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Show 596 MR. R. B. SHARPE ON THE CUCULID.E [Juue 17, outer web ; tail as in adult, but not so broadly tipped ; throat and fore neck as well as under wing-coverts rich ochre ; rest of under surface white, washed with ochre, the outer face of the thighs dusky brown. Whether the female always differs, as I have described, in having a tinge of rufous on the primaries, I cannot say for certain, but such has been m y experience in a large series of carefully sexed specimens. As, however, the amount of rufous varies, being sometimes more, sometimes less, it may not improbably be the remains of the rufous wing of the young bird. Hab. N.E. A F R I C A : Egypt (Shelley); common everywhere, found along the whole Nile valley to the Gazelle River and Djur, also in Bogos, Quola of Abyssinia, and on the Danakil and Somali coasts, as well as in most parts of Arabia-apparently resident ( Von Heuglin); Kordofan (Petherick). W . A F R I C A : river Gambia (Mus. R. B. S.); Kasamanze and Bissao (Verreaux) ; Cape Coast, Dec. 1869 (Hinde). S.W. A F R I C A : Ovampo (Andersson) ; Damara Land and Okavango river (Andersson); Windvogelberg (Bulger); Kaffraria (Layard) ; Port Elizabeth (Mus. R. B. Si). 2. COCCYSTES CAFER. Cuculus cafer, Licht. Cat. Rer. Nat. Hamb. p. 14 (1793). Fariete du Coucou Edolio, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. v. p. 44, pl. 209 (1806); Sundev. Crit. om Levaill. p. 47 (1858). Cuculus afer, Leach, Zool. Misc. p. 72, pl. 31 (1814) ; Steph. Gen. Zool.ix. p. 115, pl. 24(1815). Coccyzus levaillantii, Sw. Zool. Illustr. 2nd ser. pl. 13 (1829). Cuculus levaillantii, Less. Traite, p. 148 (1831). Oxylophus vaillantii, Sw. B. of W . Afr. ii. p. 182 (1837). Oxylophus ater, Riipp. Syst. Uebers. p. 96 (1845) ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 102 (1850) ; Hartl. Orn. W . Afr. p. 188 (1857). Oxylophus afer, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 464 (1847); Heugl. Syst. Uebers. p. 48 (1856) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 253 (1867); Heugl.Orn. N. O. Afr. p. 790 (1870); Blanf. Geol. & Zool. Abyss, p. 312 (1870); Finsch, Tr. Z. S. vii. p. 285 (1870). Coccystes afer, Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 48 (1862) ; Schl. Mus. P.-B., Cuculi, p. 44 (1864). Coccystes caffer, Sharpe, Ibis, 1870, p. 58 ; Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 220 (1870) ; Sharpe, Cat. Afr. B. p. 13 (1871)- Oxylophus caffer, Gurnev, ed. Anderss. B. Dam. Ld. p. 225 (1872). Adult male. Above shining greenish black, the head deeper black and ornamented with a long crest of lanceolate feathers ; lores and ear-coverts dull black ; quills brown, the inner webs white at the base, the primaries also externally white at the base, causing a large alar speculum, the inner secondaries greenish black like the back; tail greenish black like the rest of upper surface, broadly tipped with white, the inner webs showing somewhat of a purple tinge ; under surface of body buffy white, the feathers of the throat, breast, and under tail-coverts black in the centre, giving a thickly striped ap- |