1843.] Monograph of the Indian and Malayan, Cuculidce. 241 



egg. I suspect, therefore, that the rufous specimens are young, and 

 that the female does not differ so materially from her mate. Besides 

 the usual plaintive note, this species has also a cry almost exactly like 

 that of the C.fugax, though of course much subdued and repeated 

 faster. It is certainly the C. flavus apud Lesson ( Traitej, said to be 

 from Bengal." — Ibid. 



C. flavus. In the Zoologie du Voyage de M. Belanger, M. Lesson 

 confounds, I am much inclined to suspect, at least three species under 

 this name; viz. the Indian niger, the Malayan flavus, and the Austra- 

 lian cineraceus (figured by Messrs. Jardine and Selby, ///. Orn., pi. 

 LXVII), stating that it appears to inhabit all the isles of Sunda, Ben- 

 gal, the Phillipines, Port Jackson, and Van-Diemen's Land. " A veri- 

 table Proteus," he remarks, " this little Cuckoo seems indifferently to 

 assume several phases of plumage, according to what island of the 

 Indian Ocean it inhabits ; at least unless a plurality of species be 

 confounded under the same name, which differ from each other only by 

 very indistinct and uncharacteristic shades of diversity. BufFon, or 

 rather Daubenton, has figured by the name of le Petit Coucou de Vlsle 

 de Panay, Enluminure 814, one type corresponding to the bird which 

 M. Belanger has brought from Java, where it had previously been met 

 with by MM. Labillardiere and Leschenault. Sir Baffles mentions it 

 in his catalogue as occurring in Pulo Penang, and Dr. Horsfield in- 

 forms us that it is the Gedasse of the Javanese." This Malayan bird 

 (which alone I apprehend to be the ime flavus) is described as fol- 

 lows : — 



" Le Coucou a tete grise, de Java, here described, is seven inches and 

 a half (French) long. Its bill is blackish; the tarsi yellow. The 

 head, cheeks, throat, and sides of the neck, are frosty- grey (gris 

 glace); a lustrous and silky bronze-brown, with tolerably bright 

 (doux) reflections, prevails on the back and wings, a dark ashy tint 

 on the croup, and russet on the quills. All the lower-parts of the 

 body are russet (or ferruginous, roux), or tolerably vivid blonde. 

 The middle tail-feathers are uniformly bronzed brown above ; the 

 lateral ones are brown marked (frangees) with white : underneath all 

 of them are brown rayed with white, purer and more distinctly on the 

 margins. A similar individual exists in the Paris museum, brought, 

 according to Leseur, from the Straits of Entrecasteaux." 



