54 Mr. A. J. North on the 



1839. The type of Cacomantis variolosus (Vigors and Hors- 

 field) was obtained by Caley at Parramatta in the same State. 

 The species figured by Gould under the name of Cuculus 

 insperatus (which appears to be the true C. flabelliformis of 

 Latham) is fairly numerous in the neighbourhood of Sydney, 

 Avhere on several occasions I have taken its eggs, most 

 frequently in the nests of Rhipidura albiscapa. Parramatta 

 is fifteen miles distant from Sydney. I have now before me 

 specimens obtained in different parts of New South Wales, 

 but principally in the neighbourhood of Sydney; also from 

 the eastern parts of Queensland, as far north as Cairns. 

 Captain Shelley's descriptions of the adult males of Cacomantis 

 variolosus and C. insperatus in the ' Catalogue of Birds ' * 

 do not agree with Gould's original description and figure 

 of C. insperatus and description of C. dumetorum, the 

 latter of which Captain Shelley places as a synonym of 

 G. variolosus. Both species are stated to be somewhat 

 similar to C. merulinus, but in the distinctions pointed out 

 no reference is made to the tail-feathers. Captain Shelley 

 thus describes the tail of Cacomantis merulinus (p. 269) : — ■ 

 " Tail slaty-black, with white ends ; the outer ivebs of the 

 feathers notched with white ; the inner webs regularly barred 

 with white, most strongly so on the outer feathers." The 

 outer webs of the tail-feathers of Gould's C. insperatus are 

 uniform in colour and without any white notch, as shown in his 

 figure of that species ; and, according to Gould's description, 

 the tail-feathers of C. dumetorum are similar. 



Briefly summed up, Gould's Cuculus insperatus agrees 

 with Latham's original description and figure of C. flabelli- 

 formis and must bear that name. C. variolosus, which is 

 stated by Captain Shelley to be synonymous with C. dume- 

 torum, must also be referred to the C. flabelliformis of 

 Latham. Gould's name of C. insperatus cannot be used for 

 a species that is not found in Australia, but inhabits New 

 Guinea and other islands ; and the Cacomantis flabelliformis, 

 not of Latham, but of the ' Catalogue of Birds in the British 



* Cat. B. Brit. Mus. vol. xix. pp. 272-3 (1891). 



