^252 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



497. Oxylophus Coromandus, Linn. ; pi. Ed. 



274, f. 2 ; Cuv, Vol. 2, p. 455 ; Ze C. d Collier 

 Blanc, Le Vail, No. 213 ; Shaw, VoL IX., Pt. 1, p. 

 119 ; Cuculus Collaris, Vieil. 



Head crested and blackish, as is the upper part of the body ; 

 upper part of neck surrouuded by a white collar ; throat and 

 thighs blackish ; fore part of neck, breast, belly, and under 

 tail-coverts, white; scapulars and wing-coverts, blackish in 

 the middle, with rufous margins, but the great wing-coverts 

 farthest from the body are rufous ; tail blackish, and wedge- 

 shaped. Length, 12" 6'". 



Le Vaillant affirms tliat lie found this bird on the Swartkop and 

 Sunday's Rivers ; but this is doubtful, it being an Indian species. 

 I found it in Ceylon : and had the bird appeared in any collection 

 formed here since my residence in the colony, I must have noticed it. 



498. Oxylophus EdoliUS, Swain.; Cuculus Edo- 

 lius, Cuv., Vol. 2, p. 455; Cue. Serratus, Sparm. ; 

 Oxylophus Serratus, Gray ; Le Coucou Edolio, male, 

 Le Vail., No. 207 ; Nieuwejaarsvogel of Colonists. 



General colour throughout, black, with greenish reflections ; 

 a broad white bar extends across the middle of the wings ; 

 head crested. Length, 13" ; wing, 6" ; tail, 7". 



Abundant in mimosa bushes throughout the Karroo ; extends into 

 the Cape peninsula, and has been received from all parts of tho 

 colony to the Eastward ; plentiful in Chapman's collection. This bird 

 visits the Cape about the New Year, whence the name that it has 

 acquired among the colonists. It evidently lays at that season, as I 

 took a mature egg from the body of one that was killed at Eonde- 

 bosch. The egg was white, glossy, and rounded at each end : axis, 

 IS"'; diam., 11'". The stomach contained caterpillars, beetles, mag- 

 gots, and flies, but the chief mass consisted of termites. I found 

 them in considerable abundance at Nel's Poort, usually in pairs, 

 5 and 9 J frequenting the trees along the river banks. Mr. Atmore 

 writes that the " eggs are white, and usually deposited in the nest 

 of the 'Geelgat' (Pycnonotus Capensis)." This is singular, as the 

 eggs of parasitic birds usually resemble those of the birds upon which 

 they are intruded. 



499. Oxylophus Melanoleucus. (Lath.) Le 



Coucou Edolio, female, Le Vail, PI. 208. 



General colour above, black, with green reflections ; below 

 white ; tail-feathers tipped with white ; a bar of the same 

 colour extends across the centre of the wing ; head crested. 

 Length, 12" 6'" ; wing, 6"; tail, 7". " 

 This speciea inhabits the same country as the preceding, and was 



