^18 CUCULID^. 



have been taken in September by Miss Cockburn on the Nilgiris, 

 in the nests of Prinia inornata. The young have been found in 

 Dehra Dim by Mr. E, Thompson in nests of Pyctorhis sinensis and 

 Lanius erythronotus. C. passerimis also lays in the nest of Molpastes 

 hengalensis. The eggs are pale blue, blotched and spotted towards 

 the large end with reddish brown and purple, and measure about 

 •8 by -55. 



1113. Cacomantis merulinus. The Rufous-bellied Cuckoo. 



Cucuhis merulinus, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun, hisubr. ii, p. 89 (1786) ; 



Strickland, J. A. S. B. xiii, p. 391 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 72. 

 Cuculus flavus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 421 (1788). 

 Cuculus sepulchralis, S. Milll. Ve7-hand. Land- en Volk. p. 177, note 



(1839-1844). 

 Polyphasia merulina, Horsf. ^- M. Cat. ii, p. 697. 

 Cacomantis threnodes, Cab. <^- Heine, Mus. Hein. iv, p. 19 (1863) 



Hume ^- Dav. S. F. vi, p. 158 : Hume, S. F. vii, p. 207 ; xi, p. 72 



id. Cat. no. 209 ; Crijjps, S. F. vii, p. 2G5 ; Bingham, S. F. ix, p, 167 



Oates, B. B. ii, p. Ill ; Salvadori, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) v, 



p. 568 ; vii, p. 428. 

 Cacomantis merulinus, Cab. Sf Heine, Mus. Hein. iv, p. 21 ; Walden, 



Tr. Z. S. viii, p. 54 ; ix, p. 160 ; Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix, p. 268. 

 Polyphasia tenuirostris, apud Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 335 ; Godw.-Aust. 



J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 98 ; Simson, Ibis, 1882, p. 87; tiec Cuculus 



tenuirostris, Gray. 

 Polyphasia rufiventris, Jerdon, Ibis, 1872, p. 15. 

 Cacomantis passerinus, Blyth ^ Wald. Birds Bicrm. p. 80 ; nee 



Cuculus passerinus, Vahl. 

 Cacomantis rufiventris, Armstrong, S. F. iv, p. 312; Wardl. Rams. 



Ibis, 1877, p. 458 ; Anderson, Yunna^i Exped., Aves, p. 587. 



Chota bhrou, Beng. 



Coloration. In the adult the head and neck all round are ashy, 

 rather darker above ; back, scapulars, and wings brown, slightly 

 glossed with bronze ; inner w^ebs of quills with a white patch near 

 the base ; upper tail-coverts blackish and glossy, with ashy edges ; 

 tail black, tipped white and with oblique white bars on the inner 

 webs of the outer feathers, most marked on the outermost ; on the 

 lower surface the pale ashy generally extends to the upper breast, 

 but sometimes not so far ; rest of lower parts, including the wing- 

 lining, varying from rufous buif to ferruginous red, edge of wing 

 whitish. Some birds {C. threnodes) are much darker than others. 



The young bird is brown above, at first with a few rufous bars 

 and tips to the feathers, but later with all the upper plumage and 

 tail-feathers barred chestnut and black ; lower parts white or 

 rufous, with narrow brown bars throughout. This changes gradu- 

 ally into the adult plumage. In the last stage before the adult 

 the whole under surface to the chin is rufous buff ; this is the form 

 known as C. sepulchralis. As so frequently occurs in Cuckoos, 

 the changes are gi'adual and intermediate forms common. 



Upper mandible and tip of lower dark horny, remainder of lower 

 brownish orange ; iris pale yellow, sometimes brow^n and occasion- 

 ally crimson ; feet brownish yellow or deep yellow. 



