345. CENTROPUS STEERI Bourns and Worcester.
STEERE’S COUCAL.

Mindoro (Platen, Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor).

“Sexes alike.—Forehead, crown and nape, sides of face, chin, throat, and upper breast greenish black; the coarse shafts of the feathers shiny black, the webs with a faint greenish tinge; hind neck and back, sides of neck, wing-coverts, and breast smoky brown with faint greenish tinge; hind back and rump slaty black, tips of feathers with greenish tinge; upper tail-coverts and upper surface of tail uniform dull metallic green; shafts of feathers jet-black from base to tip; upper surface of wings earthy brown with metallic green gloss like the tail, except on the four outer primaries, which have little gloss; abdomen browner than breast and with less metallic wash; flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts like rump; under surface of tail black with faint metallic blue gloss; under wing-coverts and axillars like breast; under surface of wing uniform blackish brown. Seven males measure as follows: Length, 424; wing, 150; tail, 216; culmen, 40; tarsus, 42. A female measures, 495 in length; wing, 158; tail, 233; culmen, 44; tarsus, 43.” (Bourns and Worcester.)

Steere’s coucal is somewhat like the Mindoro coucal but its breast and neck are smoky brown while the entire plumage of the Mindoro coucal is black glossed with green. The two species are fairly abundant in Mindoro and inhabit thick grass patches and jungle.

346. CENTROPUS SINENSIS (Stephens).
COMMON COUCAL.

Balabac (Everett); Cagayan Sulu (McGregor); Luzon (Cuming); Palawan (Everett, Lempriere, Whitehead, Platen, Bourns & Worcester, White); Sulu (Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Everett). Malay Peninsula, Burmese countries, Ceylon, China, India, Java, Sumatra, Borneo.