1859.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 273 



in particularly fine old males : yet in one specimen from Pinang with 

 unusually developed racket-tail, the crest is small and inconspicuous. 

 The length of wing, in Pinang specimens, seems rarely to exceed 6 in. : 

 in the example referred to, with particularly fine tail, it is just 6 in. In 

 our adult Andaman specimen, with scarcely a trace of frontal crest, the 

 closed wing measures 6| in., and 6 in. in our young Andaman specimen. 

 In three adult examples now brought from the interior of the Tenasserim 

 provinces by Mr. Atkinson, the length of wing varies from 6 to 6| in., 

 and the crest is moderately developed, though still rather small, some of 

 the feathers composing it measuring 1£ in. We have a Tenasserim spe- 

 cimen, however, with the longest crest-feathers 2? in. in length ; wing 

 6f in. : another from Tippera, with crest-feathers 2f in., and wing 6|- in. 

 But in the ordinary JBMmrdj of Bengal, Nepal, Asa in, Sylhet, and Arakan, 

 the crest-feathers rarely exceed If in., and are generally less ; while the 

 wing in adults is commonly from 6| to nearly 7 in. It is probable that 

 the crest is mostly larger in the male than in the female, and longest in 

 particularly fine old males — even to the extent represented by Stephens in 

 his continuation to Shaw's Zoology, which figure may be contrasted with 

 that of Sonnerat. 



In an example from Ceylon, the closed wing is but 5f in. ; and the 

 frontal crest is little larger than in some Pinang specimens, the feathers 

 straightening to f in. : but the bill measures only f in. from nostril to tip; 

 whereas in the adult Andaman bird it is here a full inch, about f in. in the 

 Pinang specimens, and commonly 1 in. in the long-crested specimens from 

 Bengal, &c. Two examples from the peninsula of India agree exactly, so 

 far as I can perceive, with ordinary Tenasserim specimens, which seem to 

 have the crest rather smaller, on the average, than the birds obtained 

 further north. The Edolius dentirostris and D. orissce of Dr. Jerdon 

 {Madr. Journ. XIII, 121,) are much in need of confirmation. After con- 

 siderable study of numerous specimens from various localities, I can at 

 present recognise two races only, as sufficiently distinguishable, being the 

 crestless or almost crestless one from the Andamans and Malayan penin- 

 sula, and the conspicuously crested race elsewhere. When better known, 

 each from an adequate series of both sexes and of all ages from whatever 

 locality, it is probable that these will be acknowledged as two species ; 

 and then follows the question of nomenclature. 



The crested is the Cuculus (!) paradiseus of Linnseus, founded on the 

 Cuculus siamensis cristatus viridis of Brisson, wherein both the existence 

 of the crest and the habitat are indicated ; ergo Edolius paradiseus. 



The crestless (more or less so) is the malabaricus as described by 

 Latham after Sonnerat, but not as figured by Latham and by Stephens ; 



2 N 



