1842.] Malayan species of Cuculida?. 1105 



34. C. affinis, Horsfield , Lin. Trans. XIII, pt. 1, p. 180. Length 

 fourteen inches and a half. Plumage black, wings ferruginous; the 

 scapularies soot-coloured, with white shafts; outer tail-feathers having 

 a white terminal band ; hind-claw curved. Inhabits Java, and is 

 there termed Bubut-allang-allang" . Horsfield.* 



I have now analysed, to the best of my ability, and to the full ex- 

 tent of the means at my disposal, the formidable array of names 

 presented to the consideration of the student of oriental Cuculida ; 

 and I trust that I have effected something towards reducing the 

 supernumeraries to the rank of synonyms : aided by European libra- 

 ries and collections, I could of course have rendered the monograph 

 more complete, but, as it is, I think, I have been fortunate in verifying 

 the species of my predecessors, and particularly those of Latham, nearly 

 all of which assigned to this region of the globe have, I think, been 

 satisfactorily here identified. In every practicable instance, I have 

 drawn up original descriptions, sufficiently detailed, I trust, to ensure 

 the recognition of the species without doubt or difficulty ; and this 

 much required pioneering accomplished, it remains for those, who have 

 the opportunity, to verify and enrich our knowledge of this interesting 

 group of birds, by observing and recording their observations on their 

 habits, distribution, &c, but especially on all that concerns their pro- 

 pagation, whether they incubate their own eggs, or to what other 

 birds they consign the charge of them, and a variety of curious par- 

 ticulars connected therewith. I had long been of opinion, from various 



* Here may be noticed the Cuculus Sinensis and C. paradsieus of Latham, res- 

 pectively founded on le Coucou bleu de la Chine, en langue Chinoise, San-hai, and 

 le Coucou d longs brins, of Brisson and Buffon, described by the former of these two 

 naturalists from drawings by a M. Poivre, wherein there can be no doubt that the 

 reversed outer toe was a fancy of the artist, and that the species delineated were Pica 

 (CyanocoraxJ erythrorhynchus \ — which Dr. Cantor saw at Chusan, — and one of the 

 Racket-tailed Drongos, probably Edolius grandis. Dr. Latham also describes a three- 

 toed Asiatic Cuckoo, " supposed to inhabit India, and in the collection of Lady Clive. 

 I find it also," he adds, "among the drawings of Gen. Davies taken from one in the 

 collection of Mr. Thompson. Length eight inches or more. Bill nearly an inch, 

 brown-black; nostrils scarcely conspicuous, being in great part covered by a mem- 

 brane : general colour of the plumage dirty brown-black, inclining to lead-colour on 

 the rump ; sides of the chin, and throat, grey, mottled with black in short dashes ; 

 belly lead-colour ; tail-coverts nearly black ; tail the same, with a blue grey tinge, the 

 outer feathers black on the inner web ; on the outer white, with a black serrated streak 

 indenting the white like a saw ; shape of the tail cuneiform . It has only three toes, 

 two placed forwards and one backward: legs brown." 



