CTTCULID-*. 



middle of the upper mandible ; feet short ; toes in pairs ; 

 wings lengthened, pointed, the first and second quills longest ; 

 tail moderate, even, 



483. LeptOSOmUS VlridiS, Vieil. ; Cuculus Afer, 

 Gmel. ; Le Vouroug-drwu, Le Vail, Nos. 226, 227 ; 

 Cuv., Vol. 2, p. 461 ; Bucco Africanus, Shaw, Vol. IX., 

 Pt 1, p. 25 ; Cue* Madagascariensis Major, Bris. 



HEAD, throat, and neck, ash-colour ; crown of head blackish, 

 with a green and coppery gloss ; from the bill to the eye a 

 white line ; back, rump, scapulars, and upper wing and tail 

 coverts, green, glossed with copper ; breast, belly, sides, 

 thighs, under wing and tail coverts, bright grey ; greater 

 quills, blackish; lesser quills, dull-green, with a greenish 

 copper gloss ; tail composed of twelve feathers of equal 

 length : above copper and green- gold, beneath black. 

 Length, 15". 



Le Vaillant affirms he found this bird in the forests of Kaffraria ; 

 Sundevall states it is exclusively a Madagascar species. From this 

 island it is constantly received ; and the very name of " Vouroug-driou " 

 adopted by Le Vaillant shows whence he obtained his specimens, that 

 being the Malagash designation of the species in question. 



Genus CENTROPUS, Illiger. 



Bill short, elevated at the base, with the culmen much 

 curved, and the sides much compressed to the tip, which is 

 entire ; the lateral margins much curved, and the gonys long 

 and straight ; the nostrils sunk in a deep broad groove, with 

 the opening anterior, linear, or oblique, and partly closed by 

 a membranous scale ; wings rather long, and much rounded, 

 with the fourth, fifth, and sixth quills equal and longest ; tail 

 long, broad, and rounded on the sides ; tarsi as long as the 

 middle toe, strong, and covered in front with very broad 

 scales ; toes unequal, the anterior one the longest, the inner 

 posterior toe armed with a long straight claw. 



484. Oentropus Nigroruftis, Cuv., Vol. 2, p. 



460 ; Le Coucal Noirou, Le Vail., p. 220 ; Polophi- 

 lua Tolu ? Shaw., Vol. 1, P. 1, pi 52 ; Cue. Madagas- 

 cariensis, Bris, ; Corydonyx Bicolor, Vieil., Encl. 1354. 



GENERAL colour throughout, black, with a blue or green gloss ; 



wings chesnut. Shaw (loc. cit.) describes the '* lower part of 



