1342,] Malayan species of Cuculidtf. 1099 



Mr. Jerdon remarks having " seen this bird in bushy ground on the 

 top of the Neilghierries, but in no other locality till lately met with 

 in a hilly and low jungly district, near Jaulnah. It has the same 

 wandering habits, and the same kind of food," as the Phcenicophceus 

 Jerdoni. Mr. C. W. Smith records having " met with this species 

 at the Bherah lake, in the Gorruckpore district, where it appeared to 

 be pretty common, but I have not," he remarks, " seen it elsewhere. 

 It greatly resembled the Mahooka ( Centropus Phillipensis) in its 

 manner of running and flying." 



There now only remain the Coucals (Centropus, Illiger, v. Cory- 

 donyx Vieillot, v. Polophilus, Leach), which are at once distinguish- 

 ed by their long and straight inner hind-claw and rigid spinous 

 plumage, though of one species ( C. affinis) Dr. Horsfield writes — 

 " ungue hallucis arcuato," which would seem to intimate its true sta- 

 tion to be in the preceding group. The structure of their feet indicates 

 ground-habits, and they are mostly seen walking upon the ground. 

 One species appears to be very common throughout India and the 

 adjacent countries to the east and south. 



30. C. Phillipensis, Cuvier : Corydonyx pyrrhopterus, Vieillot ; 

 Cent, bubutus, Horsfield, Lin. Trans. XIII, pt. I, p. 180, and 

 Cuculus bubutus, Raffles, Ibid, pt. II, p. 286; Chestnut Cuckoo, 

 Latham, Gen. Hist. Ill, 243, on which is founded Cent, castanop- 

 terus, Stephens' Shaw's Zoology, XIV, 215; Polophilus Sinensis? 

 Shaw's Zoology, IX, 51. (Common Indian Coucal.) Length of a 

 fine male eighteen inches and a half, by twenty-three inches in ex- 

 tent ; wing eight inches ; and middle tail feathers nine inches, the outer- 

 most three inches shorter : bill to forehead (through the feathers) an 

 inch and a half, and tarse two inches, the long hind-claw above an 

 inch. Irides crimson : bill and feet black. This handsome bird has 

 the mantle and wings bright rufous, and the rest of the plumage black 

 glossed with purple and greenish, the latter prevailing on the ear- 

 coverts and tail, and the former elsewhere : its feathers are but slightly 

 spinous, and chiefly so on the crown and fore-neck ; sexes alike. The 

 young in first plumage vary remarkably, as illustrated by two speci- 

 mens with imperfectly developed feathers which I have recently ob- 

 tained. One is essentially similar to the adult, but the feathers are 

 shorter and of flimsy texture, the colours dull, the black or dusky 



7 d 



