132 CENTROPODIN ®. 
and tail glossy green-black, the latter tipped with white ; 
beneath light greyish, with a tinge of fawn color mixed with 
blackish on the chin and throat. 
The Small Green-billed Malkoha is not uncommon at Belgaum 
and Ratnagiri, where it is a permanent resident. I know of 
no record of its occurrence elsewhere within our limits. 
Sus-FAMILY, Centropodine. 
- Bill strong, deep, compressed; wings rather short, rounded ; 
tarsus long; feet fitted for walking; hallux lengthened in some, 
and with the nail straight, in others short and more curved. 
Genus, Centropus, Ziliger. 
Bill strong, of moderate length, well curved, high at the 
base, entire at the tip; nostrils lateral, basal half covered with 
a scale; wings rounded; tail elongate, graduate, very broad ; 
tarsus long; feet larger; hallux long; claws of the hallux 
generally lengthened, somewhat straight. 
Centropus rufipennis, Zlliger. 
217.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 349; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. II], p. 461; Deccan, Stray Feathers, 
Vol. IX, p. 889; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 
1885, p. 64. 
THE Crow PHEASANT, 
THE ComMon CoUucaL. 
Mahoka, Hin. 
Length, 19; extent, 23; wing, 7°25; tail, 10; tarsus, 2; bill 
at front, 1°3. 
Bill black ; irides crimson ; legs black. 
Whole head, neck, lower back, upper tail-coverts and all the 
under parts, richly empurpled black; tail glossed with green; 
upper part of the back and wings bright deep rufous bay. 
The young vary very much; some (females) are barred through- 
out with rufous and blackish above, and with dusky and whitish 
beneath ; tail barred with pale grey bands; wings also prettily 
banded. 
Others (young males) resemble the adult, but the colors 
are more dull. 
With the exception of Sind, the Crow Pheasant is common 
throughout our limits. It is a permanent resident, breeding 
during the monsoon. They build large, globular-shaped, domed 
nests, in the centre of thick, thorny bushes or trees; the 
eggs, three in number, are broadish regular ovals, coarse and 
chalky in texture, of a dull white color, and average 144 in 
length by 1:16 in breadth. 
They are subject to great variation in size ; eggs of the same 
clutch even differ. 
