136 Report on the District of Azimgurh. [Feb. 



valuable waste land, which will probably be made productive in the 



course of the present lease. Fifty thousand rupees might thus very 



probably be added to the rent roll of Government on the renewal of the 



settlement. 



(Signed) J. THOMASON, 



Collector of Azimgurh. 



Offy. Secy, to the Lt. Govr., N. W. P. 



Agra, December 16th, 1837. 



Art. II. — Mr. Hodgson, on Cuculus. 

 To the Editor of the Journal of the Asiatic Society. 



Sir, — Amongst the numerous new birds forwarded by me to London, 

 some years back, when I was young enough to imagine that learned 

 Societies existed solely for the disinterested promotion of science, was 

 a very singular form combining all the essential internal and external 

 characters of Cuculus with the entire aspect of Dicrurus. 



Unceremoniously as many others of my novelties have been appro- 

 priated, this one still, I believe, remains undescribed, and I therefore 

 beg to present to you a description and sketch of it. 

 Scansores, 

 Cuculidee, 



Genus Pseudornis nob, 

 Generic character, essential characters of Cuculus with the entire aspect 

 of Dicrurus. Tail 10, forked. Type Pseudornis Dicruroides nob. 

 Habitat. The mountains exclusively. Specific character, Black, with 

 a changeable blue or green gloss. Inner wing and tail coverts, and pair 

 of extreme tail feathers, cross barred with white. An oblique white bar 

 across the wings internally, and high up. Bill black. Iris hoary brown. 

 Palate red. Legs and feet blue. 10 to 101 inches long, whereof the bill 

 is l r( . and the tail 51 to 5§. Tarsus J|. Long anteal toe ~. Long 

 posteal toe ^. Weight 11 oz. Sexes alike. General manners of 

 Cuculus, but exclusively monticulous and a forester. 



Remark. — The bill, tongue, feet, and wings are precisely those of 

 Cuculus canorus, with these trivial diversities — if such they can be 

 reckoned— that the wing is hardly so elongated, and the bill is less 

 rounded on the culmen. 



The tail consists of ten feathers, and is both in relative size and in 

 form like that of the genus Dicrurus ; that is to say, it has ten 

 feathers, and is divaricated and forked, though the fork be not deep. 



