210 CUCULIDjE. 



1107. Cuculus micropterus. The Indian Cuckoo. 



Cuculus micropterus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 137 ; Jerdon, B. I. i, 

 p. 326; id. Ibis, 1872, p. 13; King, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, 

 p. 214 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, pt. 2, p. 267 ; Holdsworth, 

 P. Z. S. 1872, p. 430 ; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 304 ; Hume, S. F. 

 ii, p. 191 ; iii, p. 79 ; ix, p. 248 ; xi, p. 71 ; Blyth 8f Wold. Birds 

 Burm. p. 79 ; Hume, Cat. no. 203 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 255 ; David- 

 son fy Wend. S. F. vii, p. 79 ; Ball, ibid. p. 207 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 264 - r 

 Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 55 ; Bingliam, ibid. p. 167 ; Butler, ibid. p. 388 ; 

 Legge, Birds Ceyl. p. 228 ; Davison, S. F. x, p. 359 ; Oates, B. B. 

 ii, p. 104 ; Marshall, Ibis, 1884, p. 411 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 125 ; 

 Davidson, Jour. Bom. N. H. Soc. i, p. 180 ; Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix r 

 p. 241. 



Cuculus affinis, Hay, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 18 (1846). 



Cuculus striatus, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 70 ; Horsf. 8f M. Cat. ii, 

 p. 703 ; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 328. 



Boukotako, Beng. ; Takpo, Lepch. ; Kankatong, Bhot. ; Kyphulpakka f 

 Mussooree ; Kupulpukki, Chamba. 



Bill stronger than in the other Indian species. 



Coloration. The head and neck above and at the sides dark ashy y 

 remainder o tipper plumage rich brown ; the quills barred 

 with white on their inner webs ; tail with a broad subterminal 

 black band and white tip ; a series of alternating white and black 

 marks along the shafts of the rectrices and white or rufous indenta- 

 tions on both edges ; chin, throat, and upper breast pale ashy ; rest 

 of lower parts creamy white, with black cross-bars about half as broad 

 as the white interspaces ; under wing- and tail-coverts and vent with 

 narrower and more distant cross-bars. The female only differs 

 in having the throat and breast browner. 



The young bird has the head and neck above broadly barred with 

 rufescent white (in some these parts are chiefly white) and each 

 feather of the upper plumage tipped with rufescent ; the whole 

 lower plumage buff, broadly barred with dark brown, and the tail 

 more banded than in adults and with the spots more rufous. 

 Immediately after this, the nestling garb, has been assumed, the 

 white and rufous margins to the upper plumage commence to 

 disappear, the throat and upper breast turn to ashy, and the bars 

 on the lower plumage grow more defined. Birds that leave the 

 nest in May are almost in adult plumage in October, retaining 

 only the rufous tips to the upper wing-coverts and secondaries, 

 and they acquird a rufous band across the upper breast, which is 

 ultimately lost except by females. 



Upper mandible horny black, lower mandible and a patch under 

 the nostrils dull green ; iris rich brown, eyelids greenish plum- 

 beous, the edges deep yellow ; gape and legs yellow (Oates}. 



Length about 13 ; tail 6 to 6-5 ; wing 7'5 to 8-5 ; tarsus '8 ; 

 bill from gape 1*3. 



Distribution. Common throughout the Himalayas and extending 

 into China, Japan, and Eastern Siberia in summer. Found also 

 generally distributed over the Peninsula of India and Ceylon, not 

 in the Punjab, Sind, or Bajputana, rarer in the south, but not 



