1842.] Malayan species of Cuculidce. 911 



recent specimen* ; and Mr. Jerdon remarks that " the Plaintive Cuckoo, 

 as it may be appropriately named, is an inhabitant of the western 

 coast of the peninsula, being found alike in thick jungle, and in the 

 more open spaces, and even in gardens and avenues. It occurs at all 

 levels from that of the sea, to the top of the Neilghierries, about 

 Coonoor and Kotagherry, where it is found in thick bushy ground. 

 [_l have been informed by this naturalist, that he has since ascertained 

 it to be much more generally diffused than he formerly supposed.] 

 Like the other Cuckoos it is found single or in pairs. It has a most 

 sweet and plaintive note, which is often heard, and which sounds 

 something like the last syllable, being whe-whew, whe-whe-e-w, much 

 lengthened out, and very plaintive. I found its food to consist chiefly 

 of caterpillars."t 



* I have since obtained others, among which is a female that had nearly acquired 

 the adult garb of its sex, similar to that described above,— also two males, quite simi- 

 lar to each other, but in a phase of plumage different from any described in the text, 

 and one of them incompletely moulted into this livery, retaining a few unshed seconda- 

 ries and wing-coverts, together with some scattered feathers upon the nape, belong- 

 ing to the first or mottled dress common to both sexes. These have the back and wings 

 dark grey, glossed with green, the head, neck, rump, throat, and breast., pure ashy, 

 the last being tinged with rufous, while the rest of the lower-parts, from the shoulders 

 of the wings to the lower tail-coverts inclusive, with also the fore-part of the inner 

 surface of the wings, and the axillaries, are uniform bright rufous-buff; irides com- 

 paratively dull red. A specimen described in the text was also moulting out of its 

 first or .mottled livery, and throwing out rufous feathers on the under-parts, but these 

 are considerably duller than in the two now noticed, and they equally appear on the 

 throat and breast, which in the present specimens are grey ; moreover the upper-parts 

 were coming much darker than in the latter, and equally so on the crown and back. 

 The man who shot one of the rufous-breasted males here described, informed me that he 

 saw it follow a butterfly on the wing, which it endeavoured to capture with its feet in 

 the manner of a Hawk; a trial that has already been recorded of the European 

 Cuckoo. I may add that the average size of the present species exceeds the dimen- 

 sions given in the text, the males commonly measuring about nine inches and a half 

 long, by thirteen inches and a half across ; and the females nine quarter by twelve 

 inches and three quarters. 



f The Javanese C. rufovittatus and C. pyrogaster (habitat not given) of Drapiez 

 (Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., Art. Coucou), may be varieties of this or the preceding 

 species. 



" C. rufovittatus. Taille, sept pouces. Parties superieures d'un brun noiratre, rayees 

 de roux vif ; plumes du front blanches a leur base; remiges brunes, dentelees de roux a 

 leur bords ; rectrices largement bordees de roux, avec l'extremite blanche, d'un roux 

 fauve en dessous ; gorge, devant et cotes du cou, et poitrine blancs, finement rayes de 

 noiratre; parties inferieures d'un blanc roussatre; bee noir, brun en dessous a sa 

 base; pieds d'un jaune rougeatre. La femelle a fauve tout ce qui est d'un roux 



