ASSAM, SYLHET AND CACHAR. 71 



believed, in the act of calling " Bho-katha-Jcho." I did so this 

 time in Manipur, but it was a female, and it is possible (I 

 don't believe it, for I have such a personal certainty of the 

 normal striatus' call, only Bingham's positive assertion stag- 

 gers me) — it is just possible, I say — that the real striatus 

 call may be the " Hoot hoot — toot, toot " [or as Jerdon 

 gives it (torn, cit, 324) " Hoot, hoot-hoot, toot "] and the other 

 two those of the two sexes of micropterus. Both species are 

 so abundant here that both Tytler and myself may have shot 

 the wrong birds. 



I do not believe this, but it is possible, and I merely throw 

 out the suggestion so that local observers may this year care- 

 fully verify the notes of both sexes of both species. 



I have this species from Shillong in the Khasi hills, but 

 from no other locality as yet in Assam, Cachar or Sylhet. 



In British Burmah it must be rare. I only know of its 

 occurrence as little more than a straggler in Tenasserim and 

 Eastern Pegu. 



201. — Cuculus poliocephalus, Lath. 



I never saw this bird, but one specimen was brought to us 

 by a Naga, who had killed it somehow in the Western hills 

 in the valley of the Limata. I do not know the note of this 

 species. Can this be our " Hoot-hoot, toot-toot " friend ? 



I have received this from Shillong, where Godwin- Austen 

 says it is very abundant in the early summer months, and from 

 Khowang in the Dibrugarh district, throughout which, Cripps 

 writes to me, that it is fairly common, but I have no other record 

 as yet of its occurrence in any other part of Assam, Sylhet or 

 Cachar, nor so far as I know does it extend to British Burmah. 



203.— Cuculus micropterus, Gould. 



I saw this once or twice in the Western hills, but never in 

 the basin, and it was only in the Eastern hills that it was 

 common or that I actually shot it. 



Long ago (S. F., Ill, p. 79) I pointed out that G. micropterus, 

 Gould (Jerd., 203), and G. ajffinis, Bly, (viz., striatus apud 

 Jerdon nee Drapiez, Jer., 204 j, were respectively females and 

 males of one and the same species. I re-verified this now, 

 dissecting several birds, and found the females with the wings 

 7'4, 76, 7*8, and males with wings 8"1 and 8"3. 



This species occurs in Northern Cachar and Sylhet, and in 

 the Dibrugarh district and the Garo and Khasi hills, but as yet 

 it has not been received or recorded from elsewhere in Assam, 

 Cachar or Sylhet. 



