106 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



brown ; remainder of lower plumage pale buff, barred with black ; the bars 

 on the under tail-coverts nearly obsolete. 



In another stage the whole upper plumage, wings and tail are barred 

 with black and deep rufous. 



Feet, iris and gape bright yellow ; the upper mandible and the tip of 

 the lower mandible horny green ; the rest of the lower mandible yellowish 

 horny. (Davison.) 



Length 12 inches, tail 6, wing 6*8, tarsus '7, bill from gape I'l. The 

 female appears to be slightly smaller. 



I have described above the only bird I procured in Pegu. It was shot 

 in October, and agrees well with other birds from India and Siberia, 

 except that the Pegu bird has a good deal of rufous on the breast. This 

 species may always be distinguished from C. micropterus by the colour of 

 its upper plumage, which is a clear bluish ashy, whereas in C. micropterus 

 the upper plumage is brown with no bluish tinge. C. striatus, as a rule, 

 also has a smaller bill ; but this is not a reliable character. From 

 C. canorus it may be always separated by the subterminal dark bar on 

 the tail. 



The Asiatic Cuckoo is somewhat rare in Pegu, for I procured only one 

 specimen in that Division, and I never heard its note. Mr. Davison states 

 that it is apparently not rare in Tenasserim. Both to Pegu and Tenas- 

 serim it is probably only a winter visitor. 



It occurs, according to season, over the greater portion of Asia, 

 extending, according to Mr. Blyth, even to North Australia. Mr. 

 Seebohm procured it in Siberia, and his specimens are identical with 

 Indian examples. 



This Cuckoo has a very peculiar note, which appears to resemble the 

 cry of the Hoopoe, being a guttural and hollow-sounding hoo. It lays 

 in the Himalayas during June, and deposits its eggs very frequently in the 

 nest of Trochalopterum lineatum. 



The Cuckoos of South-eastern Asia have received a vast number of 

 names, and it would require many months' labour and the examination of 

 all the specimens contained in the European museums to evolve order from 

 this confused mass of synonyms. 



C. hyperythrus is a very distinct and beautiful species, which inhabits 

 the Philippines and is also said to occur in China. The whole upper 

 plumage, chin and cheeks in the adult are dark ashy, almost black, and 

 the whole breast and abdomen are a deep rufous unstreaked and unbarred. 



