CENTROPUS PHILIPPENSIS. 



The Bubut affords a good illustration of the genus Centropus. Among the 

 species which compose it, is a small group, the individuals of which have a general 

 agreement both in their external coVfering and in their cry, although distributed 

 through very distant countries. They are found not only in New Guinea and in the 

 Philippine and Sunda Islands, but their range extends to Madagascar, and thence 

 through the Continent of Africa to Senegal and Egypt. The species which constitute 

 this small group have as yet not been clearly defined ; and by several ornithologists 

 of the first eminence, the adult and the young bird are described with different 

 denominations. Although in the Systematic Description of Javanese Birds the 

 Bubut has been enumerated as a distinct species, a re-examination of the various 

 specimens in our Collection, and a comparison of the varieties in size and external 

 marks with the figures of Buffon and Levaillant, have induced me, at least for the 

 present, to unite it with the Centropus Philippensis of Cuvier. It tends to confirm 

 the near relation which exists between the species composing the small group above 

 mentioned * ; their note has suggested nearly the same name in the most distant 

 countries : it is Buhut with the Javanese ; Houhou in Egypt ; and Toulou in Mada- 

 gascar. They likewise resemble each other in their manners and their food. In the 

 Islands of the Indian Archipelago, as well as in Egypt, they are seldom seen in 

 forests, but frequent low bushes ; they live solitary, or in single pairs, and they feed 

 chiefly on locusts. Their external covering is similar, both regarding the distribvi- 

 tion of colours and the particular properties of the plumage. The feathers of the 

 head, neck, back, breast, abdomen, and tail have a very dark blue tint inclining to 

 black, with a strong gloss, which is purple on the summit of the head and neck, 

 yellowish green with a metallic lustre on the tail, and more uniform and dark under- 

 neath. But it varies in different individuals according to their age, and according to 

 the light to which they are exposed. A pecuhar property of the plumes covering 

 the head and neck, which belongs to aU Centropi, shews itself more strongly in the 

 group which comprises the Bubut. The plumes are very rough and rigid, and the 

 barbs are separated and again subdivided, constituting, according to Illiger, decom- 

 pound plumes with bristly lateral filaments. The tail is gradated, and consists of 

 ten broad feathers, decreasing regularly in size from the intermediate ones to the 

 two exterior feathers, which are abruptly shorter. 



* I consider this small group to consist of the following species, agreeably to M. Cuvier's arrangement, as given 

 Regne anim. 426, in the note : — 1. Cuculus ^gyptius and Senegalensis, which are united by M. Cuvier. 2. Centropus 

 Philippensis, Cuv. 3. Centropus nigrorufus, Cuv. 4. Centropus Tolu. 



