CUCULUS POLIOCEPHALUS. 
(THE SMALL CUCKOO.) 
Cuculus poliocephalus. Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 214 (1790); Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1842, p. 904 et 
Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 71 (1849); Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. u. p. 70 
(1856); Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 824; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 135 (1873). 
Cuculus himalayanus , Gould, Cent. Him. Birds, pi. 54 (1 8 o 2 ). 
Ilierococcyx poliocephalus, Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. ^04 (1850). 
Cuculus lartlettii, Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 452 (juv.). 
Cuculus lineatus, Less. Traite d Orn. p. lo2. 
Cuculus tamsuicus, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1865, p. 108. 
Cuculus 1, Blakiston and Pryer, Ibis, 1878, p. 227. 
The Hoary-headed Cuckoo of some Indian writers. 
Daugham , Lepchas; Pichu-giapu, Bhootias (Jerdon). 
Ilototogisu , J apanese. 
Adult male and female. Length 10-0 to 10-76 inches ; wing 6-0 to 6-2 ; tail 5-2 to 6'0 ; tarsus 0-75 to 0-85 ; outer 
anterior toe and claw 0-9 to 1-0 ; bill to gape 1-0 to 1-1. Expanse 17-3. 
The above dimensions are from three examples procured in Ceylon. A J apanese specimen measures-wing 6-3 inches ; 
tail 5-7. 
t K nwT1 nr hmwnish -rev ■ bill, upper mandible and tip of lower blackish, gape, base of under mandible, and eyelid 
US y r enow . inside of mouth the same, but the base of the palate orange-red ; legs and feet yellow, tarsus washed with 
Abo^Zimitom' strmgly with greenish mostly on the »PP» 
bl™,,^ 
throat 'and "fore^ne^k pale fulvous, shaded with an ashen hue, and which colour blends softly into the grey ot the 
sides of the neck; beneath, from the neck downwards, white, with the vent and under tail-coverts pale buff, 
breast flanks and thigh-coverts crossed with narrow softened-edged bars of blackish. 
The above description is taken from a well-preserved Japanese example in Mr. Seebohm s collection, which is identical 
with Indian specimens. 
y ounc/ Above ashy brown ; the feathers of the head more or less tipped with white, these markings being often confined 
to the superciliary region and occiput. Upper back, scapulars, and wing-coverts tipped and barred with whitish 
or pals fulvous , the lower back and upper tail-covert, marked with a series of white 
latter more or less barred with rufous as well; primaries and secondaries barred on the outer webs with m ou, 
and on the inner with white, changing somewhat into rufous near the tips ; tail spotted as m the adult and the 
central feathers barred with rufescent ; chin and throat fulvous, barred with pale brownish ; under surface as in 
In d i viduakvary much inter se in the markings of the upper surface, some specimens being banded with rufous Mislead 
of white. An example shot in March at Colombo is acquiring the adult plumage, having the attire of the head, 
back, aud rump mixed with bluish-ashen feathers. 
Rufous Phase. This species commonly assumes a rufous phase. Two individuals from Nepal which I have examined 
in Ge British Museum are entirely rufous above, with the head, hmd neck, back, scapulars, and wmg-coverte 
banded with blackish slaty, having a perceptible greenish lustre: in one the rump and upper tad-coverts^are 
almost unmarked, the feathers only having terminal bar-like spots; the wings are grecnishbrou ^ b 
vellowish rufous ; the tail glossy dark brown, barred with incomplete angular rufous bars, the featheis all tipp 
Lith whitish- chin and throat yellowish rufous, narrowly barred with blackish; breast and lower p _ 
CTOSsed'with widely-separated blackish bars ; edge of under wing rufous, the rest of it white, barred with black. 
