CACOMANT1S. 1' I 7 



outermost rectrices ; lower parts ashy, paling on the abdomen ; 

 edge of wing, vent, and lower tail-coverts white. Occasionally 

 there is no white and the bird is dark ashy throughout, as figured 

 by Jerdon in the ' Ibis.' 



The young at first are dark glossy brown above, each feather 

 with a rufous edging ; the lower parts are white with brown bars, 

 and the throat and breast tinged with rufous ; the tail is black, 

 with broad white and rufous bars and markings. 



In the second stage the whole upper plumage, with the sides of 

 the head and neck, is bright chestnut, the back and wings broadly 

 barred with black, the head, hind-neck, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts with merely a few black spots, and the tail with some 

 irregular black shaft-marks, a larger subterminal black patch and a 

 white tip to each feather. The lower plumage is white, narrowly 

 banded with black ; the chin, throat, and upper breast more or less 

 suffused with chestnut. 



In older birds of this stage, the head, hind-neck, back, rump, 

 and tail-coverts become immaculate, the bars on the wings are 

 resolved into spots; only the subterminal black patches remain on 

 the tail-feathers, and many of the bars on the throat and breast fade 

 away, these parts becoming bright chestnut. After this the adult 

 plumage is rapidly assumed by the acquisition of ashy patches. 



Fig. 62. Head of C. passerin u, }. 



Bill dark brown ; mouth salmon-colour ; iris reddish brown or 

 sometimes yellowish ; legs dingy yellow or brownish grey. 



Length about 9 ; tail 4'5 ; wing 4*5 ; tarsus *7 ; bill from gape 1. 



Distribution. The greater part of India from the Himalayas to 

 Ceylon inclusive, rare in the north-west, and although found at 

 Mount Abu, wanting elsewhere throughout Eajputana and the 

 Indus plains. This Cuckoo occurs in the Himalayas from Simla 

 to Sikhim, ascending the hills to the westward up to about 9000 

 feet, according to Jerdon ; and its range extends to Eastern Bengal, 

 where it meets the next species. In the peninsula of India it is 

 chiefly found in forest-regions, and is most abundant in Bengal, 

 Orissa, the wooded tracts west of the latter, and on the hills in the 

 neighbourhood of the Malabar coast. 



Habits, fyc. Jerdon describes this Cuckoo as haunting forests, 

 groves, gardens, and low bush-jungle, wandering much, and having 

 a plaintive call, which was represented by Elliot as whe-whew, 

 whe-wlie-e-w. In Ceylon and at Mount Abu this bird is said to be 

 migratory, but elsewhere it is believed to be resident. The eggs 



