232 CUCULUS POLIOCEPHALUS. 



Obs. I have examined a specimen of the Small Cuckoo from Madagascar, the Cuculus rocliii of Hartlaub (P. Z. 8. 1862, 

 p. 224), and which is kept distinct from C. polioeeplialas by Mr. Sharpe in his admirable paper on the Cuckoos of 

 the Ethiopian region, on account of its darker upper surface and the somewhat different banding of the under 

 parts, the dark bars, according to him, being broader and the white interspaces wider. It is entirely the same as 

 the Japanese specimen above described ; the upper surface has the same hue, and the breast and lower parts 

 barred the same, the under tail-coverts having precisely the same buff hue. I think that the two species will have 

 to be amalgamated ; and if so, the great range which the Small Cuckoo will then acquire will be only second to 

 that of C. canorus. 



Distribution. — The present species was described in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History ' by 

 Layard as new, under the title C. bartlettii. His specimen was in immature plumage ; and he writes of the 

 bird that he obtained many examples of it both at Pt. Pedro and Colombo. Mr. Holdsworth does not seem 

 to have identified it while he was in Ceylon, but speaks of a Cuckoo, closely resembling C. canorus, which he 

 saw in an English garden in Colombo; and this I imagine, though it is very much smaller than the latter, 

 must have, in reality, been this Cuckoo. It is, of course, migratory to Ceylon, and appears as isolated 

 individuals on the west coast in October. Some years it is not seen at all, and during others several examples 

 may perhaps come under the notice of collectors. Not a few were seen in the neighbourhood of Colombo in 

 October 1876, one of which I procured at Borella, and another was shot near Kotte and preserved in the 

 Colombo Museum. In December 1869 I obtained an example (immature, as are all which I have seen from 

 Ceylon) on some trees at the lake side of the Galle face. It does not seem to have been noticed anywhere 

 but in the Jaffna rjeninsula and about Colombo. It probably leaves the island in April. 



On the continent it appears to enjoy a wide rage ; but is found more often in Northern than in Southern 

 India, which makes its occasional occurrence in Ceylon somewhat noteworthy. It is known from the Nilghiris, 

 but less so from the low country in the south of the peninsula. Mr. Fairbank records it from Ahmednagar, 

 and Jerdon procured it as far south on the east coast as Nellore. He says that it is found throughout the 

 Himalayas, migrating sparingly to the plains in the cold weather. " At Darjiling," he remarks further, "it is 

 tolerably common, beginning its call still later in the season even than Cuculus himalayanus, this being rarely 

 heard before the end of May, and continuing till the middle of July." Dr. Stoliczka procured it in Ladak, 

 and to the eastward of the Himalayas it extends all the way to China and Japan, in the latter of which 

 countries it is not uncommon. Swinhoe received specimens from Amoy and Szeclmen and from North-west 

 Formosa. In Java Mr. Wallace procured it, his specimens being, accordiug to Blyth, similar to those from 

 "the Himalayas and the Nilghiris," and, he adds, "from the mountains of Ceylon." It is not clear how he 

 identifies it from the latter locality, for, according to my knowledge, it does not affect the hill-region at all. 

 A specimen from Morty Islands, in the British Museum, is identical in plumage with other examples of this 

 Cuckoo which I have examined, but is much longer in the wing, measuring 6'8 inches. 



Habits. — The Small Cuckoo frequents low trees and stunted jungle near open places, and appears to be a 

 tame bird, being stupidly heedless of observation, and allowing a near approach before taking wing. Jerdon 

 remarks of it, " It is a very noisy bird, and has a loud, peculiar, unmusical call, which it frequently utters 



both when seated on a branch and when flying from tree to tree." " The Bhootias," he adds, " attempt 



to imitate this in their name (Pichu-ffiapu) for the species." 



It appears to feed much on caterpillars, one which I shot in my compound at the Colombo Lake being in 

 the act of taking them from a plaintain-tree at the time. 



Nidification. — Mr. R. Thompson says this species lays in May and June. An egg, which Mr. Hume 

 believes to belong to this species, was taken by Mr. Brooks from the nest of a Warbler {Reyuloides super- 

 ciliosus), and is described as being an elongated, cylindrical ovate egg, and pure white and glossy; it measured 

 0-81 by 0-57 inch. 



