—_ 
CEUTHMOCHARES AUSTRALIS. 161 
_ Mr. Ayres says that it appears in Potchefstroom about November, 
and leaves again before the winter sets in. Although the 
occurrence of the bird in Damara Land proved to have been 
erroneously recorded, the present species is most probably found 
there, as Senor Anchieta has procured it at Biballa in Mossamedes. 
Adult male.—Above glossy greenish black, with a long crest of 
the same colour : under surface of body also greenish black, but a 
little duller than the back; quills brownish, the secondaries glossed 
with green like the back, the primaries white at the base of both 
webs, forming externally a very large alar speculum; tail greenish 
above, inclining to purplish brown underneath ; bill black; tarsi 
slate coloured ; iris nearly black. Total length, 12°5; culmen, 1:0; 
wing, 6°15; tail, 7°6; tarsus, 1:05. 
Fig. Levaill. Ois. d' Afr. v. p. 39, pl. 207. 
144, CEUTHMOCHARES AUSTRALIS. South African Coucal. 
(Pirate V., fig. 1.) 
Zanclostomus aereus, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 247. 
In a paper on the African Cuckoos, (P. Z. S. 1874, p. 509,) the 
editor pointed out that the Coucal of South Africa is a distinct species 
from C. aenews of Western Africa, (Plate V., fig. 2,) as will be 
seen by reference to the plate ; stead of having a purple tail, this 
organ is green in the southern bird. 
It is an inhabitant of Natal, where Mr. Ayres says that it “is rather 
a rare bird, and frequents the dense bush, where it creeps about like 
the Colies. Its habits resemble those of Centropus superciliosus, 
but it is not so active. It feeds on locusts and large grasshoppers.” 
Captain Shelley writes: ‘I shot two specimens at Durban, where 
they frequent the upper branches of the higher bush, rendering it 
very difficult to see through the thick foliage.” Captain Watson 
informs us that he found it rather common on the Umgeni River. 
Dr. Kirk states that it is found in the Zambesi, where it is a native 
of the plains. 
Adult,—Head and hinder part of neck ashy grey, with a slight 
wash of olive; back dull metallic olive-green, shading into oily 
green on the rump and upper tail-coverts; wing-coverts uniform 
- with the back, as also are the quills, the under surface of the wing 
being ‘ashy brown with a very faint shade of greenish; tail metallic 
M 
