208 DICEURID^. 



example. In shape it is excessively long and narrow, of the type 

 of llie eggs of Chibia Jioitentotta, but its coloration and character 

 of markings are unlike those of any Shrike or Drongo with which 

 I am acquainted, and exactly resemble those of many types of the 

 eggs of the several Bulbuls. The ground-colour is pinkish Avhite, 

 and is thickly speckled and spotted throughout witli primary mark- 

 ings of rich brow nish red, and feeble secondary ones of excessively- 

 pale inky purple. This egg, moreover, possesses a degree of gloss 

 never observable in those of the Dicrun, and therefore, well 

 assured though Mr. Brooks is of the parentage of this egg which 

 he took with his own hands, I feel confident, having since obtained 

 many eggs of Htjpsipetes psaroides which are exactly similar to 

 this last described egg, that in, perhaps, indifferent light he mis- 

 took this bird for a Bicnirus. I may add that the first described 

 type, of wliieh 1 have procured numerous specimens from dii3^erent 

 parts of the Himalayas, taking several nests with my own hands, is 

 most characteristic of this species. 



In the type with the pinky-white ground, large or small spots 

 often occur about the large end of a deep purple colour, so deep 

 as to be almost black, and but for the absence of gloss some of 

 these paler eggs are very close to those of some of the Orioles. 

 Intermediate varieties between the two types above described occur, 

 but in not one of more than sixty specimens that I have examined 

 has there been any perceptible gloss. 



The eggs vary in length from 0-85 to 1-01 inch, and in breadth 

 from 0-7 to 0-75 inch, but the average of fifty-one eggs is 0-95 

 by 0-74 inch. 



329. Dicrurus nigrescens, Oates. The Tenassenm Ashij Drongo. 

 Dicrurus nigrescens, Oates ; Gates, B. I, i, p. 315. 



Mr. Oates found the nest of this Drongo in Pegu. He says : — 

 " 1 found one nest on the 27th April at Kyeikpadeiu, near the 

 town of Pegu, on a small sapling near the summit. It contained 

 four eggs * ; they are without gloss ; the ground-colour in all is 

 white. In three eggs the whole shell is marked with spots of pale 

 purple ; these are perhaps more nnmei'ous at the thick end, but 

 not conspicuously so. The fourth egg is blotched, not spotted, 

 with the same colour. 



" The nest is composed of fine twigs and the dry bi'anches of 

 weeds ; it is lined very firmly and neatly with grass. Exterior 

 diameter 5 inches and depth 2 ; egg-chamber 3| inches across and 

 1 J deep. The outside of the nest is profusely covered with lichens 

 and cobwebs. The eggs measure from '83 to -95 in length, and 

 •68 to -71 in width." 



* I recorded the nest and eggs of this bird under the name of Buchanga 

 intermedia (S. F. v, p. 149). The parent birds of these eggs are foi-tiinately still 

 iu the Britisli Museum, and I am able to identify them wiLli this species, which 

 occurs generally throughout Tenasserim and many parts of Lower Pegu. — Ed. 



