210 CUCULID^i CEUTHMOCHARfiS 



flew out beside me or I should not have found it, so artfully was it 

 concealed, being woven out of the living grass, so that it kept green 

 all the time, and when I stood only a couple of yards away it was 

 impossible to discern the nest. This was situated about two feet 

 from the ground, domed and with a small aperture at the side, the 

 grass being very finely and carefully woven in small plaits or wisps 

 and not in single blades, and the tops protruding freely for some 

 distance above the nest. The eggs were four in number, pure 

 white, and almost spherical just like a very large Kingfisher's." 



The stomach of the only individual examined by Mr. Marshall 

 contained the remains of beetles. These birds like other Coucals 

 appear to be residents. 



Genus II. CEUTHMOCHARES. 



Type. 

 Ceuthmochares, Cab. <& Heine, Mus. Hem. iv, p. 60 (1862). C. aeneus. 



Bill hardly so deep or strong as in Centropus ; nostril a narrow 

 slit, closed in above by membrane ; feathers of the back and breast 

 soft and normal not bristle-liko ; wings and tail as in Centropus ; 

 tarsus strong, claws all rather short and curved, that of the hallux 

 or hind toe normal and like the others. 



Three species only are ascribed to this genus ; all are confined to 

 Africa south of about 15 N. lat. 



478. Ceuthmochares australis. Green Coucal. 



Zanclostomus aeneus (nee VieilL), Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 248 [Natal] ; 

 Layard, B. S. Afr, p. 247 (1867). 



Ceuthmochares australis, Sliarpe, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 609 ; Shelley, Ibis, 

 1875, p. 82 [Durban dist.] ; Sliarpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 161, 

 pi. v, fig. 1 (1876); Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix, p. 403 (1891); id. 

 B. Afr. i, p. 122 (1896); Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 499 [Zululand] ; 

 Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 121 (1899) ; W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1899, 

 p. 286 [Inhambane] ; Woodward Bros. Ibis, 1900, p. 521. 



Description. Adult. Above, dull green of an ashy shade on 

 the head and neck, becoming a metallic-olive on the wings and tail ; 

 below, the throat and breast a paler ashy-green ; abdomen and 

 under wing-coverts slaty-grey, under tail-coverts like the tail, 

 a metallic olive-green. 



Iris dark red ; bill yellow, with a dusky black patch at the 



