230 CUCULID^E. 



but it probably does not migrate to any great distance, and in 

 India generally it is a resident. It feeds entirely on fruit. It 

 lays in May and June in the nests of Crows, generally Corvus 

 splendens, less frequently in those of C. macrorliynchus, and not 

 unfrequently two or more Keel's eggs may be found in the same 

 nest. The eggs much resemble those of Crows, but are smaller ; 

 they are dark green, blotched and spotted with reddish brown, and 

 measure about 1-19 by -92. The Crows bring up the Koel, which 

 .at times, at all events, ejects the young Crows, after they are 

 hatched. Koels are often kept caged by natives of India, who 

 admire the bird's rich melodious call-notes. 



Genus ZANCLOSTOMUS, Swainson, 1837. 



Bill compressed, moderately deep ; culrnen much curved, red in 

 colour ; nostril elongate, longitudinal, a small naked space round 

 the orbit. Feathers of forehead and throat spiny. Wing short, 

 rounded, primaries scarcely longer than secondaries ; tail very 

 long, greatly graduated, the outer tail-feathers half or less than 

 half the length of the median pair. Tarsus naked. 



Only one species is included in this genus. 



1121. Zanclostomus javanicus. The Lesser Red-billed Malkoha. 



Phcenicophaus javanicus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 178 (1821). 

 Zanclostomus javanicus, Swains. Class. Birds, ii, p. 323 ; Blyth, 



J. A. S. B. xi, p. 1097 ; id. Cat. p. 76 j Horsf. $ M. Cat. ii, p. 688 ; 



Blyth, Birds Burm. p. 81 ; Hume # Dav. S. F. vi, pp. 167, 506 ; 



Hume, Cat. no. 216 quint. ; Oates, B. B. ii, p. 125 ; Shelley, Cat. 



B. M. xix, p. 380. 



Coloration. Upper parts, except the tail, ashy grey, strongly 

 glossed with green on the wings, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; 

 quills brownish grey ; tail blackish, glossed with purple, varying 

 to green, the rectrices tipped white ; chin, lores, cheeks, throat, 

 and fore-neck pale ochraceous ; breast grey washed with rufous ; 

 abdomen rusty red. 



Bill in adults coral-red ; irides brown, naked space round eye 

 blue ; legs and feet dark plumbeous. 



Length about 17 ; tail 10-75 ; wing 5-5 ; tarsus 1*4 ; bill from 

 gape 1'6. 



Distribution. Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Malayan Penin- 

 sula, extending into Tenasserim as far north as Tavoy, but very 

 rare. 



Genus EHOPODYTES, Cab. & Heine, 1862. 



Bill deeper than in Zanclostomus and of a pale green colour ; 

 nostril small, rounded or oval and oblique ; a large naked space 

 round the orbit, separated from the bill by a narrow band of 

 feathers. No eyelashes. Otherwise as in Zanclostomus , from 

 which Rhopodytes is doubtfully separable. 



