CENTEOPUS. 243 



much resembling C. sinensis in its ways. It breeds about May 

 and June ; a nest was found by Captain Wimberley in a high 

 tree, and contained two white eggs measuring about 1'32 by 1*12. 



1133. Centropus bengalensis. The Lesser Coucal. 



Cuculus bengalensis, Gmel Syst. Nat. i, p. 412 (1788). 



Centropus bengalensis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 1104 ; Blyth $ 



Wald. Birds Burm. p. 82 ; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xlv, pt. 2, 



p. 70 ; Gammie, S. F. v, p. 385 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 171 ; 



Bingham, S. F. ix, p. 169; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 133; Shelley, 



Cat. B. M. xix, p. 352. 

 Centropus viridis, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 78 ; Horsf. 8f M. Cat. ii, 



p. 685; Jerdon, B. I. i, p. 350; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xxxix, 



pt. 2, p. 98 ; nee Cuculus viridis, Scop. 

 Centrococcyx bengalensis, Hume Sf Oates, S. F. iii, p. 84 ; Hume, 



S. F. v, p. 28 ; xi, p. 78 ; id. Cat. no. 218 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 208 ; 



Cripps, ibid. p. 266 ; Damson, S. F. x, p. 361 ; Oates, B. B. ii, 



p. 127 ; id. in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 406. 

 Centropus javanicus, Shelley, Cat. B. M. xix, p. 354, partim. 



Nyong, Lepcha ; Kyok-Kyok, Bhot. ; Ulu Kukuha, Assam. 



Coloration. Head and neck all round, upper back, rump, and 

 lower parts black with purplish gloss ; tail black with green gloss ; 

 wings and their coverts both upper and under, scapulars, and 

 interscapulary region deep chestnut ; tips of quills more or less 

 infu seated. 



The nestling is dark brown, with large rufous spots on the head 

 and neck, and rufous bars on the fcack, wings, and tail ; lower 

 parts rufescent white, with dark spots on the throat and dusky 

 bars on the lower abdomen and flanks. The bird then passes 

 without a moult into a second plumage : the head and neck above 

 and at the sides, the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts are brown, 

 with pale shaft-stripes and white shafts ; the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts, two of which extend nearly to the end of the tail, are 

 narrowly barred black, glossed with green and rufous ; the wings 

 and tail as in adults, but the wings more infuscated and the tail- 

 feathers with rufous tips ; lower parts rufescent-white, throat 

 speckled with dark brown ; flanks, lower abdomen, and lower tail- 

 coverts with narrow dark bars. This plumage is assumed gradually, 

 and the change to the adult plumage, partly at all events by a 

 moult, generally takes place in March or April ; the white shafts 

 to the scapulars and coverts being longer retained. 



The second garb is called the winter or seasonal plumage by 

 most authors, but I can find no evidence that it is ever assumed 

 by birds that have once attained adult coloration, and there are 

 several winter birds in the British Museum collection with the 

 adult dress. The long upper tail-coverts appear peculiar to the 

 immature plumage. 



Bill and legs black, iris crimson in adults ; in the young the 

 bill is yellowish, dark on the culmen, iris brown to yellow ; legs 

 plumbeous. 



B2 



