1096 A Monograph of the Indian and [No. 131. 



quarter ; tarse an inch and a quarter. " Irides fine blood-red ; small 

 naked eye-spot cobalt-blue; bill beautiful apple-green; legs and 

 feet greenish-black." Upper-parts coloured exactly as in the pre- 

 ceding species, but less greyish on the head, which is distinctly 

 though faintly glossed with green, nor is there any whitish towards 

 the nostrils or bordering the contracted naked orbital space above : 

 under-parts dusky-greyish, stained with ferruginous about the breast, 

 and the feathers of the throat and fore-neck dusky at base, and 

 furcate, from having their terminal webs much longer than the shaft, 

 this lengthened portion being pale greyish, contrasting with the rest. 



In most particulars this bird agrees with Dr. Latham's description 

 of his Madagascar Cuckoo, Gen. Hist, III. 270, (the Serisomus cris- 

 tatus, Swainson, or Coucou huppe de Madagascar of Button,) which 

 Lavaillant states is also found in some parts of India, and in Senegal ; 

 Dr. Latham adding, that " I find a similar one among the drawings of 

 Mr. Daniell, found in Ceylon, and there called Handee Kootah" No 

 doubt the present species is alluded to in both cases. 



Mr. Jerdon informs us that it " is found all over the [Indian] pe- 

 ninsula, but it is an uncommon bird, except in some few localities. I 

 have seen it in thick bamboo jungles at the bottom of the Conoor 

 pass, in thick hedges and trees in the Carnatic, and in bushy jungle in 

 the Deccan. It wanders about from tree to tree, or works its way 

 through the thick hedges, and feeds on various large insects, such as 

 Grasshoppers, Mantides, and the like ; also on caterpillars and other 

 larvse. It makes its way with great adroitness through the thick 

 prickly hedges and bushes it delights to frequent." 



These are all the Asiatic species of Malkoha which I am able to of- 

 fer any description of, though aware of the existence of others, of which 

 some, perhaps, may be identified with certain of the foregoing. Such 

 are Ph. Crawfurdii of Gray, and Melias Diardi of Lesson, both 

 of which are not improbably my longicaudatus ; and Mr. G. R. Gray 

 adds, among his Phoenicophaince, a Calobates radiceus, Temminck, 

 PI. Col. 538, and a Taccocua Leschenaultii of Lesson, one or both of 

 which may be exclusively African, though more probably inhabiting 

 the Malay countries. There is also a Phcenicophceus lucidus, Vigors, 

 mentioned as an inhabitant of Sumatra in Dr. Horsfield's list, /. 

 A. S., X. 56. 



