NOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXV. 1018. 299 



and east to Bangkok) are very small with small bills like the Javan birds, and 

 possibly may have to be hnked ^\^th that form. At present material from South 

 Siam and the Malay Peninsula is very meagre, and \^ith birds wliich inchvidually 

 vary so enormously it is not safe to diagnose forms except on really good series. 



Habitat. Kloss in a recent article in the Ihis has referred two or three 

 Siam birds to Dicrurus longus and he may well prove to be right. At present 

 I include under the name catknecus birds from the whole of Burma south of 

 the most northern Chin, Kachin, and Shan HiUs, the whole of Southern Cliina, 

 Cochin China, Northern Siam certainly as far south as Bangkok, or Hainan. 



Wing average, 142-9 mm. (130-155); tail average, 14V4 (125-165); bill 

 about 2r9 mm. 



(5) Dicrurus ater longus. 



D if rums longus Bonnp., Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 352 (1850). 



Type Locality : Java. 



The smallest of all the forms of Black Drongo, but with a tail longer in 

 proportion than any other eastern form and also a smaller bill. 



Habitat. The area inhabited by tliis form may have to be extended con- 

 siderably if it is found impossible to divide from it the birds from the extreme 

 south and east of the Malay Peninsula. At the same time more material from 

 these parts may show that they are identical with those from the rest of Burma. 

 Three birds from Amherst have wings averaging I43'0 mm. equal to the average 

 of cathoecus and two from Mergui have an average of 144"0 mm. 



Wing average, 129 mm. (121-136) ; tail average, 146-4 mm. (130-165) ; bill 

 about 21 mm. 



(6) Dicrurus ater harterti, subsp. nov. 



TjTpe: (J Tai-peh, Formosa. 6. iv. 1896. Owston Coll., Tring Museum. 



Type Locality : Formosa. 



With the exception of the Himalayan bird tliis form is the biggest of all, 

 but is separable at a glance b}' its curiously short tail ; indeed this is the only 

 subspecies of D. a. ater of which the tail averages less than the wing. The bill 

 is stout and quite as long as that of the big northern bird. 



Habitat. Formosa. 



Wing average, 147-7 mm. (139-155); tail average, HO'O (131-152); bill 

 about 23-5. 



Dissemui'us paradiseus. 



Dissemurus paradiseus has been spht up into many geographical races, for 

 its range of variation is undoubtedly very great. In adcUtion to size, in this 

 species the comparative length between wing and tail, the size of the racquets, 

 and the size of the crest all form excellent characters for discriminating between 

 the various forms. 



As with so many other species of Drongo the subspecies inhabiting Central 

 Burma and that inhabiting Central India approach very closely, as do those 

 from farther south, i.e. Ceylon and Southern India in the west and the Malay 

 Peninsula, Java, and Sumatra in the east. With this species, however, there 



