44 



NOVITATES ZOOIOOICAE XXVT. 1919. 



Chibia hottentotta. 



The Hair-Crested Drongo is yet again one of the birds which follow the usual 

 rule, and birds from the south are smaller than those from the north, as shown 

 in the table here given. 



The above series are those contained in the British Museum, and the measure- 

 ments of these 166 are confirmed by some 40 skins examined elsewhere, but the 

 5 Bombay and Central Indian birds and the 10 from North-West India are all 

 T have been able to examine from these parts, and the smallness of my material 

 from these places whence we have the two extremes of measurement makes me 

 hesitate to draw any conclusions therefrom. 



At first sight it would seem impossible that the birds from these two areas 

 could be the same, the difference in average wing measurement being no less 

 than 17 mm., whilst the largest Bombay bird is 4 mm. smaller than the smallest 

 specimen from the North-West. If further material from these two areas confirms 

 the above measurements it may be desirable to divide the Indian and Burmese 

 birds into three forms. For the present I leave them all under the same name. 



As regards the Chinese birds we do not require to rely on body measurements 

 to distinguish them from those farther west, the smaD biU sufficing to show at 

 a glance, in 9 out of 10 cases, the country from which they have come ; the 

 bill in Chinese birds measuring only some 25 mm. as against 29 mm. in those from 

 elsewhere. The measurements are taken from the anterior edge of the nostril 

 to the tip of the bill in a straight line, and though this makes the comparative 

 difference seem but small, it ensures great accuracy. For the present, and until 

 an examination of more specimens confirms or contradicts the measurements 

 given in the table above, I retain only two races. 



(1) Chibia hottentotta hottentotta. 



Corvus hottentottus, Linn., Sys. Nat. L p. 155 (1766). 



Type Locality. Said to be Cape of Good Hope. 



This locality is of course absurd, and I therefore designate Sikkim as the 

 type locahty. 



A form varying very greatly in size ; -wing from 1 52 to 180 mm. and averaging 

 166-2 mm. This name may well embrace two more races when further material 

 is available for examination, one from North-West India and a second from 

 Bombay and Central India. 



Its large bill, averaging about 29 mm. and varying between 26 and 29- 5 mm. 

 (rarely 25 mm.), suffices to distinguish it from the next sub-species -viith a bUl 

 of only a little over 25 mm. 



Habitat. Bombay Presidency, the Himalayas from Murree to Eastern 



