IN JERDON OR STRAY FEATHERS. 371 



scolloped -with darker green ; bill brownish black, paler at 

 the base of the lower mandible. Total length, 9 inches ; of wing-, 

 4"0 ; tail, 2*75 ; tarsus, 10 0. — Marshall's" Capilonidw." 



198 bis.— Xantholaema rubricapilla, Brown. 



Sexes alike ; body green ; forehead and sinciput scarlet ; a 

 band across the top of the head black; occiput and nape green, 

 washed with verditer ; the rest of the upper plumage dark green, 

 edged with paler green ; quills brown, pale yellowish at base of 

 inner webs ; exterior web edged with green ; lores, a superci- 

 liary eye-streak, cheeks, ear-coverts, and throat rich golden 

 yellow, the ear-coverts being tipped with black, forming a con- 

 tinuation of the band across the head ; moustachial streak 

 and sides of the neck verditer ; a large spot on the upper breast 

 scarlet, edged with yellow ; breast light yellowish green, shading 

 into blue green; tail underneath greenish blue ; rictal bristles 

 black, fine, and extendiug beyond the tip of the bill, which is 

 plumbeous black ; irides brown ; legs and feet olive brown. 



The present bird is the most beautiful species of the genus, 

 its nearest ally being X. malabarica, which has been obtained 

 in Southern India, and differs from X. rubricapilla in having 

 the throat and cheeks scarlet instead of golden yellow. — 

 Marshall's "Capitonidai." 



207 Us % — Hierococcyx nisoides, Ely. 



" There is also in the British Museum the unmounted skin of 

 an adult received from Nipal, which is like H. sparverioides, but 

 conspicuously smaller; the wing measuring 7-5 inches. This 

 seems to me to exemplify even another distinct race which I 

 will provisionally call H. nisoides. These various Hawk-like 

 Cuckoos have a nestling-plumage which considerably resembles 

 that of Accipker, being equally distinct from that of the Bhoka- 

 tako group, and from that of the group exemplified by C. canorus. 



" The different races of Hierococcyx appear to me to be quite 

 as distinct as are the different admitted species of Tetraogallus, 

 Satyra, Phasianus, or Perdix cinerea, P. barbata, and P. hodgsonice, 

 and therefore to have just the same claim to bo separately recog- 

 nized. Of the considerable number of specimens that I have 

 examined, I do not perceive that the different races of Hawk-like 

 Cuckoos run into each other, and therefore I feel some confi- 



