62 ON TUE CUCULID-E DESCEIBED [18G9. 



I have failed to detect the slightest difference between the plumage of adult birds from South 

 Africa {Cocci/stcs Jii/jiopinarus, Cab. & Heine, t. c. p. 47) and from India and Ceylon. The South- 

 African bird, however, possesses a somewhat stouter bill and a longer wing and tail. I have 

 compared a large series of Cingalese individuals with specimens from Malabar, Candeish, Simla, 

 and north-eastern India, and have found the Cingalese form slightly smaller in all its dimensions. 

 It is the Ceylon Cuckoo of Latham (Gen. Hist. iii. p. 291). C. pica. Hemp. & Ehrenb., from 

 north-eastern Africa, is doubtfully distinct. 

 Ibis, 1869, C. canorus, L., var y, Gm. ex Beseke, Schr. Berl. Naturf. Ges. vii. p. 452, seems to be nothing 



p. 333. jj^QYe than a variety described from Courland. Beseke's account has been ignored by the authors 

 I have had opportunities of consulting {coiif. Beseke, Yog. Kurl. nos. 53, 54). 



C. mailrtfinscariensis, Gm., var |3, description taken, but not acknowledged, from 

 Montbeillard {t. c. p. oG4), who quotes from a note made by Commerson. This traveller found 

 it in company with C. gifjas, Bodd. " 11 a sur la tete un espace nu," lightly furrowed, coloured 

 blue, and surrounded by feathers " d'un beau noir," those of the head and neck silky. Some 

 bristles round the base of the bill. Inside of mouth and tongue black. Tongue forked. Irides 

 reddish. Thighs and inside of the quills blackish. Feet black. Nearly of the size of a fowl. 

 Weight 13'^- ounces. Total length 21J inches. Bill 19 lines, " ses bords tranchans." The 

 nostrils similar to those of gallinaceous birds. Eighteen quills in the wing. Wings extended, 

 22 inches. The outer posterior toes capable of being brought forward. The size of this species, 

 together with its possessing a naked space of blue skin on the head, identifies it with Coccyzus 

 delalandii, Temm. PI. Col. 440, from Madagascar (1827). 



C.jnnictidafus, Gm., founded on Latham's " Punctuated Cuckoo " (Syn. i. pt. 2, p. 541. no. 39), 

 described fi-om a specimen he had received among " various other birds from Cayenne." Mr. Sclater 

 considers it to be Biploptcrus ncevius (L.), in adolescent plumage. 



C. mlibundiis, Gm., a bird of Mexico, founded on the " avis ridihunda " of the ante-Brissonian 

 authors. Hernandez (Hist. Nov. Ilisp. cap. clxxix. p. 49) says that before the introduction of 

 the true faith it passed for a bird of bad omen. It is apparently C. mexicanus, Swainson (Phil. 

 Mag. i. p. 440, 1827). 



C. ncevius, L., var. /3, Gm., founded, but without acknowledgment, on Sonnini's " Oiscau dcs 

 harribres" (Montbeillard, op. cit. v. p. 412), "common in Guiana and Cayenne," is possibly 

 C. ncevius, L., in some hitherto unrecognized phase of plumage. Dr. Sclater is unacquainted with 

 it ; and it does not appear to have been identified by any author. If distinct, it will stand as 

 C. septornm, Vieill., Enc. iii. p. 1343. 

 Ibis. 1S09, C. dominicHs, L., var. ft, Gm., also taken from Montbeillard {t. c. p. 413) and without 



V-^^^- acknowledgment. Described from ''le petit Cvncou f/ris" of M. Mauduit's cabinet, which is 

 stated only to differ from " le Cendrilhtrd" of Montbeillard (C. dominicus, L.) by being a little 

 larger, having a slightly shorter bill, and the entire under surface white. The origin of Mauduit's 

 specimen is not stated. It does not seem to have been recognized by any author ; nor does its 

 description agree with any species known to Dr. Sclater. 



C. coi/onus, L., var. 7, Gm. ex Montbeillard {f.r. p. 41G), but unacknowledged. Lesson (Tr. 

 d'Om. p. 140, 1831) identified a Cayenne individual with Gmeliu's species, and entitled it Piaya 

 hrachtjidera. The species had previously, and has since, received several different titles, the oldest 

 of which, C. melanogaster, Vieill. (Diet. Class. H. N. iv. p. 570), stands — unless indeed Vieillot's 



