220 
Birds of Celebes; Cuculidae. 
whoot but u uit for tho kurooli. It foods ulixiost outiroly upon ^tusS” 
lioppois uud fic(][uoiits tlio oj^Gii, scrubby tructs only. I buvo novor onco soon 
it in larger forest”. 
In South Celebes in the month of February Dr. Platen found it a quiet 
and rather shy bird, appearing and disappearing in a mysterious manner before 
the traveller, as he moved through a hot treeless grass-plain, where the gi’owth 
is taller than a man. “It flies, on being disturbed or when danger tlmeatens, 
quickly downwards, then horizontally for a distance, to raise itself as quickly 
again and cling to another grass-stem, where it looks out for its prey. This 
species, too, feeds, like our German Cuckoo, wdthout damage to its health, on 
hairy caterpillars; for on every dissection the walls of the stomach were found 
covered with brown-black caterpillar hairs. The bird presents the peculiarity 
that the male is much smaller than the female” ( p 8). 
Two remarkable discoveries in connection wuth this species were made and 
fully described by Bernstein (c 2, c 3, c 4j, namely, the male is always to be 
found hatching the eggs by day (what share, if any, the female took in the 
work he could not ascertain), and it possesses only the right testicle, the left 
one being entirely wanting. It should further be borne in mind that the male 
is the smaller, weaker bird, and that, as Mr. Gammie’s observations tend to 
show, it apparently leaves the female to do the “singing”. 
The young of this species, and we believe of all Centrococcyges^ in its first 
plumage is wonderfully like the adult female of Eudynamift melanorhyncha, 
though it may, of course, be at once distinguished by its nostrils, which are 
feathered above, by its long Dark-like hind claw, and by the peculiar spinous 
character of the feathers of its head, neck and body. 
I his similarity is not kept up between the adults of C. hengalensis and the 
adult male of E. melanorhyncha, though both may be said to have developed 
in a melanistic direction’), the latter being entirely black, and C . hengalensis 
and its relations black with rufous wings and back. What is unusual about 
the case is that the young Centrococcyx resembles the adult female of Eudynamis 
melanorhyncha and not the young of that species, which is black, but Mr. White- 
head gives reasons {antea p. 209), Avhy the plumage of the young Etidynamis (E. 
mindanensis) may have been specially modified to make it resemble the black 
)oung ones of its foster-parents. Centrococcyx, not being a parasitical Cuckoo, 
has no need of such an alteration in its young. This type of plumage is shared 
by the young of some other Cticulinae, such as Ouculus, Cacomantis, Ilierococcyx, 
Urodynamis, and it may have^ a deep phylogenetic significance. 
I he long liark-like hind claAv of Centropus suggests at once that it is a 
teirestial biid, and, if wm mistake not, the high course grasses in Avhich it lives 
■) It is worthy of note that Centropus appears to have strong tendencies towards albinism. The Dresden 
Museum contains two perfect albinos of C. viricKs, one perfect albino each of C. ateralhus, and C. goliath, one 
partial albino of C. hengalensis, and several such of C. ateralhus. 
