908 A Monograph of the Indian and [No. 130. 



have very little doubt that the adult male will prove to resemble 

 much that of the next species. 



Mr. Jerdon states of this bird, though it is necessary to bear in 

 mind that he did not properly distinguish it from the following species, 

 that " it is found, though rarely, all over the peninsula, in thick 

 forest jungle. I have observed it once or twice only, in Malabar, and 

 in the Coonoor Ghaut, but have seen specimens from Travancore, 

 where it appears tolerably abundant, and also from the eastern range 

 of ghauts, about the latitude of Madras. The stomach of the only 

 specimen I shot contained caterpillars." 



7- C. niger, Latham, Gen. Hist. III. 285*; C. Bengalensis niger, 

 Brisson, IV. 141, — as cited by Latham; C. tenuirostris, Hardwicke 

 and Gray, — the middle-aged female; doubtfully quoted as C. flavus, 

 honoratus, Sonneratii, and lugubris, by Mr. Jerdon, Madr. Journ. 

 XI. 220, but distinct from all of these, — the adult male. (Plaintive 

 Cuckoo.) Distinguished from the preceding by its smaller, shorter, 

 and more curved bill, and wholly naked tarse. Length, of a male, nine 

 inches, by thirteen inches in extent ; wing four inches and a half, and 

 tail the same, its outermost feathers an inch shorter ; bill to forehead 

 (through the feathers) barely seven-eighths of an inch, and to gape 

 fifteen-sixteenths of an inch ; tarse somewhat exceeding five-eighths 

 of an inch. Plumage varying much in colouring according to age 

 and sex. What I infer to be the fully mature male is described by 

 Mr. Jerdon to have " the plumage above entirely cinereous, with 

 a slight indication of greenish gloss on the wings only ; beneath pale 

 cinereous, vent and under tail-coverts white; the quills with a 

 broad white band on the internal webs ; and tail black, its inner 

 webs banded with white, except the two central feathers, and all 

 tipped white. Irides of a fine ruby red." Another is described 

 by him to be " entirely of a dark cinereous tint, with a strong 

 gloss of green throughout ; tail blackish, edged with rufous ; quills 

 beneath cinereous. Irides blood-red : the bill blackish red beneath 

 (at the base), also at the gape and internally; feet reddish." A third 

 he describes as of " the same glossy green colour above, with the 

 exception of the rump, which is a lighter cinereous without any green, 



* The sole objection to this identification is, that the bill is stated to be orange. 





