170 CUCULI. 



The breeding-range of tlie Himalayan Cuckoo extends westwards 

 from Japan and China to tlie Himalayas, ^Mongolia, and Eastern 

 Siberia, as far Avest as the valley of the Yenesay. 



The Himalayan Cuekoo has been singularly unfortunate as regards 

 its nomenclature. INIost writers have called it Cucidus liimalaijamis 

 (Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1831, p. 172); but there can be no question 

 that the figure of this bird (Gould, Century of Birds from the 

 Himalaya ^Mountains, pi. 54) represents the rufous phase of Cuculus 

 jwHocephuJus. A still earlier name, dating from 1823, Cuculus striaius 

 (Drapiez, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. iv. p. 570), describes a Cuckoo 

 from Java with a total length of " douze pouccs,'^ or 12f English 

 inches, and has been applied by many Avriters to this species. This 

 can only refer to a large example of the Common Cuckoo. The types 

 of Cuculus cunorohh'S (Salomon Miiller, Land- en Volkenkunde, 

 p. 235) are fortunately in the Lexdeu Museum (Sehlcgel, Mus. Pays- 

 Bas, Cuculi, p. 9), and arc said to vary from 7^ to 8^ English inches 

 in length of wing. It is therefore a composite species (from Java, 

 Sumatra, Borneo, and Timor), though some of the types are un- 

 questionably referable to the Himalayan Cuckoo. This name dates 

 from 1839, and there are plenty of later date to choose from : — 



1843. Cuculus saturatus (Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1813, 

 p. 942). 



1845. Cuculus optatus (Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 18). 

 1858. Cuculus horsfieldi (Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 703). 

 1862. Cuculus canorinus (Cabanis, Mus. Heiu. iv. p. 35). 

 18G3. Cuculus kelungensis (Swinhoe, Ibis, 18G3, p. 394). 

 18G5. Cuculus monosyllabicus (Swinhoe, Ibis, 18G5, p. 545). 

 These names are, however, so very modern that in this exceptional 

 case it may be the wisest course to rake up an ill-defined and for- 

 gotten name which dates from 1797. Cuculus inlennedius was 

 described in a Danish periodical, published in Copenhagen, from 

 an example obtained at Travancore in Madras, and is said to be 

 similar to the Common Cuekoo, but smaller. As there are three 

 species which scarcely difl'er from each other except in size, and as 

 the Himalayan Cuckoo happens to be the intermediate one, the name 

 is singularly a])pr()priate, though of course it does not fulfil the 

 impossible demands of the ill-starred Strieklandian code. 



