1885.] 



MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE CUCKOOS. 



175 



of the genera Centropvs, Geococryx, &c. ; but the three rows of 

 feathers which form the posterior portion of the tract become 

 separated from each other by intervals, as in Cacomantis, before 

 reuniting in front of the cloaca. The spinal tract is narrow in the 

 neck, and up to a little way beyond its bifurcation, between the 

 shoulder-blades, is strongly feathered ; the rest of the spinal tract 

 encloses, as in other Cuckoos, a lanceolate space, and is continuous 

 behind with a strong: row of feathers running; to the base of the oil- 

 gland. 



Cacomantis sepuhhralis. — The pterylosis of this Cuckoo is not 



Fiff. 3. 



Pterylosis of Cacomantis sepulchralis. 



widely different from that of Cuculus. The inferior tract divides into 

 two about halfway down the neck ; the skin lying between the rami of 

 the mandibles is free from feathers on either side of the middle line, 

 which is occupied by the commencement of the feather- tract, but the 

 space thus left bare is extremely narrow. On the pectoral region the 

 feathering is strong, about four feathers wide over the whole of the 



