502 Mr. G. L. Bates on the 



and the under surface witli faint whitish feather-tips, which 

 tend to disajjpear in somewhat older birds. A nearly adult 

 bird of this species with perfectly black tail was evidently 

 the bird described by Sjostedt as C. aurivillii. No. 4091 

 ■was moulting the tail, having five old and worn rectrices 

 and five new ones, some not grown. The new ones have 

 white tips, and spots or bars, as in the adult, the old ones 

 have no white. 



In connection with the tail of specimen No. 4091 may 

 be noted also the curious fact that the old feathers are much 

 longer and more pointed than the new. The figure (text- 

 fig. 13, p. 501) represents the middle pair of rectrices, one 

 new, the other old, drawn to exact size. The shorter new 

 feather seems to me fully grown ; but even if it were not, the 

 difference in shape is remarkable. I liave noticed in other 

 Cuckoos and in many other widely different birds the fact 

 that the rectrices are both longer and more pointed in the 

 young than in the adult plumage. 



One more thing remains to be told about the youngest 

 of these specimens of Cuculus gahonensis^ No. 3898. It was 

 brought in by a man who called it a young akdtoo {Laniarius 

 leucorhynchus) ; he had shot it with his bow and arrow in 

 company with its " parents. "" I told him I wanted the 

 parents, and soon a Laniarius leucorhi/nchus was brought ; 

 he said he had found it still crying for its child. The way 

 in which this was told seemed to make it improbable that 

 there was any deception. Moreover, the same kind of food 

 Avas found in the stomach of the "parent" Bush-Shrike as 

 in that of the young Cuckoo. 



Chrysococcyx fl-wigularis. 



Sharfie, Ibis, 1907, p. 437. 



No. 3203. $ (ova, oviduct enlarged). Assobam, Dec. 

 1908. 



This is the second specimen, and the first female example, 

 I have obtained of this rare Golden Cuckoo. When the 

 first, a male, was shot by my boy at Bitye five years ago, I 

 was close by on a forest path, and heitrd the bird's loud 

 clear call, resembling that of its congeners. 



