1842,] Malayan species of Cuculida. 1101 



rounded ; wings as in the others. This was met with at Cawnpore in 

 April, and is said to be a bird of the first year," which I greatly 

 doubt.* 



The C. Phillipensis is common to all south-eastern Asia and its 

 islands, but has been suspected not to occur in western India, though, 

 in the peninsula, Mr. Jerdon describes it as " a common and univer- 

 sally spread bird, frequenting wooded and cultivated grounds, in all 

 parts, and found also in the more open spaces of thick jungles. It is 

 often seen in thick hedges, also in woody nullahs, and in low bushy 

 tracts. It feeds on the ground chiefly, walking and running with 

 great facility,t and picking up various large insects, centipedes, 

 lizards, and even scorpions and small snakes. It may often be seen 

 walking along the bank of a dry tank, a bund of a paddy-field, and 

 being a remarkably slow and stupid bird, and of slow flight, it is 

 occasionally run down, or even caught by the hand, in sufficiently 

 open ground. A good Shikra ( Accipiter Dussumieri) will also 

 easily strike it down. 



" The Mahooka has a deep sonorous call, something like ' whoot 

 whoot, whoot,' which is often heard in a thick bush or hedge, while 

 the bird itself remains unseen"; — a dull, heavy sound, which, as 

 Dr. Horsfield remarks, has suggested nearly the same name for the 

 birds of this genus in many distant countries: it is Bubut with the 

 Javanese ; Houhou in Egypt ; and Toulou in Madagascar ;" to which 

 may be added Kooka in Bengal, and Mahooka in southern India. 

 The young bird almost constantly repeats a strange hoarse sound 

 like a person choking (a sort of ' Guk, koh-koh',) which is not pleasant 

 to hear. It is common in the vicinity of Calcutta, and Dr. McClel- 

 land remarks, that it is " very common in villages and cultivated 

 rice-fields in Assam, and in low inundated lands along the banks 

 of rivers. It delights in humid climates, as is proved by the vast 

 numbers of them which occur in the Soonderbuns; but I question 



* It both steps with alternate motion of the feet, and hops in a rapid and scrambling 

 manner. — E. B. 



f From specimens obtained since the above was transcribed, more or less barred on 

 the upper-parts and mottled with whitish below, having also an ill defined superci- 

 liary streak, 1 now much incline to regard this Cawnpore specimen as a variety of C. 

 PhiUipensis.—E. B. 



