1873.] OF THE ETHIOPIAN REGION. 583 



Cuculus rubiculus, Swains. B. W. Afr. ii. p. 181 (1837, descr. 

 oriff.); Fraser, P. Z. S. 1843, p. 52 ; Hartl. Orn. W. Afr. p. 190 

 (1857); id. J. f. O. 1861, p. 264 ; Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. iv. 

 p. 40 (1862); Mont. P. Z. S. 1865, p. 92; Sharpe, Ibis, 1870, 

 p. 486 ; id. Cat. Afr. B. p. 12 (1871). 



Cuculus capensis, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 463 (1847); Grill, Zool. 

 Ant. p. 41 (1858) ; Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 42 (1862) ; 

 Bp. Consp. i. p. 104 (1850) ; Schl. Mus. P. B. Cuculi, p. 1 1 (1864) ; 

 Antin. Cat. descr. Ucc. p. 83 (1865) ; Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 215 

 (1870) ; Heugl. Orn. N. O. Afr. p. 783 (1871); Sharpe, Cat. Afr. 

 B. p. 12(1871). 



Surniculus rubicuhis, Bp. Consp. i. p. 105 (1850). 



Cuculus heuglinii, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 42 (1862). 



Adult. Above greyish, with a slight gloss of oily green on the 

 scapulars and secondary feathers, the rump and upper tail-coverts 

 darker and inclining to cindery grey; quills brown, barred with 

 white near the base of the inner web ; tail purplish black, glossed 

 with greenish near the base, tipped with white and marked with one 

 or two white spots along the shafts of the feathers, the inner web 

 also slightly marked with white on its edge ; throat clear bluish- 

 grey ; fore neck deep ferruginous, with slight indications of blackish 

 cross bars ; rest of under surface fulvous white, banded with blackish, 

 inclining to clear fawn on the under tail-coverts, where the cross 

 bars are narrower and more zig-zag in shape; bill horn-black, 

 yellowish at base of lower mandible and along basal edge of upper 

 one ; feet deep orange, claws yellowish ; iris reddish hazel. 



Young. Above ashy brown, the wing-coverts and secondaries 

 edged and the primaries externally barred with rusty ; upper tail- 

 coverts spotted and irregularly barred with rusty; tail blackish 

 brown, tipped and spotted with whitish on each side of the shaft, 

 the feathers also showing faint indications of rufous cross bars; 

 lores and cheeks whitish, mottled with blackish and tinged with 

 rufous ; throat and chest whitish, strongly washed with rusty and 

 minutely crossed with very narrow blackish bars ; rest of under 

 surface buffy white with cross bars of black, inclining to clear fawn 

 on the under tail-coverts, where the black bars are narrower ; under 

 wing-coverts white, with blackish cross markings, the bases of the 

 primaries white, some of the feathers also notched with white near 

 the base ; bill horn-black, greenish yellow on lower mandible ; feet 

 dull yellowish. 



Hab. W. Africa: Fantee (Ussher); Accra (Hmjnes). S.W. 

 Africa: Benguela (Monteiro). S. Africa: Natal {Aijres) ; 

 Knysna (Victonn) ; Cape Colony up to immediate vicinity of Cape 

 Town (Layard)*. 



I have come to the conclusion that there is no difference between 

 Cuculus rubeculus and G. capensis, though I once (Ibis, 1870, p. 486) 



* I Sf?^ a ? ? in S , ene S al > ou Swainson's authority, is untrustworthy : and it 

 is doubtful if it is found in N.E. Africa, though, as Heuglin remarks, " Antinori 

 seems to have observed it on the Gazelle River" {Cf. Salvador!, Atti R. Acead 



