EUDYNAMIS. 229 



Coloration. Male black throughout with a bluish-green gloss. 



Female. Above brown with an olive gloss ; head and neck 

 spotted with white all round, more closely below ; back and wing- 

 coverts also spotted ; quills and tail-feathers barred with white ; 

 the spots of the fore-neck pass gradually into equal bars of white 

 and glossy brown, which cover the breast and abdomen. 



The nestling is black throughout at first, but it soon assumes a 

 livery much like that of the adult female, but with the spots and 

 bars rufous, the head with broad rufous shaft-stripes, the throat- 



Fig. 65. Head of E. honorata, ' <, j. 



with broad whitish streaks, the breast with large white spots, and 

 the abdomen with dark arrowhead marks. From this both sexes 

 appear to pass into the adult plumage without moulting. Some 

 young males are found almost without rufous spots or bars. 

 Probably the changes that take place vary. 



Bill dull green, dusky at the gape ; iris bright crimson ; legs 

 plumbeous, claws dark horny. 



Length about 17 ; tail 7 to 8'5 ; wing 7 to 8-25 ; tarsus 1/3 ; 

 bill from gape 1*6. 



Distribution. Throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma, except on 

 the Himalayas above the tropical zone. This bird is rare in Sind 

 and the Punjab, and not known to occur farther west ; to the 

 eastward its range extends to China, and to the south-east 

 throughout the Malay Archipelago to Flores. Mr. Hume found 

 it in the Laccadive Islands, and it is common on the Andamans 

 and Nicobars. The race from the countries east of the Bay of 

 Bengal has been distinguished as E. malayana on account of 

 rather larger size and a little stronger bill, the female, too, is said 

 to be more rufous, but the differences are neither well marked nor 

 constant. 



Habits, $c. The Koel is one of the familiar Indian birds, well 

 known to every resident in the country. In the breeding-season, 

 from March or April till July, its cry of ku-il, Jcu-il, repeated 

 several times, increasing in intensity and ascending in the scale, 

 is to be heard in almost every grove. It has another call, like 

 7w-i/-o, uttered by the male alone. This Cuckoo keeps much to 

 groves of trees in cultivated tracts, and is rare in large forests. 

 In Pegu and Tenasserim, according to Gates and Davison, it 

 makes its appearance in February and disappears about July, 



