326 BIllDS OF INDIA. 



The young are more coarsely barred than adults, with pale 

 Tufesccnt on a blackish ground, and the breast is white, banded with 

 dusky ; and aged individuals have the back and wings very faintly 

 barred, the tail with the central feathers nearly all black, the edges 

 scolloped with rufous, and the outer feathers with dusky. 



Length 10 inches ; wing 5 ; tail 5 ; bill at front /^ ; tarsus ^^J, 



This is a peculiar type, appearing to retain permanently the 

 rufous colour, which is casual or temporary with some of the last. 

 Its bill is rather large. It somewhat resembles the rufous state 

 of Polypliasia ; but may be distinguished by its larger bill, longer 

 wings, and the narrow and close bars, both above and below, the 

 latter being always on a white ground. 



This elegantly marked little Cuckoo is found in the forests of 

 Malabar and Travancore, where it appears tolerably common, also 

 on the sides of the Neilgherries, and in the Wynaad, and more 

 rarely on the Eastern Ghauts, about the latitude of Madras. It feeds 

 chiefly on caterpillars. In what nests its eggs are deposited is 

 unknown. It appears not to occur in Northern India or the 

 Himalayas ; but it is not rare in Ceylon, and it is likewise found in 

 Malacca, Java, &c. 



The following two Cuckoos differ somewhat from the type of the 

 European bird, and show, in their thicker bill and coloration, a 

 tendency to the group of Hierococcyx ; the tall-feathers are sub- 

 equal, the outermost alone being very much shorter than the rest ; 

 the wings, too, being distinctly shorter. 



203. Cuculus micropterus, Gould. 



Blyth, Cat. 340— HORSF., Cat. 102^— Bou-lwtakoy Beng.— 

 Takho-pho, Lepch. — Kankatong, Bhot. 



The Indian Cuckoo. 



Descr. — Upper parts darkish ashy, pure on the head ; throat and 

 breast grey ; abdomen white, with broad and tolerably distant 

 dark brown bars ; quills brown, the inner webs with wider bars or 

 spots than those of C. canorus ; tail concolorous with the body, or 

 brownish-ashy ; a broad dark band at the end, narrowly tipped 



