212 CUCULID^. 



Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi, p. 157 ; Ball, S. F. vii,p. 207 ; Scully, S. F. viii, 

 p. 256 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 359 ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 108 ; Marshall, 

 Ibis, 1884, p. 411 ; Salvadori, Ann. Mns. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, p. 581 ; 

 vii, p. 380 ; Oates in Hume's N. ^ E. 2nd ed. ii. p. 384 ; Shelley, 

 Cat. B. M. xix, p. 232. 



Cuculus strenuus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1856, p. 96. 



Hierococcyx strenuus, Hume, P. A. S. B. 1872, p. 71. 



Bar a Bharao, Nepal ; Nimbin-piyul, Lepch. 



Coloration. The adult has the lores whitish ; crown, nape, and 

 sides of head and neck ashy, varying from rather pale to blackish, 

 passing into the colour of the back, which with the remainder 

 of the upper parts is rich brown with a purplish gloss ; quills 

 barred with white on the inner webs ; tail brown above, pale 

 brownish grey below, tipped with white or rufous white, and 

 crossed outside the coverts generally by 3, sometimes by 4, black 

 or dark browii bands, the last the broadest, and the last but one 

 the narrowest and separated from the last by a narroAV space ; 

 beneath the chin is dark ashy, with a whitish moustachial stripe on 

 each side ; throat white, more or less streaked with ashy and rufous 

 and passing into the more rufous upper breast, which also has ashy 

 shaft-stripes ; lower breast, flanks, and abdomen white, more or 

 less suffused with rufous and transversely banded with brown ; vent, 

 lower tail-coverts, and edge of ^^^ng white. 



The young is brown above, the feathers margined and faintly 

 banded with rufous, and the lower parts are rufescent white, with 

 large streaks and drops of dark brown, becoming arrowhead marks 

 on the flanks ; the chin is blacldsh and there is a slight rufous 

 collar. As the bird grows older the head becomes dark ashy, the 

 markings on the flanks and abdomen assume the appearance of 

 bands, and there is a gradual passage into the adult. 



Upper mandible dark brown, lower greenish ; gape and orbit 

 yellow ; iris yellow or orange in the adults, brown in the young ; 

 legs deep yellow ; claws paler yellow. 



Length about 15 ; tail 8-25 to 9-25 ; wing 8-5 to 10 ; tarsus I'OS ; 

 bill from gape 1*4. Females are smaller than males, and Burmese 

 specimens larger tha,n Himalayan, which again exceed Nilgiri birds 

 in size. 



Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas as far west as Chamba, 

 ascending in summer to elevations of 9000 ft. or more ; probably 

 scattered here and there over the better wooded parts of the 

 Indian Peninsula in the cold season, but only recorded from 

 Eaipur in the Central Provinces. Common on the Nilgiris in 

 Southern India, but not observed on the Palnis, the Travancore 

 ranges, nor the Ceylon hills. To the eastward this Cuckoo is 

 found throughout the hills south of Assam and Burma, ranging to 

 China, Japan, the Philippines, the Malay Peninsula, and Borneo. 



Habits, Sfc. Probably a resident in the Himalayas and Nilgiris 

 .and in Burma, though it may be found at higher elevations in the 

 summer. It has a loud melodious call, similar to that oiH. varius, 

 .and heard about Darjiling from April to June. Its flight is swift 



