r 
202 Birds of Celebes: Cuculidae. 
Sexes. The male and female closely resemble one another. 
Young, The nestling' differs from the adult in having most of the feathers of the npjjer parts 
tipped with rufous, the collar being shaded with rufous; the tail-feathers broadly 
tipped with pale sandy buff, the throat huffy white like the chest, and the under 
tail-coverts rufous buff (Shelley 20). 
Measurements. Wing 155 ($)— 173 mm (cf); tail 229—254; tarsus 25.4; culmen 28—30 
(Shelley 20). 
Egg. Very broad oval; fine and glossy. Moderately pale, blue, somewhat greenish, without 
any spots or specks. 26.6 X 23.2 mm (Oates 21). Apparently parasitic in 
breeding habits. 
Distribution. India, west toKumaon, south to Trichinopoly (Norman 16)] Ceylon (Legge 11)'. 
Pegu (Oates 74); Tenasserim (Feilden 5); China (Swinh. fl^ 5, David 7, Styan 22)] 
Siam (fide Shelley 20)] Cambodia (Mouhot 20)] Salanga (A. Miill. 12)] Malacca 
(Davison S, 2d, Hartert 77); Penang (Horsf. & Moore 7); Singapore (Charlton 
16)] Sumatra (S. Miill. 4, Klaesi 15., Hartert 77); Bangka (van den Bossche 4, 
Bllttik. 15)] Java (Horsf., Kuhl, v. Hasselt 4, Vorderman 23)] Borneo — North, 
West, South, Central, and North-west (Wallace, Everett, etc. 4, 16,18,19,20)] Philip- 
pines — Mindanao (Everett 9, 20), Siquijor and Palawan (Bourns & Worcester 
25)] Celebes — Minahassa (Eischer 6, 13). 
A single example of this Cuckoo was shot on 18*^ October 1873 by Fischer 
at a height of 4000 ft. on Mount Lokon not far from Manado in the Mina- 
hassa. Only one specimen, as far as we can ascertain, was known from the 
Philippines prior to 1894, the bird having been shot by Mr. Everett at Zam- 
boanga in Mindanao in March 1878, but Messrs. Bourns & Worcester after- 
wards obtained the species in Siquijor and Palawan. Everett considers it rare 
in Borneo, where, up to 1890, he had only met with two specimens; so, too. 
Dr. Vorderman remarks that it is scarce in Java (23). 
There is reason to believe that Coccystes coromandus is only a winter visitor 
to the East India Islands. Mr. Styan (22) marks it as a summer visitor to 
the Lower Yangtse division of China; Capt. Feilden (5) speaks of it as “the 
commonest Cuckoo at Thayetmyo, Tenasserim, .... arriving in the beginning 
of the rains (April) and the young birds do not leave till October”; in Tipperah 
and Sikkim further north, as well as in Tenasserim, Mr. Oates (21) records 
two cases of a female ready to lay being shot, but both in Sikkim and Lower 
Pegu it has been found in December as well (20). Jerdon (11) says it is 
found in Bengal “only during the rains” (the months of our summer). In Ceylon, 
on the other hand, it is, according to Colonel Legge, a winter visitor, “arriving 
about October and departing again in April”; also in South India, where it has 
very rarely been obtained, it may prove to be only a winter visitor. Thus Mr. 
Vidal’s specimen from the South Konkan was killed 2“^^ January, 1880 (IP^^), 
and one from Kotagherry, Nilghiris (Miss Cockburn) in the British Museum 
is dated Dec. 5*^ (20). The following are all the dates we find recorded from 
the south-eastern parts of its range : 
Malacca: July (20). 
Salanga; Jan. 5*^, 15*^, March 7*^ (12). 
