CENTROPUS PHILIPPENSIS. 
THE Bubut affords a good illustration of the genus Centropus. Among the 
species which compose it, is a small group, the individuals of which have a general 
agreement both in their external covering and in their cry, although distributed 
tlirough very distant countries. They are found not only in New Guinea and in the 
Philippine and Sunda Islands, but their range extends to Madagascar, and thence 
through the Continent of Africa to Senegal and Egypt The species which constitute 
this small group have as yet not been clearly defined ; and by several ornithologists 
of the first eminence, the adult and the young bird are described with different 
denominations, Although in the Systematic Description of Javanese Birds the 
Bubut has been enumerated as a distinct species, a re-examination of the various 
specimens in our Collection, and a comparison of the varieties in size and external 
marks with the figures of Buffon and Levaillant, have induced me, at least for the 
present, to unite it with the Centropus Philippensis of Cuvier. It tends to confirm 
the near relation which exists between the species composing the small group above 
mentioned * ; their note has suggested nearly the same name in the most distant 
countries : it is Bubut with the Javanese ; Houhou in Egypt ; and Toulon in Mada- 
gascar. They likewise resemble each other in their maimers and their food. In the 
Islands of the Indian Archipelago, as well as in Egypt, they ar<j seldom seen in 
forests, but frequent low bushes ; they live solitary, or in single pairs, and they feed 
chiefly on locusts. Their external covering is similar, both regarding the distribu- 
tion of colours and the particular properties of the plumage, The feathers of the 
head, neck, back, breast, abdomen, and tail have a very dark blue tint inclining to 
black, with a strong gloss, which is purple on the summit of the head and neck, 
yellowish green with a metallic lustre on the tail, and more imiform and dark under- 
neath. But it varies in different individuals according to their age, and according to 
the light to which they are exposed. A peculiar property of the plumes covering 
the head and neck, w hich belongs to all Centropi, shews itself more strongly in the 
group which comprises the Bubut. The plumes are very rough and rigid, and the 
barbs are separated and again subdivided, constituting, according to Illiger, decom- 
pound plumes with bristly lateral filaments. The tail is gradated, and consists of 
ten broad feathers, decreasing regularly in size from the intermediate ones to the 
two exterior feathers, which are abruptly shorter. 
* I consider this small group to consist of the following species, agreeably to M. Cuvier's arrangement, as given 
Regne anim. 426, in the note :— 1. Cuculus iEgyptius and Senegalensis, which are united by M. Cuvier. 2. Centropus 
Pliilippensis, Cup. 3. Centropus nigrorufus, Cuv, 4. Centropus Tolu. 
