■ HIEROCOCCYX VARIUS. 241 



the breast into brown on a white ground-colour, the bands being at the same time edged with rufous ; thigh- 

 coverts, vent, and under tail-coverts pure white ; under wing-coverts buff, cross-rayed with brown ; under surface 

 of the quill-bars pure white. 



Young. Above dark cinereous brown, barred on the lower part of the hind neck, back, scapulars, and wing- 

 coverts with rufous ; on the hind neck the bases and margins of the feathers are of this colour : primaries 

 and secondaries barred exteriorly with rufous, internally with buff, shading into rufous near the shaft; tad- 

 feathers tipped with rufous and white, the subterminal bar very broad, and the remaining four more developed 

 than in the adult, the pale succeeding cross rays being rufous and the interspaces ashen ; on the three lateral 

 pairs of feathers the cross rays are whitish on the inner webs ; forehead and crown ashen brown, scarcely marked 

 with rufous ; beneath buffy white, the throat and fore neck marked with broad mesial striae of cinereous brown : 

 the feathers on the sides of the neck edged with rufous ; breast with angular transverse spots of the same, 

 which become more bar-like on the flanks ; belly and under tail-coverts unmarked ; under wing-coverts rufeseent, 

 barred with brown. 



Obs. The closely allied species, H. nisicolor of Hodgson, from the Himalayas, may, Mr. Hume writes, be distinguished 

 from the present by the young not having any barring on the Hanks or abdomen, and also by its darker upper 

 surface at all stages. It is, however, not likely ever to occur in Ceylon, as the larger form, H. sparverioides, 

 common in South India, and which even migrates to China, has not yet been detected in the island. 



Distribution. — This noisy Cuckoo arrives on the shores of Ceylon about the beginning of November, and 

 makes its way at once to the hills, taking up its abode in considerable numbers in the forests of the main 

 range. It is common about Nuwara Elliya, Kandapolla, and the " plains " lying between the Sanatorium and 

 Totapella. On the Horton Plains themselves it is no less numerous, frequenting the picturesque woods which 

 dot this beautiful and lonely spot. Layard was the first to record it from Ceylon, and writes that he shot 

 three specimens in the old Botanical Gardens at Kew, Colombo ; these were evidently new arrivals. Mr. 

 Holdsworth met with it, as I did, at Newara Elliya, at the beginning of the year, and Mr. Bligh procured it 

 in Kotmalie in the month of November. He writes me that it is not uncommon in the Haputale range, and 

 that it was yearly to be fouud on the Harangolla patnas in considerable numbers, making itself heard by 

 night as well as by day. Messrs. Whyte and Co. have lately sent home a specimen killed in the Kandy district, 

 and I have no doubt it takes up its seasonal quarters on the slopes of the Knuckles range. 



On the mainland the Hawk-Cuckoo is, says Jerdon, the common species " of the plains of India, being 

 found throughout the whole country, though most abundant in wooded districts." Mr. Bourdillon writes of 

 it that it is abundant in the semicultivated land of the plains of Travancore, penetrating the jungles at the 

 foot of the hills to 1000 feet elevation, but that it does not ascend the hill-slopes to any height, though 

 common in the low country. Mr. Fairbank's experience of it in the Palani hills is similar ; he found it at 

 the base and on the sides of the range only ; it is singular, therefore, that it should resort to the very highest 

 points in Ceylon. In Khandala it is common ; and concerning its distribution in ChotaNagpur, Mr. Ball says 

 that it is found in the jungly parts of the Province and that it inhabits the Rajmahal hills. In Jaipur and 

 the south of Raipur, he remarks that it occurs in such abundance that its cry is a " positive nuisance and source 

 of irritation both by day and night \" More towards the north-west of India it appears to be only a seasonal 

 visitant; for Capt. Butler, in his very complete list of animal migrations to the Mount-Aboo district (' Stray 

 Feathers/ 1877), records it as only remaining during the rainy monsoon — to wit, from June until October. 



Habits. — Unlike many of the Cuckoos, which are silent in the non-breeding season, the present species is 

 extremely noisy at all times ; it frequents the high jungle in the upper rauges of the Ceylon hills, and is 

 partial to the vicinity of the open grassy spaces called " plains " on the Nuwara-EUiya plateau. Its singular 

 scale-like call, which is uttered while the bird twists its head round, is very characteristic of this region. In 

 January it may be heard the whole morning in the picturesque woods on the Horton Plains, literally throwing 

 its peculiar high-pitched notes in all directions : at one moment they seem to be in the distance ; at the next, 

 when it turns its head towards the listener, they swell with strange force on the ear, mounting higher and 

 higher until the bird appears to be obliged to stop. 



Jerdon writes of it as follows : — " It frequents gardens, avenues, groves, and jungles, and its loud crescendo 



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