189 



KLASS'S CUCKOO. 



Chalcites Klassii, LESSON. 

 PLATE XXI. 



Golden-green ; beneath white ; flanks and inner wing-covers 

 without bands. 



Coucou de Klas, Le Vaill Ois. d'Af. v. pi. 212. 



THERE are some few occasions when we may be 

 allowed to relax a little those necessarily rigid laws 

 of nomenclature, without which our catalogues would 

 soon become overwhelmed with barbarous and un- 

 intelligible names. One of these exceptions may 

 be made for the bird now before us, designed by Le 

 Vaillant to commemorate the faithful and long con- 

 tinued services of his favourite Hottentot Klass, the 

 companion of his journeys, and, without doubt, the 

 contributor to his collections of very many of the 

 new species he subsequently described. It seems 

 to be equally rare in Senegal, as it is, according to 

 Le Vaillant, in Southern Africa ; for as yet we have 

 only seen three specimens from the Western Coast. 

 It may save the ornithologist some trouble if we 

 briefly state the difference between this and the last, 

 Klass's Cuckow is at once known by being smaller, 

 in having no white spots before the eye, or on the 



