132 CENTROPODIN.E. 



and tail glossy green-black, the latter tipped with white p 

 beneath light greyish, with a tinge of fawn color mixed with 

 blackish on the chin and throat. 



. The Small Green-billed Malkoha is not uncommon .at Belgaum 

 and Ratnagiri, where it is a permanent resident I know of 

 no record of its occurrence elsewhere within our limits. 



SUB-FAMILY, Centropodinse. 



Bill strong, deep, compressed; wings rather short, rounded; 

 tarsus long; feet fitted for walking; hallux lengthened in some, 

 and with the nail straight, in others short and more curved. 



GENUS, Centropus, Illiger. 



Bill strong, of moderate length, well curved, high at the 

 base, entire at the tip ; nostrils lateral, basal half covered with 

 a scale ; wings rounded ; tail elongate, graduate, very broad ; 

 tarsus long ; feet larger ; hallux long ; claws of the hallux 

 generally lengthened, somewhat straight. 



Centropus rufipennis, Illiger. 



217. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. I, p. 349; Butler, Guzerat; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. 11^, p. 461; Deccan, Stray Feathers, 

 Vol. IX, p. 389 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 

 1885, p. 64. 



THE CROW 'PHEASANT. 



THE COMMON COUCAL. 

 Mahoka, Hin. 



Length, 19 ; extent, 23 ; wing, 7'25 ; tail, 10 ; tarsus, 2 ; bill 

 at front, 1'3. 



Bill black ; iyides crimson ; legs black. 



Whole head, neck, lower back, upper tail-coverts and all the 

 under parts, richly empurpled black ; tail glossed with green ; 

 upper part of the back and wings bright deep rufous bay. ; 



The young vary very much ; some (females) are barred through- 

 out with rufous and blackish above, and with dusky and whitish 

 .beneath; tail barred with pale grey bands; wings also prettily 

 banded. 



Others (young males) resemble the adult, but the colors 

 are more dull. 



With the exception of . Sind, the Crow Pheasant is common 

 throughout our limits. It- is a permanent resident, breeding 

 during the monsoon. They build large, globular-shaped, domed 

 nests, in the centre of thick, thorny bushes or trees ; the 

 eggs, three in number, are broadish regular ovals, coarse and 

 chalky in texture, of a dull white color, and average 1'44 in 

 'length by 116 in breadth. 



They are subject to great variation in size ; eggs of the same 

 clutch even differ. - 



