230 Mr. R. Svvinhoe on the Ornithohxjij uf Hainan. 



XVII. On the Ornithology of Hainan*. 

 By Robert Swinhoe, F.Z.S. &c. 



(Plate IX.) 



[Continued from p. 97.] 

 32. CucuLUs ? 



I saw no true Cuckoo in Hainan, except on two occasions. 

 On the 10th of March in Lingshuy lagoon (S.E. Hainan), out 

 of a hedge enclosing some fields, I startled a rather large speci- 

 men in the hepatic plumage. I followed it from tree to tree un- 

 successfully. It uttered no note, and was probably only a 

 straggling migrant. Again on the 21st of March, in Paklai 

 Bay (W. Hainan), I saw a similar straggler. In such a difficult 

 group as this it would be preposterous to offer a guess as to the 

 species seen. 



33. PoLYPHASiA TENUiROSTRis (Gray). 



In the first fortnight of February, I saw this little Cuckoo 

 several times in the neighbourhood of Kiungchow city, and 

 shot two males. On the 1st of March I procured a male in the 

 barred-rufous or hepatic plumage. The bird had not yet com- 

 menced laying, and was silent. The two typically-coloured males 

 measui'ed the same — wing 4'6, tail 5. The rufous bird — 

 wing 4'375, tail 4"875. This is the same species that comes 

 in summer to Amoy and its neighbourhood to breed. There I 

 have often obtained full-plumaged rufous birds of both sexes, 

 and less frequently normal-plumaged specimens patched with 

 barred-rufous. The latter I have also seen from Calcutta. 

 Birds in this peculiar plumage, brighter and more intensified in 

 the male, creep about the bushes in silence and appear to keep 

 aloof from others. I have not known them sing or court the 

 other sex, and I do not think they breed. They wear their 

 rufous dress throughout the summer; and it strikes me that 

 their inability to assume the mature coat is due to weakness 

 or some sexual defect. 



* In tlie first part of tliis paper (p. 93), I'akeornisjnvamca (Osbeck) sliould 

 give place to P. hithami, Finscb (Papageien, ii. p. 60). 



