328. CLAMATOR COROMANDUS (Linnæus).
CRESTED CUCKOO.
- Cuculus coromandus Linnæus, Syst. Nat. ed. 12, (1766), 1, 171.
- Coccystes coromandus Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19, 214; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 155; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1903), 3, 103, pl. 2, fig. 4; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 60.
Mindanao (Everett); Palawan (Bourns & Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester). Malay and Indian Peninsulas, Burmese countries, southern and central China, Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes.
“Adult male.—Entire upper half of head black, strongly glossed with blue on the crest; across the back of the neck a clear white collar; back black, strongly glossed with greenish blue, and passing into glossy olive-green on the scapulars and inner portion of wings; remainder of wings chestnut, with brown ends to the quills; tail glossy violet-black, most of the feathers, especially the outer ones, partially tipped with white; throat chestnut-buff; chest buffy white; flanks, abdomen, and thighs grayish ash, passing into violet-black on under tail-coverts; under surface of wings chestnut, fading into buff towards the least coverts, and into brown at the ends of the quills. ‘Iris dark brown; bill black, with the pale basal portion of lower mandible light gray; legs, feet, and claws slaty blue.’ (Darling.) Length, 406; culmen, 28; wing, 173; tail, 254; tarsus, 25.
“Adult female.—Similar in plumage to the male, but smaller. Length, 381; culmen, 30; wing, 155; tail, 229; tarsus, 25. Colonel Legge states that the female bird is larger than the male, but this is not borne out by the series in the [British] museum.
“Nestling.—Differs from the adult in having most of the feathers of the upper parts tipped with rufous, the collar being shaded with rufous; the tail-feathers broadly tipped with pale sandy buff; the throat buffy white like the chest, and the under tail-coverts rufous-buff. Length, 350; wing, 160.” (Shelley.)
“Apparently a stranger in the Philippines. A single specimen was obtained by Everett in Mindanao. We obtained one specimen in Siquijor, and another in Palawan. No other example was met with on our trip. The Palawan specimen, a female, measures, 375 in length; wing, 153; tail, 219; culmen, 30; tarsus, 30; middle toe with claw, 29. Iris dark brown; legs, feet, and nails slaty blue; bill black, pale at base of lower mandible.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus SURNICULUS Lesson, 1831.
Length, about 215 mm; plumage almost entirely black; tail nearly square, tips of the feathers turned outward giving the tail a forked appearance like that of a drongo (Dicrurus); outer pair of feathers much shorter than the rest.