CTJCULUS MICBOPTERUS. 



(THE INDIAN CUCKOO.) 



Cuculus micropterus, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 137; Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1842, xi. p. 902; 



Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 129 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. 



p. 452; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 326 (1862); Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 395; 



Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 430; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 16 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1875, 



p. 79. 

 Cuculus striatus, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 70 (1849); Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. 



Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 703 (1856); Cab. et Heine, Mus. Hein. iv. p. 37 (1862). 

 Cuculus affinis (A. Hay), Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1846, xv. p. 18. 

 Great-billed Cuckoo, Blyth ; Ashy Mountain Cuckoo, Kelaart. 

 Bou-kotako, Bengalese ; Takpo-pho, Lepchas. 



Adult male (Ceylon). Length 12-2 inches ; wing 7"75 ; tail 5-8 ; tarsus 0-7 ; outer anterior toe 0-8 ; bill to 

 gape l - 24. 



An example from Sumatra measures — wing 8-2 inches; tail G-S ; bill to gape 1-11. A male from Pegu — length 

 13-3 ; expanse 23-5 : wing 8 - 25 ; bill from gape 1*35 : a female — length 12-4 ; wing 7'6 ; bill from gape 1-3. 

 (Oates.) 



Iris brown ; bill dark horn at base of upper mandible, the tip blackish ; under mandible fleshy, with a dark tip ; gape 

 and orbital skin yellow; legs and feet ochre-yellow, claws dusky. 



Back, wings, ami tail brownish ashy, with a metallic or bronze lustre ; the head and hind neck dusky slate-colour, 

 blending imperceptibly into the hue of the back ; wings light ash-brown, the inner webs of the primaries and 

 secondaries crossed with marginal bars of white, except at the tips, the secondaries white at the base of the inner 

 webs : tail light cinereous brown, with tips and a series of shaft-spots of white, a blackish subtermiual bar and 

 blackish shaft-streaks between the white spots, outermost feathers barred with white. 



Lores, face, throat, and fore neck pale ashy, the cheeks darker than the rest ; from the chest downwards white, with 

 distant blackish, clear-margined bars ; under tail-coverts with the longer feathers only barred ; under wing-coverts 

 buff-white, irregularly marked with black bars. 



An example not quite adult has the concealed portions of the hind-neck feathers barred with rufous, and the chest- 

 feathers tipped and transversely marked with a paler hue of the same ; the lateral upper tail-coverts, which lie 

 concealed, have the outer webs barred with rufous and white, with the interspaces dark brown. 



This Cuckoo is at once recognized at a glance from C. canorus by the presence of the dark caudal bar. 



Towing. A specimen in nest-plumage from Darjiling has the upper surface a lustrous ruddy brown, all the feathers 

 more or less deeply tipped — on the head and hind neck with buff-white, on the back and wing-coverts with 

 rufous, the extreme t ips being whitish, and on the rump and upper tail-coverts with dusky rufous, the quills tipped 

 and their inner webs barred with rufous ; both margins of the central tail-feathers indented with rufous, and the 

 tips of all the feathers fulvous-white, the outermost pair barred with rufous, and the next two pairs with the 

 inner webs only barred with the same ; there is no bar, but the terminal inch of all the feathers is unmarked, 

 imparting the appearance of a band ; under surface buff, barred heavily witli blackish brown ; the markings of the 

 chest not so regular as on the breast and flanks. 



An immature bird shot at Nalanda, Ceylon, is glossy grev-brown above, with a subdued ashen hue on the hind neck 

 and head ; there is a lightish stripe above the eye and a narrow dark edge in front of it; greater secondary wing- 

 coverts tipped with rufous, the primaries and secondaries tipped with white, and the latter indented outwardly 

 with rufous ; tail much as in the adult, but with the margins of the feathers indented with rufescent ; chin and 

 lower part of chest washed with rufescent : a dark brownish patch on the sides of the chest, and the central 

 portion barred with blackish brown ; under parts with the bars broader than in the adult. 



Obs. The synonymy of this species is in a somewhat confused state, owing to Drapiez (Diet. Class. Hist. Nat. vol. iv. 

 p. 570) having described a Cuckoo from Java in 1823, of a cindery-brovvn colour (" brun-ceudre ") above, and 



