LEPIDOGRAMMUS GUMINGI. 



Curled-crested Cuckoo. 



Phcenicophaus cumingi, Fraser, P. Z. S. 1839, p. 112— Id., Zool. Typ. pi. 53 (1841) ; Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1842, 



p. 925. 



barotii, Eydoux & Souleyet, Voy. Bonite, Ois. p. 89, Atlas, pi. 6 (1841). 



Dasylophus cumingii, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 459 (1845) ; Bp., Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 98 (1850) ; Gray, Handl. B. ii. 



p. 206 (1870). 

 Lepidogrammus cumingii, Reichenbach, Syst. Av. Nat. pi. xlvii. fig. 4 (1849) ; Bp., Consp. Volucr. Zygod. p. 5 



(1854) ; Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 70 (1862) ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 601, fig. 6 



(p. 602); Wald., Trans. Z. S. ix. p. 163 (1875). 



Like Dasylophus superciliosus, the bird now figured is confined to the Philippine Islands and, so far as we 

 know at present, is an inhabitant of Luzon only. It was originally discovered by the late Mr. Hugh Cuming 

 in the province of Albay, situated in the south-eastern corner of the above-named island ; here it is called 

 by the natives ' Ansic En Bicol.' MM. Eydoux and Souleyet write as follows : — ■" M. de la Gironniere 

 has kindly given us some information about this remarkable bird. It keeps itself always hidden in the 

 middle of the forests where it lives, and is found throughout the year at Luzon. M. de la Gironniere 

 assures us that it nests in the island, which is proved by his having obtained individuals in their first 

 plumage : the latter do not obtain before their first moult the horn-tipped feathers of the crest and throat ; 

 and the general colour of their plumage is a reddish buff." 



Like the other Philippine genus {Dasylophus), this bird has the nostrils entirely hidden by plumes. But 

 that is the only generic character which they possess in common ; for Lepidogrammus differs not only from 

 the last-named bird, but from all the other Cuckoos with which we are acquainted, in having all the feathers 

 of the head and throat tipped with a peculiar metallic horny appendage, which renders it easily recognizable 

 at a glance. The only other birds which possess a similar structure of feather are the Curl-crested 

 Toucan of the Amazons, and the Open-bill Stork (Anastomus lamelligerus) of Africa. 



Adult. — General colour above blackish, with a greenish lustre, rather inclining to purple on the wings ; 

 the tail-feathers also slightly glossed with purple and tipped with white ; sides of neck and upper part of 

 mantle rich chestnut-rufous ; all the feathers in the centre of the head, from the beak to the nape, as well as 

 the gular plumes, ornamented with a metallic tip of steel-black ; breast dull chestnut, inclining to orange 

 near the white throat ; sides of body, belly, thighs, and under tail-coverts brown, the latter glossed with 

 greenish. Total length \7 inches, culmen 1*6, wing 6*5, tail 9*8, tarsus 1*65. 



The description and figure are from a fine Manilla skin in my possession. 



