. Birds. Birds. 220 CVOVLIBX. Coloration, Upper plumage throughout alternately barred with rufous and blackish brown, the latter glossed with ^green ; on the forehead the rufous is partly replaced by white; wing-feathers dark brown, the outer webs narrowly, the inner broadly indented with rufous; tail-feathers dark brown, tipped with white, margins indented with rufous, the rufous edges increasing on the outer feathers till the outermost are rufous with imperfect black bars and a subterminal brown band; lower plumage throughout huffy white, with numerous narrow dark brown cross-bars; sjdes of
. Birds. Birds. 220 CVOVLIBX. Coloration, Upper plumage throughout alternately barred with rufous and blackish brown, the latter glossed with ^green ; on the forehead the rufous is partly replaced by white; wing-feathers dark brown, the outer webs narrowly, the inner broadly indented with rufous; tail-feathers dark brown, tipped with white, margins indented with rufous, the rufous edges increasing on the outer feathers till the outermost are rufous with imperfect black bars and a subterminal brown band; lower plumage throughout huffy white, with numerous narrow dark brown cross-bars; sjdes of head and neck the same, the ear-coverts rufous and brown. In very old birds the rufous on the upper parts is reduced and the colour becomes darker. The young differ in no important particular from adults. Upper mandible and tip of lower black, rest of lower greenish yeUow; iris brown of difEerent shades; legs and feet brownish slaty or greenish. Length about 9*5; tail 4*75 to 5"2 ; wing 4-6 to 5; tarsus -7; bill from gap^ 1"1. Malay specimens {P. •pravatus) are smaller, the wing measuring 4 to 4*6 Pig. 63.—Head of P. sonmerccti, \. Distribution. A resident species, common in Oeylon and in the forests near the Malabar coast, rare in the Bombay Konkan, and very rare elsewhere in the Indian Peninsula and in the Western Himalayas, though recorded from Mussooree, Kumaun, Manbhoom, and Baipur; less rare in the Eastern Himalayas, but still far from common, and ranging throughout Burma and the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Borneo, and Java. Habits, Sfc. A shy bird with, according to Legge, a curious far- sounding whistle, syllabized as wJa, whip-wMwMp, and a peculiar call-note, commencing in a low key, then suddenly changing to a higher, and then dying away. This Cuckoo feeds chiefly on cater- pillars. Eggs supposed to belong to it have been found in the nest of Otocompsa fweicaitdata, measuring -82 by •62. Genus CHRYSOCOCCYX, Boie, 1827. This is a genus of small
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