1843.] Malayan species of Cuculida?. 243 



It should be remarked, that I have seen no Indian specimen corres- 

 ponding to the original description of C. flavus by Sonnerat and 

 Daubenton, which would seem to have been unusually pale, having 

 the " upper part of the head and throat light grey ; the nape, back, 

 and wings, pale umbre-brown ; and the belly, thighs, and lower tail- 

 coverts, pale yellow tinged with russet." The C. ruflvittatus, Drapiez, 

 may be presumed to refer to C. flavus in one or rather two of its 

 phases; and his C. pyrogaster to one of these three species, if they 

 be different. The latter point can only be decided by actual com- 

 parison of a number of specimens of each of them, and which way the 

 probability lies cannot be suggested, as the Malayan C. lugubris 

 is certainly distinct from the Indian C. dicruroides, though most 

 closely allied to it, while C. (Eudynamys) orientalis spreads from 

 India and China* through the countries of the Indian Ocean into 

 Australia, — C. ( Chrysococcyx) lucidus is common to the two latter 

 regions, — various other species to India and the Malay countries, and 

 others again to India and Africa. C. canorus extends over Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa, spreading southward (according to Dr. Horsfield) 

 into Java, where however it would appear to be rare, and it is not 

 quite clear that C. micropterus has not there been mistaken for it : 

 certainly, however, I believe, (so far as has been yet observed,) its 

 distribution does not reach into Australia. 



The present group of small Cuckoos with naked tarsi, and further 

 characterized by a particular type of colouring in all its varieties, 

 appears to me to be fully as much entitled to subgeneric distinction, 

 if not more so, than those of the Metalline Cuckoo ( Chrysococcyx ) 

 and the Drongo Cuckoos ( Pseudornis, Hodgson) ; and I suspect 

 that C. honoratus should be referred to it. M. Lesson assigns the 

 C. flavus to his Surniculus, which he founds upon C. lugubris\ ; 

 thus mingling two very distinct subgenera, which must be acknow- 

 ledged separately if either be systematically distinguished from the 



* The Society has just received specimens of both sexes from Macao. 



f In Mr. G. R. Gray's List of the Genera of Birds, 1st edit. p. 57, Surniculus of 

 Lesson is put as a synonym of Eudynamys; but erroneously, according to M. Lesson 

 in the work here cited, where he remarks — " Le Coucoul ugubre est pour nous le 

 type d'un petit sous-genre qui semble confine dans les lies de l'Est," &c. — Zoologie 

 du Voyage de M. Belanger, p. 236. 



