Part 145

"An adult male from the Calamianes Islands measures, 216 in length; wing, 104; tail, 98; culmen, 24; tarsus, 15; middle toe with claw, 21. Iris dark brown; legs and feet drab; upper mandible black, lower dark gray. Our Tablas specimens are immature, but there seems little room for doubt as to their identity." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Genus CACOMANTIS S. Müller, 1843.

Size small; wing short and pointed; third primary longest; primaries exceeding secondaries by one-third of length of wing; tail strongly graduated, longer than wing. In this genus the young have a barred plumage which disappears in the adult; Penthoceryx has no change of pattern but retains the barred livery in the adult state.

337. CACOMANTIS MERULINUS (Scopoli).

RUFOUS-BELLIED CUCKOO.

Cuculus merulinus Scopoli, Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1786), 2, 89. Cacomantis merulinus Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19, 268; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 159; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 62.

Ma-sa-kit', Manila.

Balabac (Everett); Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan (Steere, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bohol (Everett, McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Cagayancillo (McGregor); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester); Caluya (Porter); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Leyte (Steere Exp.); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Cuming, Gevers, Everett, Heriot, Steere Exp., Whitehead, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Masbate (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow); Mindoro (McGregor, Porter); Negros (Steere Exp., Whitehead, Bourns & Worcester, Keay); Palawan (Everett, Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, White); Panay (Sonnerat, Steere, Steere Exp.); Samar (Steere Exp.); Semirara (Porter); Sibay (Porter); Siquijor (Celestino); Sulu (Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester, Everett); Ticao (McGregor). Malay Peninsula, Burmese Provinces, eastern Himalayas, northeastern Bengal, central India, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, Ternate.

"Adult male.--Upper half of the head and back of the neck leaden gray, passing gradually into brown, with an olive gloss on the back and wings; feathers of the pinion-joint white, forming a patch; upper tail-coverts gray like the crown; tail slaty black with white ends, the outer webs of the feathers notched with white, the inner webs regularly barred with white, most strongly so on the outer feathers; sides of the head, chin, throat, and front of chest uniform gray, slightly paler than the crown; remainder of the body and under tail-coverts and the under wing-coverts uniform rufous-buff; under surface of the quills dusky brown, with a diagonal bar of white formed by the white on the inner webs near the base of the quills. 'Bill black, base of lower mandible reddish. Iris light red; feet and legs waxy naples-yellow, nails black.' (Everett.) Length, 208; culmen, 16; wing, 109; tail, 109; tarsus, 16.

"Immature.--Above rufous, nearly equally barred throughout with olive, shaded black; primaries alone more uniform brown; under parts buff, narrowly barred throughout with dusky black; under wing-coverts like the chest; pale portion of the quills more rufous than in the adult and indicating partial bars. 'Bill dusky black, yellowish at the gape and base of lower mandible; iris yellowish white, legs and feet dingy grayish yellow.' (Hume.) Length, 231; culmen, 18; wing, 109; tail, 127; tarsus, 18." (Shelley.)

Nestling.--Upper parts including wings and tail dark brown, the feathers barred and edged with cinnamon-rufous; tip of tail and edge of wing white; below white, barred, more regularly than above, with blackish brown.

"Very common. It is quite a sweet singer. Legs and feet dirty yellow; nails black; upper mandible black, lower light brown. Four males measure, 241 in length; wing, 118; tail, 132; culmen, 21; tarsus, 16; middle toe with claw, 21." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Genus CHALCOCOCCYX Cabanis, 1862.

Length, about 165 mm.; tail short and rounded; wings long and pointed, when folded reaching nearly to tip of tail; plumage metallic bronze or violet; breast, abdomen, and sides barred with white.

Species.

a1. Bill bright yellow; upper parts deep metallic violet. ... xanthorhynchus (p. 376) a2. Bill not yellow; upper parts metallic bronze, green, and purple. ... malayanus (p. 377)

338. CHALCOCOCCYX XANTHORHYNCHUS (Horsfield).

VIOLET CUCKOO.

Cuculus xanthorhynchus Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13, pt. 1, 179. Chalcococcyx xanthorhynchus Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19, 289; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 161; McGregor, Phil. Jour. Sci. (1906), 1, 905; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 62. Lampromorpha amethystina Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1831), 98.

Basilan (McGregor); Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Luzon (Lindsay); Mindoro (Steere Exp., McGregor, Porter); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Whitehead). Nicobars, Andamans, Malay Peninsula, Indo-Chinese Provinces, Assam, Java, Sumatra, Borneo.

Male.--Entire head, neck, wings, tail, chin, throat, and fore breast beautiful metallic violet; three outer pairs of rectrices tipped with white; outermost pair with three white spots on outer webs; under parts, wing-lining, and axillars white, barred with metallic green. A male from Mindoro had inner ring of iris dark red, outer ring yellow; eyelids scarlet; bill bright yellow, its basal third orange-red; legs and nails black. Length, 165; wing, 103; tail, 68; culmen from base, 19. A male from Palawan measures: Wing, 91; tail, 65; culmen from base, 17.

"Adult female.--Above coppery bronze shaded with green, and with somewhat obscure rufous edges to most of the feathers of the wing; sides of the head and eyebrows white, barred with black; forehead partially mottled with these colors; remainder of the crown and back of the neck nearly uniform dark brown; center pair of tail-feathers nearly uniform fiery bronze, passing into green toward their ends; remainder of the feathers rufous, barred with black, and the outer web and tip of the exterior pair blotched with white; under parts, including the under wing-coverts, white, regularly barred with bronzy brown, passing into black on the under tail-coverts; under surface of the quills brown, with broad inner margins of buff, passing into white near the base of the feathers. Length, 168; culmen, 16; wing, 99; tail, 71; tarsus, 14.

"Young.--Above rufous; back of the neck, back, and wing-coverts barred with metallic green; quills greenish brown, edged with rufous; two center tail-feathers metallic green, tipped with rufous, remainder rufous, barred with black and tipped with white and with some white bars on the outer feathers; beneath white, barred with bronze. Bill yellowish brown. Length, 142. Males on first assuming the metallic plumage are irregularly blotched with both metallic green and violet." (Shelley.)

"A very rare bird. Iris red; legs and feet dark olive; nails black; bill orange-yellow, red at base; eye-wattles red. Food, in one case, caterpillars. A male measures, 203 in length; wing, 96; tail, 66; culmen, 18; tarsus, 13; middle toe with claw, 19." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

It is not improbable that Vigors's name will have to be used for the violet cuckoo inhabiting the Philippine Islands, outside the Palawan group; at the present time, however, sufficient material to warrant the separation is not available.

339. CHALCOCOCCYX MALAYANUS (Raffles).

EMERALD CUCKOO.

Cuculus malayanus Raffles, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1822), 13, pt. 2, 286. Chalcococcyx malayanus Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19, 298; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 162; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 62.