1840.] of the Peninsula of India. 221 



and the forehead, which also is nearly devoid of the green, chin and 

 throat cinereous; breast darker do. banded with rufous and white; 

 belly pale cinereous, faintly marked with pale rufous and white ; under 

 tail coverts white ; tail black; the inner webs banded with white (except 

 the 2 centre ones), and all tipt white. 



Another specimen has the plumage above entirely cinereous, with a 

 slight indication of the greenish gloss on the wings only. Tail as in the 

 last, beneath pale cinereous, vent and under tail coverts white, quills with 

 a broad white band on their internal webs. 



Irides, in one specimen (the last) of a fine ruby red. In the first one 

 of a blood red, bill blackish red beneath (at the base), also at the gape 

 and internally ; feet reddish. 



Whether this bird is identical with Cue. Jlavus of Gmel. or a differ- 

 ent species altogether, I leave to be decided hereafter. 



Length 9 inches; wing 4£ ; tail 4h ; tarsus T Vhs; bill to front 

 T 6 o ths ; at S a P e r p o ths - 



225. — C. dicruroides. — Pseudornis dicruroides, Hodgson, Journal A. 

 Soc. of Bengal, No. 86. p. 136.— Drongo Cuclcoo, or Black fork-tailed 

 Cuckoo. 



This most extraordinary species of Cuckoo, disguised so effectually 

 in the garb of the common King Crow (Dicrurus), has been lately des. 

 cribed and figured by Mr. Hodgson, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal. I obtained a single specimen in the Wynaad, near Manan- 

 toddy, and never again observed it. As Mr. Hodgson's paper may not 

 have been seen by some of the readers of this Journal, I add his 

 description — " Black with a changeable blue or green gloss — inner 

 wing and tail coverts, and pair of extreme tail feathers, cross- 

 barred with white. An oblique white bar across the wings internally, 

 and high up. Bill black. Irides hoary brown ; palate red. Legs and 

 feet blue, 10 to 10 J- inches long; bill 1 -j-^th; tail 51 to5|; tarsus -ft-ths* 

 Long anteal toe -j-g-ths; long posteal do. T yhs ; weight 1* oz. Sexes 

 alike, exclusively monticulous and a forester. Tail of 10 feathers divari- 

 cated and forked. The two extreme feathers smaller than any of the 

 rest." Mr. Hodgson further says that " the cuculus lugabris, w ill I 

 think, be found to have a forked-tail, and to constitute a second species 

 of our proposed new genus." 



I can only add to this, that in my specimen the legs were reddish, as 

 in the last species, and that the wing is 5 T Vths long. Irides also were 

 reddish brown. I may mention that lhad in my manuscript notes named 

 this bird " dicruroides" or ' dicruricaudus,' a name which its extraor- 



