CENTROPODIN^. 349 



H. — Kuka, Beng. — Marmou>a, at Monghyr — Jemudu-kaki, Tel. 

 i. e. ' Euphorbia-hedge Crow ' — Kalli kaka, Tam., i. e. ' Hedge 

 Crow ' — ' Crow Pheasant ' of Europeans in India. 



The Common Coucal. 



Descr. — Whole head, neck, lower back, upper tail-coverts, and 

 all the under parts, richly empurpled black ; tail glossed with green ; 

 upper part of the back and wings bright deep rufous bay. 



Bill black ; irides crimson ; legs black. Tlie feathers of the 

 forehead have the barbs of the feathers few in number, bristly 

 and stronw, and the feathers of the neck and breast have strong 

 spiny shafts. 



Length 19 Inches ; extent 23 ; wing 7| ; tail 10, bill at front 

 ly'^; tarsus 2; hind claws 1. 



The young vary very much ; some (females) are barred through- 

 out with rufous and blackish above, and with dusky and whitish 

 beneath ; tail barred with pale grey bands ; wings also prettily 

 banded. Others (young males) resemble the adult, but the colours 

 are more dull. The young have the bill reddish at the base above, 

 and on the lower mandible. Some of the young birds moult into 

 a second dress like that of the next species, which seems analoo-ous 

 to the Jiepaticus state of Cue. caiiorus. 



The ' Crow-pheasant,' as it is popularly called in India, is a very 

 common and universally spread bird throughout the entire country, 

 extending through all the Burmese provinces, Malayana, and the 

 isles. It frequents wooded and cultivated grounds, edges of 

 paddy fields, open spaces in the jungles, beds of rivers and 

 dry nullahs, and particularly sides of hedge-rows, whence its 

 Tamul and Telugu names. It feeds chiefly on the ground, on 

 which it walks and even runs with facility. It eats various 

 large insects, centipedes, scorpions, lizards, and small snakes, also 

 slugs, caterpillars, &c. I was informed by a good shikaree that 

 it occasionally pilfers eggs from the nests of other birds. It 

 makes its way through trees, readily running up the boughs 

 with considerable celerity, often elevating its large tail, and climb- 

 ing 9K hopping among the branches ; whence, if followed or observed, 



