SURNICULUS. 365 
328. CLAMATOR COROMANDUS (Linneus). 
CRESTED CUCKOO. 
Cuculus coromandus LINN&®US, Syst. Nat. ed. 12, (1766), 1, 171. 
Coccystes coromandus SHELLEY, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19, 214; 
SHARPE, Hand-List (1900), 2, 155; OaTes and Ret, Cat. Birds’ Eggs 
(1903), 3, 103, pl. 2, fig. 4; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List 
(1906), 60. 
Mindanao (Everett); Palawan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & 
Worcester). Malay and Indian Peninsulas, Burmese countries, southern and 
central China, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes. 
“Adult male-—Entire upper half of head black, strongly glossed with 
blue on the crest; across the back of the neck a clear white collar; back 
black, strongly glossed with greenish blue, and passing into glossy olive- 
green on the scapulars and inner portion of wings; remainder of wings 
chestnut, with brown ends to the quills; tail glossy violet-black, most of 
the feathers, especially the outer ones, partially tipped with white; throat 
chestnut-buff ; chest buffy white ; flanks, abdomen, and thighs grayish ash, 
passing into violet-black on under tail-coverts; under surface of wings 
chestnut, fading into buff towards the least coverts, and into brown at 
the ends of the quills. ‘Iris dark brown; bill black, with the pale basal 
portion of lower mandible light gray; legs, feet, and claws slaty blue.’ 
(Darling.) Length, 406; culmen, 28; wing, 173; tail, 254; tarsus, 29. 
“Adult female —Similar in plumage to the male, but smaller. Length, 
381; culmen, 30; wing, 155; tail, 229; tarsus, 25. Colonel Legge states 
that the female bird is larger than the male, but this is not borne out 
by the series in the [ British] museum. 
“Nestling.—Differs from the adult in having most of the feathers of 
the upper parts tipped with rufous, the collar being shaded with rufous ; 
the tail-feathers broadly tipped with pale sandy buff; the throat buffy 
white like the chest, and the under tail-coverts rufous-buff. Length, 350; 
wing, 160.” (Shelley.) 
“Apparently a stranger in the Philippines. A single specimen was 
obtained by Everett in Mindanao. We obtained one specimen in Siquijor, 
and another in Palawan. No other example was met with on our trip. 
The Palawan specimen, a female, measures, 375 in length; wing, 153; tail, 
219; culmen, 30; tarsus, 30; middle toe with claw, 29. Iris dark brown ; 
legs, feet, and nails slaty blue; bill black, pale at base of lower mandible.” 
(Bourns and Worcester MS.) 
Genus SURNICULUS Lesson, 1831. 
Length, about 215 mm; plumage almost entirely black; tail nearly 
square, tips of the feathers turned outward giving the tail a forked’ ap- 
pearance like that of a drongo (Dicrurus) ; outer pair of feathers much 
shorter than the rest. 
