ON CARPOCOCCYX RADIATUS .AND C. VIRIDIS. 97 



DEC 10 189B 



NOTE XVII. 



ON THE SPECIFIC DISTINCTION OF THE GROUND- 

 CUCKOOS OF BORNKO AND SUMATRA 



(CaRPOCOCCYX RADIATUÖ AND C. VIRIDIS) 



BY 



Dr. O. PINSCH. 



Among the birds collected by the French naturalist Mr. 

 P. Diard , who in the service of the government of Dutch 

 India in 1826 first explored the district of Pontiauak , 

 west-coast of Borneo, the most interesting is no doubt a 

 Ground-Cuckoo , peculiar by its large size and vivid colours. 

 Diard got only one specimen , which reached Leyden not 

 before 1828 and which was described and figured by Tem- 

 minck in his » Planches coloriees" (91e Livr., 1832, PI. 538) 

 under the name » Calohates radiceus'\ afterwards changed 

 in » Calohates radiatus" (Tabl. méth. or Index to the above 

 work, p. 53, 1838). I mention these dates only to show 

 that publication in those days did not go on so quickly 

 as at present. This type-specimen of the PI. col. is »La 

 femelle adulte", and Temminck anxiously waited , but in 

 vain, for the »male", said to be, according to Diard, 

 more vivid in colours and with a tail » double plus longue" (!) 



No other explorer of that period mentioned this sing- 

 ular bird with the exception of Dr. Salomon Muller , who, 

 however, gives only the name {Calohates radiatus^ in » Ver- 

 handl. over de Natuurl. Gesch., Land- en Volkenk., etc. 

 (1839—44) p. 234, Note) with » Borneo and Sumatra." 

 Strange enough he does not mention having got the bird 



Notes frora thie Leyden ÜVIuseuixi, Vol. XX. 



7 



