ON CARPOCOCCYX RADIATUS AND C. VIRIDIS. 97 NOTE XVII. On the specific distinction of the Ground- Cuckoos of Borneo and Sumatra (Cakpococcyx radiatus and 0. vxridis) BY Dr. O. Finsch Among the birds collected by the French naturalist Mr. P. Diard, who in the service of the government of Dutch India in 1826 first explored the district of Pontianak, west-coast the most is doubt of Borneo, interesting no a Ground-Cuckoo, peculiar by its large size and vivid colours. reached Diard got only one specimen, which Leyden not and Tem- before 1828 and which was described figured by minck in his »Planches coloriées” (91e Livr., 1832, Pl. 538) afterwards under the name Calobates radiceus” changed above in Calobates radiatus” (Tabl. méth. or Index to the I mention these dates only to show work, p. 53, 1838). not that publication in those days did go on so quickly of the Pl. col. is »La as at present. This type-specimen but in femelle adulte”, and Temminck anxiously waited, vain, for the »male”, said to be, according to Diard, and »double more vivid in colours with a tail plus longue” (!) mentioned this sing- No other explorer of that period who, ular bird with the exception of Dr. Salomon Müller, Calobates radiatus, in »Ver- however, gives only the name etc. Land- en Volkenk., handl. over de Natuurl. Gesch., with »Borneo and Sumatra.” (1839—44) p. 234, Note) not mention got the bird Strange enough he does having "Vol* XX. Notes from tlie Leyden Muspum» 7 98 ON CARPOCOCCYX RADIATUS AND C. VIRIDIS. himself during his explorations in Western Sumatra (1833 — 36), although there is one specimen in the Leyden Mu- seum labelled »Sumatra, voyage Salomon Müller.” Pro- fessor Schlegel in his Catalogue of the Cuculi (Mus. Pays- Bas, 1864, p. 60), apparently misled by the duller colours, enumerates this specimen as the »fem. adulte” of the bright coloured Bornean-specimen, which latter he labels »mâle adulte.” The specific identity of the large Ground-Cuckoos thus of Borneo and Sumatra was confirmed, although the measurements given by Schlegel show such unusual diffe- to rences in size that one might feel inclined base upon value. But does not that there specific Schlegel say are not also conspicuous differences in coloration, and it was before afterwards that Count who many years Salvadori, got three specimens collected by Odoardo Beccari on Mount Singalang, west-coast of Sumatra, pointed out the specific differences and, although hesitatingly, proposed a new name C viridis for And in- ( . ) the Sumatran bird. this is deed an excellent species, as will be seen by the following characters taken from specimens in the Leyden Museum, which material these possesses an interesting on birds, still in British very rare collections. In the Museum, for example, C. viridis is wanting. Carpococcyx radiatus (Temm.). Calobates radiceus Temm. Pl. col. 538 (91 e Livraison, 1832). C. radiatus to PI. Teram. Tabl. mdth. (Index col.), p. 53.(1838). B. — Carpococcyx radiceus Gray, List of Gen. of p. 56, 1840. id. Gen. of B. II, p. 460, PI. 117, fig. 5 (head), 1845. C. radiatus Handl. 206. Gray, II, p. radiatus P. B. Cuculi 60 Neomorphus Schleg. Mus. (1864), p. in (N°. 1 »male adulte", but fact an old female!). radiatus Carpococcyx Shelley, Cat. B. Brit. M. XIX (1891), p. 414. Larger; shoulders, secondaries and tail purplish-violet, with sides of chin and coppery-red reflections; head, nape, head, throat vertex and black, shining with violet on the nape. Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. XX. ON CARPOCOCCYX RADIATUS AND C. VIRIDIS. 99 Moreover in the and this species back wing-coverts are of vivid sides of and a green, the the neck the crop grey. Besides the old female (Oat. N°. 1) figured in the PI. col., from Pontianak (Coll. Diard 1826), the Leyden Mu- another old female N°. collected seum possesses (Oat. 3) Dr. the by Nieuwenhuis on Long-Bloe, a branch of the Central-Borneo upper Mahakkam, (October 1896), and an old male (Cat. N°. 2), collected by Mr. Hose in the in- terior of Sarawak and presented by him to the Museum. The female N°. shows dark 3 faint green apical margins the feathers of the and therefore this is on rump, part not so distinctly barred with dark; but both sexes are precisely alike, in size as well as in colours. brown outer »Irides grey, with a narrow circle; bill, feet and the naked round the Dr. space eye oilgreen": Nieuwenhuis. Diard describes the naked part round the eye as »red" and accordingly this colour is used also in the PI. col. and our type to it. Mr. Hose got this fine Cuckoo in the interior of Sarawak (Mt. Dulit, Baram district and the short Kalulong) and gives only following notice: »a found the very rare bird, only on ground. Native name »Kruai Manang" (Ibis, 1893, p. 415)." Dr. Nieuwenhuis remarks only: »contents of stomach remains of beetles and other insects; native name »Manok bawai" (M.S.). Carpococcyx viridis Salvad. et C. radialus (Temm.)? in: Annali del Mua. Civ. di St. nat. 187. di Genova, vol. XIV (1879), p. P. B. Cuculi Neomorphus radiatus Schleg. (nep Temm.), Mus. 60 (1864), p. (N°. 2 ifemelle"). B. Mus. C. viridis Shelley, Cat. Brit. XIX, p. 415. and dark Smaller; shoulders, secondaries tail green, of the without or any purplish coppery reflections; top dark the head black (without violet shine); nape green; the chin black as also a longitudinal stripe margining the from below. naked space round eye Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. XX. 100 ON CARPOCOCCYX RADIATUS AND C. VIRIDIS. Besides that in this species the throat and sides of the neck the darker are greenish-grey, back and wing-coverts are than in C. radiatus the dark crosslines the ab- green ; on domen are narrower and stand more closely, the sides of the breast and vent are washed pale rufescent, which co- lour is very distinct on the black barred lower tail-coverts. two The Leyden Museum possesses specimens: one (Cat. N°. 1) collected by Dr. Salomon Miiller in western Su- Mr. matra (Padang), the other (Cat. N°. 2) by van Has- in is af- selt (1880) the same district; this last specimen terwards signed by Schlegel's handwriting » Neomorphus radiatus sumatranus” None the are . of specimens sexed, but we trust that in this too both sexes are alike. may species The specimen N°. 2 shows remains of the first plumage: on the head there are a few rufous-brown feathers and the not full among yet grown primaries is an old one: brownish-black, narrowly margined with rufous-brown on the outer web. Salvadori describes the young bird as blackish, with chestnut-brown crossbands; occiput blackish, quills greenish- with round black, margined rufous. The naked space the is: »di vari rosso-vinato chiaro." eye colori; verde, blue, e from skins the naked round the Judging our space eye, the bill feet and and are green. Of the habits of this species nothing is known. Al. caud. culm. tars. 256 306 mm. mm. 49 mm. 97 mm. radiatus N°. 1 ?. inch. inch. — (French) 9,04 11,2 3,6 inch. n : Schlegel, 267 mm. 280 mm. 50 mm. 85 mm. n N°. 3 ?. 250 92 n 292 n 46 ;/ h n „ 2 J. 205 32 73 n 247 // // n viridis inch. — (French) 7,10 9,3 inch. 2,9 inch. // // 1 Sehl. 250 30 75 2. 200 mm. mm. mm. mm. // // Leyden Museum, 1 May 1898. Notes from the Leyden Museum, "Vol. XX..