M. Sundevall on the Birds of Calcutta. 171 



of Calcutta, where it is seen all the year round. The Hindoos 

 call it Pingja* ; the Musselmans Boojoonga, and the Europeans 

 king of the crows. It is fond of the light of the sun, and is there- 

 fore not met with in thickly grown groves, but much oftener in 

 open spots. I saw them often sitting together in large numbers 

 on a small solitary tree, where they made much noise and chat- 

 tered, hopped and new about, catching insects in their flight and 

 attacking other birds that came near. They are often seen on a 

 meadow and among grazing cattle, on whose back they like to 

 sit, just like starlings and jays. Like the magpie they can both 

 walk and hop at the same time, but they are not light on foot. 

 Even their flight is heavy, not unlike that of the magpie. Their 

 common tone is clear or chattering ; sometimes a higher srrr ! srrr ! 

 is heard ; and in April they begin to sing charmingly, something 

 like Sylvia trochilus. I found their stomachs always full of in- 

 sects, principally Achetce, which seem to be the common food for 

 birds in Bengal. 



10. Dicrurus ceneus, Vieill. — Drongo bronze, Levaill. Ois. Afr. 176. 

 Edolius metallicus, Cuv. 



Ater, immaculatus, viridi-seneo uitens, plumis capitis oblongis, 

 subsquamseformibus, nitidioribus ; temporibus, mento, ventreque 

 nigro-opacis. 



Longit. 9 poll. Rectrices mediae 30 mill, breviores quam laterales. 

 Rectrices laterales corpore longiores, leviter arcuato-divaricatse, apice 

 rotundatse, vix attenuate, in $ 115 millim., ala 120, tarsus 15. 

 $ similis mari, sed paullulum minor. Rostro et vibrissis simillimus 

 MuscicaptB paradisi. Nares setis paullo densius tectse. Remigum4a 

 reliquis longior. Iris et lingua omnino praecedentis (E. balicassii). 



Twelve or thirteen kinds of birds (which possess a remarkable 

 external resemblance and are met with in the countries around 

 the Indian sea) have been classified by ornithologists under one 

 genus under the common name of Drongo, by which, accord- 

 ing to Buffon, one of them is called in Madagascar (?). Cuvier 

 calls them Edolius, and Vieillot Dicrurus. They have a long tail 

 of ten feathers very much forked, rounded wings, generally of a 

 black colour ; the size of a thrush, and a great number of other 

 resemblances. But notwithstanding these conformities, there are 

 considerable grounds for dividing them into two generic groups, 

 for which both the above-mentioned names can be employed. 

 Those for which I have proposed to keep the Cuvierian name 

 Edolius have their beak and feet formed as Lanius, and resemble 



* This name is generally written Fingah according to Edwards, pi. 56, 

 Ed. cctrulescensy which I have not seen in Bengal, but which seemed to me 

 to be the young of the above species just leaving their nests : they differ in 

 having a shorter tail and white colour under their body, on which are dark 

 spots. 



