184 Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant o?i Birds 



" This Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo was a scarce bird and very 

 retiring in its habits. It frequented the denser foliage of the 

 trees and was difl&cult to see and secure." — C. H. B. G. 



Cacomantis assimilis. 



Cacomantis insperatus (Gould) ; Shelley, Cat. xix. p. 273 

 (1893) [part.]. 



Cacomantis assimilis Gray ; Roths. & Hartert, N. Z. xiv. 

 p. 434 (1907) ; van Oort, p. 68 (1909) ; Roths. & Hartert, 

 N. Z. XX. p. 489 (1913). 



a-e. cJ et cJ ? imm. Mouth of the Mimika River, 12th 

 Dec. 1910 & 14th-24th March, 1911. [Nos. 128, 1157, 

 1190, 1216, 1273, C.H.B.G.'] 



f. (J. Wataikwa River, 15th Oct. 1910. [No. 1376, 

 G. C. S.'\ 



The type-specimen of C. assimilis Gray, obtained by 

 Wallace in the Aru Islands, is an immature female. Among 

 the series of; birds listed above an immature male, specimen c 

 (No. 1190), most nearly resembles the type as regards the 

 colour of the underparts, but all have the upperparts darker 

 except perhaps specimen f, which is of an intermediate shade. 

 In the present collection all the adult specimens have the 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts bronze-brown 

 washed with grey and the middle pair of tail-feathers 

 blackish, while in the type-specimen they are bronze-brown. 

 These differences are no doubt due to age and season. 



A young female, specimen d (No. 1216), is in the hepatic 

 plumage of immaturity, the upperparts being blackish barred 

 with chestnut, or buff on the secondaries, and the underparts 

 white barred with black, from the chin to the under tail- 

 coverts. 



An egg, almost certainly of this species, was found in a 

 nest of Gerygone conspicillata mimika; in the mangrove-swamp 

 at the mouth of the Mimika. It is of a long, rather pointed, 

 oval shape, slightly glossy, and of a uniform dai'k olive- 

 brown. It measures 23 x 14 mm. 



" This Cuckoo seemed to be scarce inland, but was fairly 

 common in the casuarinas and mangroves along the coast, 



