232 . CUCULIDiE. 



Nulwar Station (G. I. P. 'Rj.), and is cup-shaped, rougtly con- 

 structed of twigs aud lined with green leaves. It contained in 

 each case two chalky white eggs, measuring about 1-12 by -ST. 



1123. Rhopodytes tristis. The Large Green-billed Malkolia. 



Melias tristis, Less. Traite d'Ornith. p. 132 (1831) ; id. Voy. Belanger, 



Zoo/, p. 231, Ow.pl. i. 

 Phoenicophseus longicaudatus, Blyth, J. A.S. B. x, p. 923 (1841) ; xi, 



p. 1095; xii, p.246. 

 Zanclostomus tristis, Blyth, Cat. p. 76 ; Horsf. ^- M. Cat. ii, 



p. 691 ; Jerdon, B. L. \, p. 345 ; Godiv.-Avst. J. A. S. B. xxxix, 



pt. 2, p. 98; Blyth ^ Wald. Birds Burm. p. 81. 

 Rhopodytes tristis, Cab. Sf Heine, Mus. Hein. iv, p. 64 ; Oates ^ 



Hume, S. F. v, p. 144; Hume Sf Dav. S. F. vi, p. 162; Ball, S. F. 



Tii, p. 207 ; Hume, Cat. no. 215 ; id. S. F. xi, p. 77 ; Scully, S. F. 



viii, p. 258; Bingham., S. F. ix, p. 168; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 121 ; 



Salvadoi-i, Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen. (2) iv, p. 582 ; v, p. 569 ; vii, 



p. 381 ; Oates in Hume's N. Sr F. 2nd ed. ii, p. 397 ; Shelley, Cat. 



B. M. xix, p. 386. 



Ban-kokil, Beng. ; Sanku, Lepcha ; Bamura, Assam ; Waimlai, 

 Burmese. 



Coloration. Some black bristles scattered over the forehead and 

 chin and around the gape ; lores black, a band above the lores and 

 naked orbital area black and white mixed ; head and neck above 

 ashy grey, with a greenish wash, which passes on the back into 

 glossy green ; wings and tail black, richly glossed with green both 

 above and below ; some blue gloss on the quills ; tail-feathers 

 broadly tipped with white ; chin and cheeks whitish, feathers black- 

 shafted, passing into colour of throat, which is pale brownish ashy, 

 becoming darker on the breast and passing into dark ashy on the 

 abdomen. 



Bill pale green, tinged at gape and about base with red : irides 

 brown or reddish brown ; orbital skin dull dark to bright crimson ; 

 legs and feet dark greenish plumbeous {Davison). 



Length about 23 ; tail about 15 ; wing 6-5 ; tarsus 1-6 ; bill from 

 gape 1-6. 



Distribution. The outer Himalayas below about 8000 ft. 

 elevation as far west as Kumaun ; also Bengal and, according to 

 Jerdon, Chutia Nagpur and the Northern Circars (this needs 

 confirmation) ; common in Assam, the hill-tracts to the south- 

 ward, throughout Burma, except to the extreme south of Tenas- 

 serim, and in Siam, Cambodia, and Cochin China. 



Habits, Sfc. This bird, like others of the genus, keeps singly or in 

 pairs to thick scrub, aud is but rarely seen on the wing ; its flight is 

 slow and heavy, and when flushed it escapes into bush or forest as 

 quickly as it can, and makes its way with great rapidity through 

 dense cover. It feeds on the ground upon insects of all kinds. 

 It has a low clucking note, called by Davison a cat-like chuckle. 

 It breeds in Sikhim about May, in Burma from March till 



