84 A FIRST LIST OF THE 



wing, 7'9; bill, from gape, 1'77; tarsus, 2*55. The irides were 

 red ; the eyelids, purplish brown ; bill, black ; as also the feet and 

 claws/" 



218.— Centrococcyx bengalensis, Gmel. 



]\Ir. Oates says that " in Upper Pegu this species is, during 

 nine months of the year, rather an uncommon bird ; it appears to 

 like swampy ground ; grasshoppers appear to be its favorite food. 



" They appeared, however, at the end of July in large numbei-s 

 round my house at Boulay. Some seven or eight would be call- 

 ing at once from the tops of the highest trees. Their call is 

 very peculiar, f hoop, hoop, hoop, kurrook, kurrook, kurrook/ 

 The first note is almost invariably repeated three times, the last up 

 to six or seven. I shot a female in the act of calling, so I fancy 

 both sexes call. About the 15th September a few only were 

 calling, and the bird appeared to become altogether rarer. About 

 the middle of October I left Boulay to come here ^Prome) , and 

 then I lost sight of them. I did not succeed in finding their 

 nests. Ovaria on the 7th September, very large." 



He sends two specimens both in the striped plumage, and 

 remarks : " I do not understand the great difference of size, and in 

 the color of the iris, &c, in these two specimens. They were both 

 females, and are very similar in plumage; the first was shot on the 

 24th November; it measured : Length, 14*5 ; expanse, 18*8 ; tail, 

 from vent, 8; wing, 6; bill, from gape, 1 # 2; tarsus, 1*68. This 

 had the eyelids bluish grey ; the iris, umber brown. The gape, 

 base of lower mandible and region of nostrils, pinkish fleshy ; 

 the remainder of bill, black ; legs, plumbeous brown ; claws, dark 

 horny. 



" The second was shot on the 13th March ; it measured : Length, 

 15*7 ; expanse, 20*6 ; tail, from vent, 8*45 ; wing, 6" 7 ; bill from 

 gape, 135 ; tarsus, 1*92. This had the iris sickly yellow; bill, 

 coffee brown, paler near the margin, and fleshy on part of the 

 lower mandible." 



Now, I myself am disposed to believe that one of these was 

 a male, but there are many points in regard to this species 

 which require fuller investigation. I personally have had no 

 opportunity of working out the question, but my friend Mr. 

 F. B. Simson, so long Commissioner of Dacca, where this species 

 abounds, and who supplied me with an enormous series of them 

 in every stage of plumage, assured me that the striped plumage 

 was seasonal, and not dependent upon age, as is generally 

 thought. That at one season every bird shot was in the striped 

 plumage, at another all were in the black and rufous plumage. 

 I can offer no opinion on the subject myself, but only desire 

 to draw attention to the question, as one deserving full investi- 

 gation. 



