56 VISCOUNT WALDEN OJS T THE BIRDS OF CELEBES. 



Cabanis's species is the same as C. melanops, Less, ex Cuv., said to have been obtained 

 by the Paris Museum from Java (conf. Pucheran, op. cit. p. 473). C. melanops is cer- 

 tainly not a Javan bird ; and though Professor Schlegel has identified it with C. rufi- 

 pennis, Illiger, it belongs to a different group of Coucals. Notwithstanding the opinion 

 of the learned Professor, of Prince Bonaparte, who made it equal to C. medius, Muller, 

 and Dr. Cabanis, Mr. Cassin appears to have correctly identified it with C. nigrifrons, 

 Peale. C. ateralbus, Less., ex New Ireland, is a closely allied form. 



In P. celebensis, the fully adult bird loses the bright yellow-rufous chin-, throat-, neck-, 

 and breast-plumage of the younger bird. These parts become very pale fulvous, and 

 contrast with the dark chestnut of the remaining lower region. In this state Cuvier's 

 title of bicolor is applicable. The young bird is bright rufous throughout ; and, judging 

 by analogy, the Philippine P. unirufus, Cab., is the young bird of C. melanops, Less., 

 = C. nigrifrons, Peale. 



Centrococcyx, Cabanis. 



64. Centrococcyx afebtis (Horsf.), Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 180, "Java" (1821). 



Centropus medius, Bernst. Nat. Tjdscte-. Ned. Ind. xxi. p. 27; J. fur Orn. I860, p. 269. 

 rectunguis, Strickl., ap. Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Cuculi, p. 69. 



Hab. Macassar (mus. nostr.) ; Java (mus. nostr.). 



The red-and-black Coucals of the Indian region form a natural and well-defined 

 group ; and I concur with Dr. Cabanis in the propriety of separating them from the 

 African genus Centropus. Notwithstanding the labours of Dr. Cabanis and Professor 

 Schlegel, the species are far from being clearly established. Examples of two species 

 from Celebes are in my collection, and Would, were I to follow Professor Schlegel, be 

 referable to C. rectunguis, Strickl., a title made by the learned Professor to include most 

 of the smaller Asiatic Coucals and even an African species. An examination of a con- 

 siderable series of this group has led me to conclusions widely differing from those 

 contained in the Catalogue of the Leyden Museum. 



The difficulties which meet a student of the genus Centrococcyx arise from the general 

 resemblance in the plumage of its members, the blue, the green, or the purple hue 

 of the black portion, and the deeper or less intense shades of the rufous not being 

 sufficiently striking and well marked, except in perfect plumage, to be relied on as 

 distinguishing characters. We also find in the Coucals, as in other natural groups the 

 members of which are numerous, the colouring of the adult in one species representing, 

 more or less, the transition colouring of the young of another species. Thus the dingy 

 greenish brown hue of the rectrices in an immature C. rectunguis changes to glossy 

 dark green in the next stage, and is again converted into deep blue in the adult bird. 

 But in the common Indian Crow-Pheasant the colour of the rectrices is arrested at the 

 green stage, and green remains the hue of that part of the plumage in the fully adult 

 bird. A complete series of fully adult examples from all parts is consequently essential 



