214 CUCULIDJE. 



white, tinged with rufous in places and spotted with brown except 

 on the lower abdomen and lower tail-coverts ; tail marked as in the 

 adults, but more rufous. The sides of the neck soon become 

 rufous and form a partial collar, the spots on the flanks change to 

 arrowhead marks and interrupted bars, then the breast grows 

 rufous and the cap grey. From this there is a gradual passage 

 into the adult plumage. 



Culmen and tip of bill black, the rest greenish ; iris yellow or 

 orange in adults, brownish in the young ; gape, orbit, feet, and 

 claws yellow, pale or bright according to age. 



Length about 13-5 ; tail 7 ; wing 6'75 to 8 ; tarsus -95 ; bill 

 from gape 1'25. 



Distribution. The whole of India and Ceylon, extending to 

 Eastern Bengal (Dacca, Furreedpore), but not to Assam, the Garo 

 hills, nor Cachar, and west to Mount Abu, Eajputana, but not to 

 Sind nor the Punjab. This Cuckoo occurs along the base of the 

 Himalayas from Kumaun to Bhutan, ascending the hills in summer 

 to about 7000 feet. It is found to a similar elevation on the 

 Nilgiris and on the Ceylon hills, but on the Palnis and Travan- 

 core ranges it is said not to ascend beyond about 1000 feet. 

 Reported occurrences of this bird in Assam and Burma are 

 probably due to error. 



Habits, fyc. A resident throughout its range, except in Ceylon, 

 where this Hawk-Cuckoo is described by Legge as arriving in 

 November. It is more common in well- wooded country, but is 

 generally distributed throughout the Indian Peninsula, and is well 

 known by its call, or, as Jerdon terms them, " its loud crescendo 

 notes," which, as he says, sound something like pipeeha, pipeeha, 

 each repetition higher in the scale. In the breeding-season from 

 April till June this is frequently heard by night as well as by day. 

 H. varius feeds partly on caterpillars, but largely, it is said, on 

 fruits and buds. Its eggs are chiefly laid in the nests of various 

 Babblers and have been taken in those of Crateropus canorus, 

 G. griseus, and Argya malcolmi ; they are blue and measure 1'05 

 by -79. 



1110. Hierococcyx nisicolor. Hodgson's Hawk-Cuckoo. 



Cuculus nisicolor, Hodgson, Blyth, J. A. S. -frxii, p. 943 (1843). 

 Hierococcyx nisicolor, Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 330; iii, p. 871 ; id. Ibis, 1872, 



p. 14; Blyth,IUs, 1866, p. 361 ; Hume, S. F. v, pp. 96, 347 ; xi, p. 72; 



id. Cat. no. 206 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F.v\, p. 167 ; Oates, B. B. ii, 



p. 109 ; id. in Hume's N. # E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 383. 

 Hierococcyx fugax, apud Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix, p. 236, partim ; 



nee Ciiculus fugax, Horsf. 



Ding-pit, Lepcha. 



Coloration. Whole upper plumage, except the tail, uniform dark 

 ashy ; quills browner, with white bars on the inner webs ; tail 

 with alternating bands of brownish grey and black, the last black 

 band broad, the last but one very narrow and close to the last one ; 

 extreme tip of tail rufous ; sides of head and neck and the chin 



