PICARIAN BIRDS AND PARROTS OF CEYLON. 257 
SURNICULUS LUGUBRIS (Blanford, Vol. III., p. 223 ; 
Legge, p. 243). 
The Drongo Cuckoo. 
Description.—Adult : Black all over, with a green and 
purple gloss, which is brightest on the upper plumage ; there 
are white patches on the inner webs of the primary quills ; 
the outermost tail feathers are crossed with slanting bars of 
white, and there are a few white spots on the next pair ; there 
is also a little white on the thighs and lower tail coverts. 
Fledglings are speckled all over with white, each feather, 
except the wing quills, being marked with a clear white 
spot on the centre near the tip ; these white spots gradually 
disappear, but often a few spots remain after maturity on the 
nape and upper tail coverts. 
Bill black ; iris brown ; legs blackish. Length about 10; 
wing 5°1; tail 5°5 to end of longest quill; tarsus *60; bill 
from gape 1°0. 
Distribution —Locally distributed throughout the low- 
country and up to about 4,000 feet; in some districts it is 
possibly a partial migrant. In the peninsula of India it is 
very rare, but it is commoner on the Himalayas west of 
Nepaul, and ranges through Burma to Borneo and Java. 
Habits, &c.—This species frequents the undergrowth and 
low branches of trees throughout the northern forest tract ; 
it is also found in scrub jungle, chena clearings, and on patanas 
dotted with trees. It is by no means shy. The call, heard 
chiefly during the north-east monsoon, is a clear whistle of six 
ascending notes. The food consists of seeds, as well as of 
caterpillars and beetles. As the adults in their appearance 
closely mimic Drongos, it was for long supposed that this 
species deposited its eggs in the nest of the Drongo. It will 
be seen, however, that the fledgling is most unlike that of the 
Drongo, and I have lately obtained clear evidence that in 
Ceylon this Cuckoo lays in the nest of the Black-fronted 
Babbler (R. nigrifrons), as in May, 1917, in the Puttalam 
District, a nest of this species was brought to me tenanted by 
a young Drongo Cuckoo. Previously to this, Mr. E. C. Stuart 
Baker had seen a strange egg taken by me from a Black- 
fronted Babbler’s nest and had assigned it tentatively to this 
