376 MANUAL OF PHILIPPINE BIRIKS. 



338. CHALCOCOCCYX XANTHORHYNCHUS (Horsfteld). 

 VIOLET CUCKOO. 



Cuculus xanthorhynchus HOBSFIELD, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13, pt. 1, 179. 

 Chalcococcyx xanthorhynchus SHELLEY, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19, 



289; SHABPE, Hand-List (1900), 2, 161; McGBEQOB, Phil. Jour. Sci. 



(1906), 1, 905; MCGREGOR and WOBCESTEB, Hand-List (1906), 62. 

 Lampromorpha amethystina VIGOBS, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1831), 98. 



Basilan (McGregor) ; Cebu (Bourns d Worcester) ; Luzon (Lindsay) ; Mindoro 

 (Steere Exp., McGregor, Porter) ; Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Bourns d Wor- 

 cester) ; Samar ( Whitehead). Nicobars, Andamans, Malay Peninsula, Indo- 

 Chinese Provinces, Assam, Java, Sumatra, Borneo. 



Male. Entire head, neck, wings, tail, chin, throat, and fore breast 

 beautiful metallic violet ; three outer pairs of rectrices tipped with white ; 

 outermost pair with three white spots on outer webs; under parts, wing- 

 Hning, and axillars white, barred with metallic green. A male from 

 Mindoro had inner ring of iris dark red, outer ring yellow; eyelids 

 scarlet ; bill bright yellow, its basal third orange-red ; legs and nails black. 

 Length, 165; wing, 103; tail, 68; culmen from base, 19; A male 

 from Palawan measures: Wing, 91; tail, 65; culmen from base, 17. 



"Adult female. Above coppery bronze shaded with green, and with 

 somewhat obscure rufous edges to most of the feathers of the wing; 

 sides of the head and eyebrows white, barred with black; forehead par- 

 tially mottled with these colors; remainder of the crown and back of 

 the neck nearly uniform dark brown; center pair of tail-feathers nearly 

 uniform fiery bronze, passing into green toward their ends; remainder 

 of the feathers rufous, barred with black, and the outer web and tip of 

 the exterior pair blotched with white; under parts, including the under 

 wing-coverts, white, regularly barred with bronzy brown, passing into 

 black on the under tail-coverts; under surface of the quills brown, with 

 broad inner margins of buff, passing into white near the base of the 

 feathers. Length, 168; culmen, 16; wing, 99; tail, 71; tarsus, 14. 



"Young. Above rufous; back of the neck, back, and wing-coverts 

 barred with metallic green; quills greenish brown, edged with rufous; 

 two center tail-feathers metallic green, tipped with rufous, remainder 

 rufous, barred with black and tipped with white and with some white 

 bars on the outer feathers; beneath white, barred with bronze. Bill 

 yellowish brown. Length, 142. Males on first assuming the metallic 

 plumage are irregularly blotched with both metallic green and violet." 

 (Shelley.) 



"A very rare bird. Iris red; legs and feet dark olive; nails black; 

 bill orange-yellow, red at base; eye-wattles red. Food, in one case, 

 caterpillars. A male measures, 203 in length ; wing, 96 ; tail, 66 ; culmen, 

 18; tarsus, 13; middle toe with claw, 19. (Bourns and Worcester MS.) 



It is not improbable that Vigors's name will have to be used for 



