252 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
darker ; rest of lower parts creamy white with broad black 
bars. The bars are narrower and more distant on the under 
tail coverts and wing lining. 
Females are browner on the throat and neck. 
Immature birds are brown above; the head and neck 
mottled with white and rufous ; the feathers of the back and 
wings tipped with rufous ; lower parts buff, barred with dark 
brown ; the markings on the tail are more rufous and banded. 
The change to adult plumage is gradual. 
Bill horny black, the lower mandible fleshy ; iris brown ; 
legs yellow. 
Length about 12°25; wing about 7°5; tail 6°25; tarsus 
°8; bill from gape 1°25. 
Distribution.—Said to be rare in Ceylon, and apparently 
a migrant. Specimens have been recorded from various 
localities both in the low-country and in the hills. In the 
breeding season it is found in the Himalayas and Assam hills, 
and ranges north to Eastern Siberia, China, and Japan. In 
winter it is found over most of India, though rarer in the south, 
and extends south-eastwards through Burma, &c., to the 
Malay Archipelago. 
Habits, &c.—This species has a very hawk-like appearance. 
It keeps to the tops of trees in tall forest, especially on hill 
slopes, and is a very shy bird. The call is described as a 
melodious double note of two syllables in each part, represented 
by its Bengali name of ‘‘ Boukotako.” It may be the bird 
whose call is not uncommonly heard in the Eastern Province, 
where it is known as ‘‘ Captain Philpots.” I have also heard 
this call in the Medagama hills and near Polonnaruwa, but 
have never seen the bird or met any one who has done so. 
Hrerococcyx vaRius (Blanford, Vol. III., p. 213 ; 
Legge, p. 240). 
The Common Hawk Cuckoo. 
Description.—Adult : Upper plumage dark ash-gray, darkest 
on the back and palest on the rump and upper tail coverts. 
Wing quills browner, with broad white bars on the inner webs ; 
tail ash-brown crossed with four or five bars of blackish- 
brown, each of which is bordered behind with a pale rufous 
