PICARIAN BIRDS AND PARROTS OF CEYLON. 253 
band. Lores, cheeks, and ear coverts bluish ash colour ; chin 
and throat whitish ; fore-neck and breast rufous mixed with 
pale ash colour; the rest of the lower parts shade from rufous 
on the breast to white on the lower tail coverts, and are barred 
with ashy-gray. 
Young birds are dark brown above with rufous crossbars ; 
the lower parts are tinged with rufous and marked from the 
throat to the abdomen with rufous-brown drop-shaped mark- 
ings ; tail as in adults, but more rufous. The adult plumage 
is gradually assumed. 
Bill horny black on the upper mandible, lower mandible and 
gape yellowish ; iris in adults yellow or orange, in young 
brown ; legs and feet yellow. 
Length about 13°5; wing 7:5; tail 6°75; tarsus ‘95; 
bill from gape 1°25. Dimensions are rather variable, and 
females are smaller than males. 
Distribution —A migrant to Ceylon, arriving early in 
November, and making at once for the hills. It is found as a 
resident over all India westward of the Bay of Bengal, except 
in the Punjab, Sind, and Assam. 
Habits, d&:c.—This is the true ‘“‘ Brain-fever Bird.” Its ery 
is a piercing ‘‘ pipeeha,”’ repeated several times in an ascending 
scale. In Ceylon it is found in big jungle, especially on the 
borders of the grassy “‘ eliyas ’’ in the higher ranges. It does 
not appear to be very abundant. 
CACOMANTIS PASSERINUS (Blanford, Vol. IIT., p. 216). 
CUCULUS PASSERINUS (Legge, p. 235). 
The Indian Plaintive Cuckoo. 
Description.—Adult : Upper plumage dark ash colour with 
a greenish gloss on the mantle. Wing quills brown, with a 
white patch near the base of the inner webs. Tail feathers 
nearly black, with white tips and oblique bands of white on 
the inner webs, most noticeable on the outer feathers. Lower 
plumage ashy, paler on the abdomen ; the edge of the wing, 
the vent, and lower tail coverts are white. 
Young birds are largely rufous, and pass through three 
stages. At first the upper plumage is dark glossy brown, with 
rufous edges to the feathers ; tail black, with broad white and 
9 6(5)20 
