Birds of Celebes: Cuculidae. 
217 
Adult females. Length 362 — 380 mm; exjoanse 463 — 476; wing 165 — 173; tail 
213 — 218; tarsus 41 — 43; bill from gape 32; hind toe claw inside 23 — 28. 
“And the bills are not only longer, but markedly stouter as a body than those 
of the males.” 
From the careful measurements of Hume, Blasius, and Salvadori who 
independently obtain similar results, it is obvious that Mr. Oates’s statement, that 
“the female is of about the same size as the male” (111), is not correct; so, too, the 
measiu’einents of Capt. Shelley (e 8, iv 1), which suggest an equal size of the sexes, 
are misleading. 
Variation. It is of interest to note that the males and females of South Celebes measured 
by Blasius and Platen are respectively much larger than the males and females 
of Malacca — India measured hy Hume; while Salvadori’s Moluccan specimens are 
still larger than those of Blasius. 
Distribution. India — Huimlayas from Nepal to Sikkim and Assam (e 8, e 4, ll)\ Central 
India (Ball / .7, etc., eS); South India — Wynaard (Davison I 12]\ Travancore 
(Bourdillon e c9); Kliasia Hills (Chennell e S, Griffith w 1)\ Manipur (Hume 
113)\ Upper Pegu (Oates / .3); Burmah (Oates I U)\ Tenasserim (Davison e 5, 
Bingham e d) ; South Chuia (Swinh. o 1, De La Touche e 9); Formosa and Hainan 
(Swinh. 0 1, 0 2, David e 2); Siam (fide Oates 111, Tweedd. Coll, e 8); Cochin 
Cluna (fide Oates 111)-, Salanga (A. Miill. 1 10)-, Malacca (Davison e 8, Hume ^ 7, 
Kelham / 8); Penang (Brit. Mus. e8); Bunguran (Hose iv 7); Singapore (Davison 
e 8, Hume I 7, Kelham I 8)] Sumatra (Beccari p 6, H. 0. Forbes 7, ? Klaesi 
n 2, Modigl. 1 15)-, Banka (v. d. Bossche g 2); Java (Horsf. c 1, d 1, H. 0. Forbes 
p 7, Vorderman jy 7^7, etc.); Bali (Doherty tv 8)-, Lombok (Vordemnan, Doherty 
■w 5, iv 8)-, Sumbawa (Forsten g 2, Guillem, k 6)-, Satonda and Sumba (Doherty 
tv 8)-, Flores (Wall, e 8); Timor (Wall, g 2, e 8); Borneo (Schwaner g 2, Mottley 
Doria & Beccari gj 3, etc.); Phdipinne Is. (B. & W. tv 4, Whitehead iv 8); Palawan 
(Whitehead k7, k 8, Platen p 10]-, Sooloo Is. (Guillem, o 3, Platen p 14)-, 
Talaut Is. (Nat. Coll.); Great Sangi and Siao (Meyer k 5); Tagulandang (Nat. Coll.); 
Celebes — Lembeh Id. (Guillem, k 8); Banka and Menado tua (Nat. Coll., Dresd. 
M.); Minahassa (Meyer k 2, k 3, Beccari p 4, etc.); Gorontalo (Forsten g 2); 
Balante, E. Cel. (Nat. Coll.'; Kandari, S. E. Penin. (Beccari yy 4); Luwu (Weber 
p 78); Palopo (P. & F. Sarasin); Macassar (Wall, e 8, Weberp 78); Maros Water- 
fall (Platen gy 8, Weber gy 78); Amboina, Ceram, Bum, Halmahera, Ternate, Tidoi'e, 
Batchian (Salvad. q 2). 
The Coucal, or “Lark-heeled Cuckoo”, now under consideration has been 
split up by various authorities — by Cabanis and Heine into 5, by Walden 
into 6, by Shelley into 2 species, but upon grounds which are very unsatis- 
factory. Cabanis and Heine laboured under the disadvantage of having 
insufficient material, each form being represented in only one or two specimens; 
but two of the species recognised, C. lepidus Horsf. and C. affirds Horsf., 
are, as W. Blasius has now satisfactorily proved (p 8), the male and female of the 
same species. By Shelley two races, C. hengalensis and C. jamnicus, hardly 
distinguishable at the best, are recorded as occurring together in the same 
months of the year in the hill-country of N.E. India, in Pegu, and in Formosa. 
Were the means of distinction employed by Shelley allowed, both could also 
-be recorded from Celebes. What is worse, Shelley is divided in his own min d 
Meyer & Wigleswortli, Birds of Celebes (Oct. 23»’d, 1897). 
28 
