18 THE AUSTRAL AVIAN RECORD [Vol. I 



under Gray's name of L. poecilurus, but the only adult 

 specimen in the Australian Museum collection from that 

 locality has the forehead and feathers over and behind 

 the eye with distinctly whitish mottlings, and is a typical 

 L. malayanus . . . Moreover Lamprococcyx russatus, 

 which Dr. Ramsay records from Cape York to Port 

 Denison, is, I am sure, only the young bird of L. mala- 

 yanus . . . Both specimens under this name in the- 

 Reference Collection are from Rockingham Bay, where 

 Lamprococcyx malayanus is the common species." North 

 concludes L. malayanus ranges from Port Essington 

 to Port Denison, Queensland. 



The type of Cuculus malayanus Raffles (Trans. Linn.. 

 Soc. [Lond.], Vol. XIII., p. 286, 1821) is not now in 

 existence, but the description reads : 



" This species has some affinity to the C. lucidus- 

 It is about seven inches in length ; brown above, with 

 a greenish gloss, particularly on the scapulars. The 

 whole under-parts are transversely barred with white 

 and brown undulations. The wings are long, extending 

 to about the middle of the tail ; the coverts edged with 

 ferruginous. The tail consists of ten feathers, of which 

 the upper are greenish-brown, and the lower barred with 

 brown, black and white. The bill is somewhat compressed 

 at the base, and the nostrils are prominent. There 

 is a row of white dots above the eyes. 



" Native of the Malay Peninsula." 



This description is not applicable to the birds Shelley 

 included under this name in the Cat. Birds Brit. 

 Mus., and certainly seems to have been drawn up 

 from a specimen of C. basalis as Salvadori suggested. 

 The upper-coloration as well as the lower-surface barring 

 indicate that species, while the form of the bill is almost 

 diagnostic of that species. The description of the tail 

 does not mention any russet : but then Raffles was not 

 an ornithologist, as can be seen from his method of 

 describing the tail. C. basalis has a white stripe over 

 the eye, which might appear in some skins like a row 

 of white dots. 



