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



except the middle pair, rather largely tipped with dull white: crest- 

 feathers an inch in length : under-parts dull white, or faintly tinged 

 with fulvescent, more especially in the female, which presents no other 

 difference of plumage from the male. A full-grown young bird measured 

 twelve inches and a half long, by sixteen inches and a half across : upper 

 mandible of the bill dusky, with a slight yellowish tinge ; the sides of 

 its base, and nearly all the lower mandible, bright-yellow : irides dark 

 hazel, with greenish-yellow orbits : feet greenish lead-colour. Upper 

 plumage as in the adult, but much less deeply coloured, and the coronal 

 feathers scarcely elongated, and rounded like the dorsal plumage at 

 their tips ; the throat ashy, passing downward on each side, and sepa- 

 rated by a whitish streak from the dark ear-coverts ; the rest of the 

 under-parts, and tips of the tail-feathers, rather deeply tinged with 

 fulvous, as also the greater portion of the wing-spot; coverts of the 

 primaries slightly tipped with fulvous- white. 



This is a common Bengalee species, and appears to be found also in 

 South Africa, where, however, it must not be confounded with the 

 Oxylophus Levaillantii of Swain son's ' Illustrations' (2nd series, Vol. I, 

 pi. XIII), the Variete de Coucou Edolio of Levaillant, or C. Afer of 

 Leach and Shaw, which is nearly allied, but larger, and at once dis- 

 tinguished by the sagittal black spots on its throat and fore-neck. 

 The present species was strangely referred to Leptosomus Afer by 

 Major Franklin and Colonel Sykes; and Mr. Jerdon remarks of it — 

 " The Popeya is distributed all over India, but cannot be said to be a 

 common bird anywhere [here, in Bengal, it certainly is tolerably com- 

 mon]. It is of course most numerous in the more wooded districts. I 

 have seen it in the Carnatic, Malabar Coast, and even on the bare Deccan, 

 in low jungle or among gardens. It hunts single or in pairs, and feeds 

 chiefly on various soft insects, &c. On the Neilgherries, I have seen it 

 occasionally about the edges of the hills, frequenting the thick bushy 

 ground there." From what I have observed of this species, it is not 

 one which much affects concealment, but frequently sits exposed on a 

 dead or bare branch. I have never heard from it any note resembling 

 the sound Popeya, which is here also the common name of the species ; 

 but only a continuously reiterated simple cry, by no means loud. It 

 is also designated Koloo Bulbul, allusive probably to its crest ; for na- 

 tive classification is not better than popular classification in England, 



