282 PYGMIES AND PAPUANS 



less frequently met with, has the head and neck black 

 and the rest of the plumage dark green washed with 

 bluish on the breast, which is black down the middle. 

 The shoulders are shining silvery-blue and the vent and 

 under tail-coverts scarlet. 



These long-legged Thrush-like birds are entirely 

 terrestrial in their habits and frequent the depths of the 

 forests. They can hop with great agility and escape on 

 the slightest alarm, but are easily taken in snares. 



FAMILY CUCULID^E — CUCKOOS. 



Among the Cuckoos, the largest is a species of 

 "Crow-pheasant'' or " Lark-heeled " Cuckoo, Centropus 

 meneUki, a bird of black plumage glossed with dark green, 

 with a large whitish-horn bill and heavy slate-coloured 

 legs and toes. 



An allied, but smaller and rarer species, C. hemsteini, 

 was met with near the mouth of the Mimika. It is very 

 similar in plumage to the above, but is easily dis- 

 tinguished by its smaller size, black bill and long, nearly 

 straight hind-claw. Both are almost entirely ground- 

 birds of skulking habits. Several other species of 

 Cuckoo were met with, and among these Cticuhis micro- 

 pterus, the eastern form of the Common Cuckoo, closely 

 resembling our familiar bird. The rarest species 

 obtained was Microdynamis parva, a remarkable little 

 Cuckoo about the size of a Thrush, first described by 

 Count Salvadori in 1875. The origin of the type 

 specimen is uncertain, but it is believed to have been 

 obtained by Beccari in the Moluccas. Subsequently, Dr. 

 H. O. Forbes procured female examples in the Astrolabe 

 Mountains. Mr. Claude Grant obtained an adult male 

 and female which form a valuable addition to the 

 National Collection. The general plumage is brown, 

 but in the male the top of the head and the malar 



