928 A Monograph of the Indian S$c. [No. 130. 



of the tail-feathers than in the other ; head dark ashy, as also the 

 chin and feathers bordering the lower part of the orbital skin in the 

 second specimen above mentioned ; the rest of the under-parts deep 

 chestnut-rufous, more or less paler on the throat, and darkening to 

 maronne on the belly and lower tail-coverts: in the first specimen 

 mentioned, the outermost tail-feathers are almost wholly maronne, 

 and the rest successively more so to the middle pair, which have only 

 their terminal third of that colour : bill glaucous-green, the basal half 

 of the lower mandible coral-red towards the middle. 



Sir Stamford Raffles states that this bird "feeds on insects, and not, 

 as has been reported, on fruits. It is found on the hills of Sumatra 

 and the neighbouring [^peninsula and] islands, but is not easily 

 procured, as it commonly perches on the summits of the highest 

 trees." It is described also to inhabit Africa. 



24. Ph. tristis : Melias tristis, Lesson ; Cuculus Sumatranus, 

 Raffles, Lin. Trans. XIII, pt. 2, p. 287- (Little Malkoha.) 

 Length of a fine specimen fifteen inches, of which the tail is nine 

 inches, its outermost feathers four inches and a quarter less; wing 

 five inches; bill to forehead (in a straight line) an inch and one. 

 sixteenth, and an inch and three-eighths to gape; tarse an inch 

 and one-eighth. Entire upper- parts closely resembling those of the pre- 

 ceding species ( Ph. viridis), except that the tail-feathers are wholly 

 greenish and white-tipped: under-parts of a dark ash-colour: orbital 

 skin tolerably large, and bordered above with a slight streak of white : 

 some have a tinge of rufous about the breast. Inhabits Sumatra and the 

 adjacent peninsula and islands, where it lives (according to Raffles) 

 upon insects; and it was also obtained by Dr. McClelland in Assam. 



In Ph. tristis, the bill is more compressed than in Ph. viridis, and 

 the ridge of the upper mandible is obtusely angulated throughout, in. 

 stead of being quite rounded and bulged towards the base, as in that spe- 

 cies ; the inferior margin of the upper mandible also curves much furthei 

 downward, overlapping the base of the lower mandible. In the next 

 two species, the bill is still more compressed and proportionally smaller, 

 asuming nearly the same form as in Xanclostomus, wherein Mr. Jer- 

 don has even placed one of them. It is possible that either the Tac- 

 cocua of Lesson, or the Calobatesoi Temminck, may refer to this form. 



(To be continued.) 



