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Show 1873.] OF THE ETHIOPIAN REGION. 623 6. CENTROPUS NIGRORUFUS. Le Coucal noirou male, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. v. p. 78, pl. 220 (1806); Sundev. Crit. o m Levaill. p. 48 (1858). Cuculus nigrorufus, Cuv. Regne An. i. p. 426 (1817). Corydonix bicolor, Vieill. N. Diet, xxxiv. p. 297 (1819). Centropus nigrorufus, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiv. p. 213 (1826) ; Less. Traite, p. 135 (1831) ; Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 455 (1846) ; Bp. Consp. i. p. 107 (1850); Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 107, note (1862); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 245 (1867) ; Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 213 (1870). Female. Head and neck all round, fore neck and chest deep black, the shafts to the feathers glossy black; rest of underparts also black, but the black shafts not so distinct; interscapulary region deep chestnut, with rufous shafts to the feathers; wing-coverts paler rufous, crossed with narrow blackish bars and very distinct fulvous shaft-stripes to the feathers, these characters being more decided on the lesser and greater coverts, nearly obsolete on the median ones; quills pale rufous, with dusky tips and rufous shafts, the inner secondaries crossed with alternate broad bars of black and rufous or fulvous, with distinct fulvous shafts ; middle of the back pale rufous, minutely barred with black ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts glossy black ; tail black, the middle feathers barred with fulvous brown; under wing-coverts and entire under surface of wing rufous ; bill and feet black. Total length 13 inches, culmen 1*1, wing 7*0, tail 7'7, tarsus 1*55. Hab. S. Africa; Port Natal (Wahlberg). The above description is taken from a bird in m y collection, received by m e in exchange from the Stockholm Museum, and obtained by the late Professor Wahlberg, near Port Natal, on the 28th of November, 1840. I have not as yet seen another specimen ; and it seems to m e as if this bird were in partial change, to judge by analogous examples of other black-and-red Centropi. The bars on the tail, which I have made of specific importance, to distinguish it from its African allies, as well as those on the wing-coverts and inner secondaries, may after all be only a token of winter or young plumage. 7. CENTROPUS GRILLI. Centropus grillii, Hartl. J. f. O. 1861, p. 13; Cab. & Heine, Mus. Hein. Th. iv. p. 107(1862); Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 213 (1870). Head, neck, interscapulary region, lower part of the back, tail, and entire underparts black; lesser wing-coverts pale rufous, rather broadly banded with black; the shafts pale buffy white; primaries and secondaries bright cinnamon-rufous, dusky at the tip, the shafts rufous ; tertiaries dusky, with brown shafts ; centre of the back obscure dusky ; whole of the inner aspect of the wing pale rufous ; bill and feet black. Totallength about 11 inches, culmen 11'", wing 5*9, tail from base 6-f, tarsus 1°4'" (Hartlaub). Hab. Gaboon. |
