Birds of Celebes: Cuculidae. 
203 
Sumatra: 2, sometime between Oct. — Mch. ( 15 ). 
Java: February ( 23 ). 
Borneo: Dec. 20*’^ ( 4 ), Dec. 29'-^ ( 19 ). 
Celebes: October 18*’* ( 6 ). 
Mindanao: March ( 9 ). 
Many more observations are, of course, wanted before a decided opinion 
can be formed tbat the birds which visit China and Tenasserim in summer are 
the same individuals as those found in the East Indies in winter. In all pro- 
bability such is the case. Mr. Hose (24) remarks that it “occurs on migration” 
on the Sarawak coast of Borneo, and, as regards Celebes, we are inclined to 
regard the species as a rare winter migrant, perhaps only a straggler. 
C. coromandus is most likely entirely parasitic in its breeding habits. Thus, 
Capt. Eeilden has shot a young one out of a brood of young Quaker Thrushes 
(Akippe) and has found an egg, apparently of this Cuckoo, in the nest of 
that bird. Its food consists of hairy caterpillars, “beetles, grasshoppers, Man- 
tklae, and other large insects” (Legge lU Hartert 17). 
The nearest ally of this Cuckoo is the Coccystes glandarius (L.) of “Southern 
and Central Europe, as far east as Persia, wintering in Africa” (Shelley), from 
which C. coromandus may be readily distinguished by the white collar across its 
hind neck and by the absence of large terminal spots of whitish on the wing- 
coverts. It is of some interest to note that these spots are to be seen to some 
extent in the immature C. coromandus. 
GENUS SURNICULUS Less. 
A genus of three small Cuckoos of about the size of a Lark, easily recog- 
nised by their general plumage of black and resemblance to a Drongo 
( Dicrurus). The tail is about as long or longer than the wing, in two species 
forked, the outer feathers taking a lateral curl as in adult Drongos; in S. velii- 
tinus it is square; the outermost rectrix is short, about % the length of the 
tail. Across the base of the wing below is a white band. The genus is found 
from the Himalayas to the Philippines, Batchian and Java. Davison (Str. F. 
1878, VI, 159) observed a young one of luguhris in Tenasserim being fed 
by a Drongo; it is supposed, as Blanford says, to deposit its eggs in the nests 
of these birds. 
68. SURNICULUS MUSSOHENBROEKI A.B.M. 
Van Musschenbroek’s Drongo-cuckoo. 
Surnieulus musschenbroeki Meyer, Kowl. Orn. Misc. 1878, HI, 164; Salvad., Ann. 
Mas. Civ. Gen. 1878, XIH, 461; ( 3 ) id., Orn. Pap. I, 1880, 357; ( 4 ) Shelley, 
Cat. B. XiX, 1891, 230; ( 5 ) Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1896, 159, 165. 
Description. Meyer 1 . 
Adult. Black, glossed Avith blue, on the wings with green; under wing-coverts and quills 
26 * 
