body and tail barred with buff, the latter mostly so towards the end. 



" JSeslVuKj. Elack, barred with rufous above and with yellowish 

 below" {Grandidier, 1. c. p. ISO, pi. 84, fig. juv.). 



As the present species closely resembles C. viridis from the 

 I'hilippines, it may be of service to point out the only really dis- 

 tinctive characters which separate the two birds, though even 

 these are variable. In C. toulou the colouring is slightly bright(.'r 

 and bluer on the head and neck, the under wing-coverts mostly, 

 if not entirely, rufous, occasionally with a black mottling. The 

 buff shaft-stripes are rarely ever absent, especially towards the 

 scapulars, and are never met with in specimens of C. viridis which 

 lose all trace of immaturity on the wings. O. toulou has two 

 distinct seasonal plumages, while C. viridis shows no such change. 



Ventrojjus leucuroj^njija. Grand., is a remarkable variety men- 

 tioned by MM. Milne-Edwards and Grandidier as found throughout 

 the west coast of Madagascar. It is of large size and with white 

 upper tail-coverts ; but as these gentlemen insist that it is onlv a 

 variety of C. toulou, 1 have united it to the latter, never having 

 seen a specimen myself. 



i/ab. Madagascar. 



