453 Mr. E. L. Layard on the Ornithology of Ceylon. 



them relentlessly whenever they appear, while the Coel, like a 

 thief taken in the act, seeks safety in ignominious flight. 



The natives so much admire the note of this bird, that their 

 poets compare thereto the voices of their mistinesses. If we are 

 to believe that a soft voice is a beautiful thing in a woman, we 

 cannot coincide in opinion with them, for the Coel's loud call 

 may be heard a mile away. 



196. CucuLUs MiCROPTERus, Gould. 



Dr. Kelaart includes this species among the Ceylon birds, and 

 states that it is a mountain species and found but rarely at Dim- 

 boola. I have not met with the species, but perhaps the follow- 

 ing young bird, which I cannot identify with anything in the 

 British Museum, may be the young of this species. I name it 

 provisionally 



197. CucuLUs Bartlettii, Layard. 



Young. Length 10| in. ; of closed wing 6 in. ; tail 6 in. ; 

 bill 11 lines; tarsi 8 lines. 



General colour of back bluish gray with a rufous tinge, which 

 prevails most on the head and on the extreme edge of the out- 

 side webs of the tail-feathers ; a double row of alternating whitish 

 triangular spots runs down the quills of the last feathers. Wing- 

 feathers banded with white; throat and breast rufous brown 

 barred with white ; belly and vent white barred with brown ; under 

 tail-coverts barred sparingly in the same manner ; over the eye 

 there is a row of white dots commencing at the base of the bill 

 which has a dark brown upper mandible, the lower being yellow 

 with a brown tip ; feet yellow. Irides dark brown. 



I have obtained many examples of this bird in this state, both 

 at Pt. Pedro and Colombo. It frequents native gardens, delighting 

 in the shade and uttering a piping note. 



198. CucuLXJS CANORUS, Linn. 



A single specimen of this bird, pi'ocured in the old Botanical 

 Gardens at Kew, near Colombo, has fallen under my notice. It 

 was shot on an American cork-wood tree [Bignonia), the same 

 on which I killed Motacilla boarula before mentioned, and three 

 specimens of 



199. CucuLUs vARius, Vahl, 



being the only examples I have seen of these birds. 



200. CuCULUS SONNERATII, Lath. 



Dr. Kelaart has procured several specimens of this, one of our 

 rarest birds ; he showed me a recent individual the day before my 



