186 
Birds of Celebes; Cueulidae. 
crossed with 5 black bars, the subterminal one much the broadest; in front of eye 
wliite; chin slaty grey; under surface ■white, chest washed Avith rufous, breast and 
sides streaked here and there with brown; under wing-coverts Avhite vdth a few 
streaks of brownish; quills below shining dusky, barred on the inner Avebs — except 
toAvards free end of Aving — A\uth Avhite, which gradually increases in extent until at 
their bases the quills are all white. AVing 20(1 jnm; tail IGO; tarsus 22; mid. toe 
without claw 23; bill from nostril IG. 
“Bill black, below yelloAv-green; orbit yelloAA-green; feet light yellow; iris brown” 
(Platen ui Mus. Nehrkorn, specimen from Rurukan, iST. Celebes, 28. I. 85). 
Adult. Uniform slaty grey above. 
Young. Upiier surface barred all over AAuth rufous and brown (except head, AAbich is gettmg 
smoky grey); tail, tail-coverts and secondaries as in the above- described $; 
under surface strongly Avashed with nifous and marked Avith broad streaks of rich 
broAvn (Q Mindoro; Platen in Mus. Nehrkorn, Nr. 2485). 
Distribution. Lower Amoor (Maack el)] .Japan (Seebohm f 3)] China (Grid, cl, e II, 
Styan 13)] Pliilippines (Cabanis d 1, Everett d 3, Maitland-Heriot f 2, Steere 
d4, B. & 17)] North Celebes — Gorontalo (Riedel g 1)] Rurukan (Platen in 
Mus. Nehrk.); Borneo (Everett if *"■», 11, Eischer, Schwaner S*"'®, IT]] Java (Horsf. 
al)] Sumatra (Beccari 4, Klaesi 9, Modigl. 14)] Singapore (Kelham 6)] Perak, 
Malacca (AVray 10)] Salanga (A. Mlill. 8). 
In his Catalogue of the Cuckoos (12) Capt. Shelley includes under the 
title Hierococcyx fugax three forms, H. fuyax, H.hyperyt/mis') and H.nisicolor, Av^hich 
have been commonly treated by other authors as distinct. According to Major 
AA^ardlaAv Ramsay H. hyperythrus has the “rufous (of the under surface) darker, 
uniform, or nearly so”, inhabits Japan, Amoorland, China, and the Philippines, 
the young birds being found in Borneo and Malacca, and perhaps Sumatra and 
Java in winter; H. nisicolor has the “rufous paler, mixed with white” and ranges 
from the Himalayas to Tenasserim, descending perhaps into the Malay Peninsula, 
ll.fugax is a species which in maturity retains a plumage like II. hyperythrus 
juv.; its distribution is not definitely stated (f 2). yVe conclude that a stationary 
race breeding in the East India Islands is intended; but, if so, Major Ramsay 
is in error in applying to it the name H. fugax Horsf,, since that bird has a 
grey, not a brown, back (al). Capt. Shelley finds the type to be an adult of the 
laro'e series of examples comprehended by him under the title H. fugax, a grey- 
backed species when adult, under which the types of H. nisicolor and hyperythrus 
are also included. 
Not taking into further consideration H. nisicolor, of which Hume & HaAfison 
say that “of course it cannot be confounded Avith fugax which has a very much longer 
bill” (5) and the distinctness of Avhich is upheld by Blanford in his recent Avork, it 
appears to us highly probable that Major Ramsay’s opinion as to the distinctness 
of 11. hyperythrus, subspecific at least, from H.fugax, the resident form of the East 
Indies, is correct. Mr, Everett discovered H.fugax breeding on Kini Balu: “I 
found this species laying in the nest of Culicicapa ceylonensis on the 29*’’ April. The 
1) Tlio type of C. hyperythrus in 
tlio British IMuseum is khdlod Manila. 
