Cuculus lugubris Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13,
pt. 1, 179.
Surniculus lugubris Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891), 19,
227; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 156; Oates and Reid, Cat. Birds'
Eggs (1903), 3, 104; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 60.
Balabac (Everett); Palawan (Everett, Whitehead, Platen, Steere
Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino, White). Southern China,
Malay and Indian Peninsulas, Burmese provinces, Ceylon, Java,
Sumatra, Borneo.
Adult male.--Black; wings, upper and under tail-coverts, and tail
glossed with dark green; head, neck, back, and under parts glossed
with blue; a few hidden white feathers on occiput; a patch of
white feathers on each thigh; under tail-coverts narrowly barred
and tipped with white; a large white spot on inner web of first
primary; a diagonal white bar across inner webs of inner primaries;
outermost tail-feathers incompletely barred and tipped with white;
outer webs of three or four outer tail-feathers narrowly edged with
white near base. "Bill, legs, and claws black; gape and inside of
mouth orange-red; iris brown." (Shelley.) Length, 240; wing, 130;
tail, 122; culmen from base, 24.
Adult female.--Similar to the male. Wing, 120; tail, 112; culmen from
base, 21.
"Immature.--Slightly less glossy, of a more violet shade, and with
clear white terminal spots to many of the feathers irregularly
dispersed over the plumage; under wing-coverts irregularly barred
with white, and the white bar across the quills broader than in the
adult; the tail rather more barred with white, the white bars being
much more distinct on the outer feathers, and the penultimate ones
partially barred near their quills, and all the feathers with white
spots at their tips.
"This species varies considerably in the shape of the tail which is
sometimes very much forked, with the long feathers curved outwards
towards their ends, but is sometimes square, the outer feather on
each side being always short. The white of the nape is often absent,
and the amount of the white spotting of the upper tail-coverts varies
greatly. The most constant characters are the white spot and bar on
the under surface of the quills, the bars on the under tail-coverts,
and the bars on the outer tail-feathers, the latter varying in amount
according to age. The immature bird, Cuculus albopunctatus Drap. has
white spots which vary in number and size, the last to disappear with
age being those at the ends of the tail-feathers. * * *." (Shelley.)
"A single male from Palawan measures, 229 in length; wing, 119; tail,
120; culmen, 23; tarsus, 15; middle toe with claw, 19." (Bourns and
Worcester MS.)