354 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



This, tlie largest species of all, is found in the lower regions 

 of the Himalayas, in Nepal and Sikim, and the adjoining Terai ; 

 extending, it would appear from Hoi"sfield's Catalogue, as far 

 north-west as Kumaon. Eitlier this species, or T. sirJcee, was 

 observed by Dr. Adams, wlio saw it in flocks, -with a loud harsh 

 Toice and feeble flight. It had partaken of lizards, locusts, and 

 beetles. 



222. Taceocua affinis, Blyth. 



J. A. S., XV , 19— Blyth, Cat. 379. 



Thio Central Indian Sirkeer. 



Descr. — Above, dusky-brown, tinged with green ; neck and 

 breast brownish ashy ; belly and lower tall-coverts ferruginous ; 

 tibial plumes brownish. 



Bill, irides, and feet, as in sirkee, but the bill vertically deeper 

 and more abruptly curved. 



Length 17 incites ; wing 6 ; tail 9 ; tarsus li. 



This species most resembles T. infuscata in colour, but it is 

 smaller ; the breast is less rufescent, and the lower parts are not so 

 dark as in that species ; its legs too are more slender, and the bill 

 different. It has been procured in Central India, Midnapore, 

 Rajmahal, and Monghyr. I procured it only at Saugor ; unless it 

 was the species I obtained at Jauhiah in the Decc;in, which, from 

 the dimensions given exceeding those of Southern India, it 

 probably was. 



Blyth remarks that it is possible that these four races may prove 

 to be local varieties oi a single species. 



The American Cuckoos have points that ally them both to Coc- 

 cysies and Centropiis, and it may be that they do not form a 

 decided family group, but grade into the Old World forms. J\lany 

 of them are ground-feeders, and they have elongated tarsi. None 

 are truly parasitic, but Coccyzus Americanus has been known to 

 deposit her eggs in the nests of other birds. Dlplopterus is a 

 remarkable form, with the aspect of a Taceocua ; beneath the tail 

 coloured like that of a Hornbil), white, with a broad central black 

 band. 



