216 CUCULIDjE. 



Length about 11; tail 5*5; wing 5*7; tarsus *8 ; bill from 

 gape 1-1. 



Distribution. Only known from South Tenasserim, the island of 

 Salanga (Junk Ceylon) and Northern Borneo. 



Genus CACOMANTIS, S. Miiller, 1842. 



This is a genus of small-sized Cuckoos resembling Cuculus in 

 the changes of plumage, and to some extent in the coloration of 

 the young and adult ; but distinguished by much shorter wings,, 

 with the primaries only extending about one-third the length of 

 the wing beyond the end of the secondaries, and by having the tail 

 as long as the wing or longer. 



About 10 species are known, ranging from India to Australia 

 and the Fiji Islands ; two of these are Indian. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Upper parts dark ashy. 



a'. Abdomen white or grey C. passerinus, adult, p. 216. 



b'. Abdomen rufous C. merulinus, adult, p. 218. 



b. Upper parts brown and chestnut. 



c'. Crown and rump chiefly rufous, not 



regularly barred C. passerinus, juv., p. 216. 



d'. Upper parts barred throughout C. merulinus, juv., p. 218. 



1112. Cacomantis passerinus. The Indian Plaintive Cuckoo. 



Cuculus passerinus, Vahl, Skriv. Nat. Selsk. iv, p. 57 (1797) j Legge, 



Birds Ceyl. p. 235. 

 Cuculus tenuirostris, J. E. Gray in Hardw. III. Ind. Zool. ii, pi. 34 r 



fig. 1 (1833-4) ; myth, J. A. S. B. xiii, p. 391 ; xviii, p. 805 ; id. 



Cat. p. 72, partim; Layard, A. M. N. H. (2) xiii, p. 453. 

 Polyphasia tenuirostris, Horsf. fy M. Cat. ii, p. 698. 

 Polyphasia nigra, apud Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 333 ; id. Ibis, 1872, p. 14 ; 



Simson, Ibis, 1882, p. 87 ; nee Cuculus niger, L. 

 Cacomantis passerinus, Cab. 8f Heine, Mus. Hein. iv, p. 18 (1862) ; 



Ball, S. F. vii, p. 207 ; Cripps, ibid. p. 265 ; Hume, Cat. no. 208 ; 



Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 55 ; Butler, ibid. p. 388 ; Damson, S. F. x, p. 360; 



Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 127 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii f 



p. 385 ; Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix, p. 277. 

 Polyphasia passerina, Jerdon, Ibis, 1872, pi. 1 ; Holdsivorth, P. Z. S. 



1872, p. 431. 

 Ololygon passerinus, Butler, S. F. iii, p. 461 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, 



p. 255. 



Pousya, Mahr. ; Chinna katti pitta, Tel. ; Koha, Cing. 



Coloration. In the adult the upper parts are dark ashy ; the wings 

 throughout brown, glossed outside with greenish bronze ; inner 

 webs of the quills with a white patch near the base ; tail nearly 

 black, tipped with white, the outer feathers obliquely banded with 

 white on the inner webs, the white bands most developed on the- 



