244 CUCULID^E. 



Length of males about 13 ; tail 7 ; wing 5-4 ; tarsus 1*6 ; bill 

 from gape 1-1 : in females, length about 14-5 ; tail 8 ; wing 6-7 ; 

 tarsus 1'75 ; bill from gape 1-25. 



Some specimens from Assam and Burma are referred by Shelley 

 in the British Museum Catalogue to a distinct species C. javani- 

 cus, but I am unable to separate them from C. benyalensis. 



Distribution. The Lesser Coucal has been found very sparingly 

 in the Peninsula of India in Travancore, the Wynaad, Mysore, 

 Orissa, and Singhbhoom ; not, so far as I can ascertain, in the 

 Central Provinces, Bombay Presidency, North-west Provinces, nor 

 Punjab, nor in Ceylon. Jerdon (Madr. Jour. L. S. xiii, pt. 1, 

 p. 172) states that Elliot found it in the Southern Mahratta 

 country ; but this was probably a mistake, as the locality was not 

 mentioned in the * Birds of India.' It is more common in Bengal, 

 and is found about Calcutta and up to about 5000 feet in Sikhim, 

 and ranges from Assam through Burma to the Malay Peninsula 

 and Southern China. 



Habits, fyc. Very similar to those of 0. sinensis, but this bird is 

 chiefly found in high grass, not in forest nor scrub. The call of 

 the female is said by Gamrnie to be double first a series of 

 sounds like ivhoot, wJioot, whoot, &c., ventriloquistic, appearing to 

 come from a distance; then, after an interval, kurook, Tcuroolc, <fcc., 

 no longer ventriloquistic. Grammie did not observe the male 

 calling. This species feeds on grasshoppers. It breeds from May 

 to August, in different localities, making a domed nest of coarse 

 grass, the living blades being bent over and incorporated. The 

 eggs are two or three in number, white, chalky, and about 1-17 by 

 101 inches. 



