Malayan Ornithology. 395 



hoot ! whoop ! repeated very loudly over and over again, but 

 occasionally varied by a loud gulp, as Jerdon says, exactly 

 like somebody choking. 



Centrococcyx BENGALENSis (Gm.). Thc Lesser Indian 

 Coucal. 



A common bird, particularly among low secondary jungle, 

 and in districts covered with " lalang," a long coarse grass 

 which springs up to a height of over three feet on ground 

 where the jungle has been burned. In such localities it is 

 plentiful at all seasons throughout Perak, Larut, Port Wel- 

 lesley, Johore, and all the Settlements. In Singapore I shot 

 innumerable specimens, in all stages of plumage, some very 

 dark with only the wings rufous, others pale rufous all over ; 

 in fact their plumage varies greatly, according to their age 

 and sex, some being so different from others as to almost 

 seem of another species. 



A male which I shot at Singapore, on July 5th, nearly in 

 full adult plumage, measured 12 inches in length, tarsus 

 Ig inch; irides deep red; legs plumbeous; beak black; head, 

 neck, upper tail-coverts, tail, and underparts black, glossed 

 with metallic green and blue ; but the underparts were a good 

 deal blotched with white, which is not, I believe, the case in 

 the quite mature male ; wings rufous, with the feathers dusky 

 at their tips ; feathers of the back pale-shafted. 



Another male, shot in Perak during June, is similar to the 

 above, except that its upper tail-coverts are narrowly barred 

 with rufous-brown. 



In striking contrast with both of these is a female, shot at 

 Singapore on 30th August, which was entirely of a pale 

 rufous colour with its upper parts and wings narrowly barred 

 with black; irides brown; beak fleshy, but dusky on the 

 culmen ; legs black. Length of bird 13^ inches. 



This species is insectivorous ; I have seen it chasing grass- 

 hoppers. 



[To be continued.] 



