Cuculus xanthorhynchus Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. (1821), 13,
pt. 1, 179.
Chalcococcyx xanthorhynchus Shelley, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1891),
19, 289; Sharpe, Hand-List (1900), 2, 161; McGregor,
Phil. Jour. Sci. (1906), 1, 905; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List
(1906), 62.
Lampromorpha amethystina Vigors, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1831), 98.
Basilan (McGregor); Cebu (Bourns & Worcester); Luzon (Lindsay);
Mindoro (Steere Exp., McGregor, Porter); Palawan (Whitehead,
Platen, Bourns & Worcester); Samar (Whitehead). Nicobars,
Andamans, Malay Peninsula, Indo-Chinese Provinces, Assam, Java,
Sumatra, Borneo.
Male.--Entire head, neck, wings, tail, chin, throat, and fore breast
beautiful metallic violet; three outer pairs of rectrices tipped
with white; outermost pair with three white spots on outer webs;
under parts, wing-lining, and axillars white, barred with metallic
green. A male from Mindoro had inner ring of iris dark red, outer
ring yellow; eyelids scarlet; bill bright yellow, its basal third
orange-red; legs and nails black. Length, 165; wing, 103; tail, 68;
culmen from base, 19. A male from Palawan measures: Wing, 91; tail,
65; culmen from base, 17.
"Adult female.--Above coppery bronze shaded with green, and with
somewhat obscure rufous edges to most of the feathers of the wing;
sides of the head and eyebrows white, barred with black; forehead
partially mottled with these colors; remainder of the crown and back
of the neck nearly uniform dark brown; center pair of tail-feathers
nearly uniform fiery bronze, passing into green toward their ends;
remainder of the feathers rufous, barred with black, and the outer
web and tip of the exterior pair blotched with white; under parts,
including the under wing-coverts, white, regularly barred with bronzy
brown, passing into black on the under tail-coverts; under surface
of the quills brown, with broad inner margins of buff, passing into
white near the base of the feathers. Length, 168; culmen, 16; wing,
99; tail, 71; tarsus, 14.
"Young.--Above rufous; back of the neck, back, and wing-coverts barred
with metallic green; quills greenish brown, edged with rufous; two
center tail-feathers metallic green, tipped with rufous, remainder
rufous, barred with black and tipped with white and with some white
bars on the outer feathers; beneath white, barred with bronze. Bill
yellowish brown. Length, 142. Males on first assuming the metallic
plumage are irregularly blotched with both metallic green and
violet." (Shelley.)
"A very rare bird. Iris red; legs and feet dark olive; nails black;
bill orange-yellow, red at base; eye-wattles red. Food, in one case,
caterpillars. A male measures, 203 in length; wing, 96; tail, 66;
culmen, 18; tarsus, 13; middle toe with claw, 19." (Bourns and
Worcester MS.)
It is not improbable that Vigors's name will have to be used for the
violet cuckoo inhabiting the Philippine Islands, outside the Palawan
group; at the present time, however, sufficient material to warrant
the separation is not available.