202 
Birds of Celebes: Cuculidae. 
Sexes. The male and female closely resemble one another. 
Young, The nestling differ-s from the adult in having most of the feathers of the upper parts 
tipped with rufous, the collar being shaded with rufous; the tail-feathers broadly 
tipped with pale sandy huff; the throat huffy wliite 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, Avest to Kumaon, south to Trichinopoly (Norman 16)] Ceylon (L egg e 77); 
Pegu (Oates 14)] Tenasserim (Feilden 5); China (SAviuh. fl, 3, David 7, Styan 22)] 
Siam (fide Shelley 20)] Cambodia (Mouhot 20)] Salanga (A. Mull. 75); Malacca 
(Davison <9, 20, Hartert 77); Penang (Horsf. & Moore 7); Singapore (Charlton 
76); SAunatra (S. Mull. 4, Klaesi 15, Hartert 77); Bangka (van den Bossche 4, 
Btittik. 75); Java (Horsf., Kuhl, a'. Hasselt 4, Vorderman 2.3); Borneo — North, 
West, South, Central, andNorth-AA'est (Wallace, Everett, etc. 4, 16,18,19,20)] Pliilip- 
pines — Mindanao (Everett .9, 20), -Siquijor and Palawan (Bourns & Worcester 
25); Celebes — Minahassa (Fischer 6,13). 
A single example of tlds Cuckoo Avas 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 Ave 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 tAvo 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 Hidia Islands. Mr. Styan (22) marks it as a summer visitor to 
the TiOwer Yangtse dh-ision of China; Capt. Feilden (oj 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 Tqjperah 
and Sikkim fiirther 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 Tmwer 
Pegu it has been found in December as Avell (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 Avinter visitor, “arriving 
about October and departing again in April”; also in South India, Avhere 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 folloAving are all the dates Ave find recorded from 
the south-eastern parts of its range: 
Malacca: July (20). 
Salanga; Jan. 5*’^, 15*’', March 7*’' (12). 
