Immature birds differ from the adult in having the head and body brown, more or less mixed with light buff; wings chestnut, barred with blackish brown; feathers of head, neck, throat, and breast with pale buff shafts; the tail, even in very small young birds, is glossy green like that of the adult.
“Commonest of Philippine cuckoos. Found in the brush and high grass in open country; breeds in February and March. Eyes dark cherry-red; legs and feet slaty black; nails black; bill black.
“Five males from Cebu measure, 395 in length; wing, 152; tail, 239; culmen, 30; tarsus, 40; middle toe with claw, 38. A male from Masbate measures, 419 in length; wing, 17; tail, 202; culmen, 27; tarsus, 37; middle toe with claw, 41. Two females from Masbate measure, 457 in length; wing, 171; tail, 247; culmen, 31; tarsus, 41; middle toe with claw, 43. It will be noted that the variations in size are very considerable.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
348. CENTROPUS JAVANICUS (Dumont).
JAVAN COUCAL.
- Cuculus javanicus Dumont, Dic. Sc. Nat. (1818), 11, 144.
- Centropus javanicus Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19, 354; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 167; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1903), 3, 124; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 63.
Tu-la-cuc′, Batan.
Bantayan (McGregor); Batan (McGregor); Bohol (Everett, McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Leyte (Everett); Luzon (Whitehead); Mindanao (Bourns & Worcester); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor, Porter); Negros (Steere Exp., Keay); Palawan (Whitehead, Platen, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, White); Panay (Steere Exp.); Semirara (Worcester); Siquijor (Bourns & Worcester); Sulu (Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester). China, Assam, Burma, Malay Peninsula, Moluccas, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes.
Adult.—General color including tail black, glossed with dark oil-green; shafts of the feathers strong and glossy black; wings light chestnut or reddish buff; coverts and inner secondaries more or less mottled or streaked with blackish brown, the coverts with pale shaft-stripes; tail tipped with pale buff. Iris brown; bill blackish; legs and feet lead-blue; nails blackish. Length, 375 to 400; a male from Mindoro measures, wing, 162; tail, 225; culmen from base, 29; bill from nostril, 18; tarsus, 45; middle toe with claw, 44. A female from Bohol: Wing, 160; tail, 210; culmen from base, 26; bill from nostril, 14; tarsus, 34; middle toe with claw, 39.
Young.—Upper parts seal-brown, somewhat mixed with rusty buff; shafts of feathers on sides of head, neck, and mantle pale buff; back blackish brown, mottled with rusty buff; upper tail-coverts greatly lengthened, two of the feathers being fully two-thirds the length of the rectrices, in color black glossed with green and crossed by numerous bars of rusty buff.