214 DlCRTJRID.i;. 



tute o£ lining. There is a good deal of cobweb on the outsides of 

 the nests, and they were attached to the supporting branches by 

 the same material. One ^\ as fixed in among several upright sprays, 

 the other suspended in a slender fork after the manner of an 

 Oriole. They measured about 6 inches broad by 2| deep externally, 

 internally 4 by 1|. One nest contained four fresh eggs, the other 

 three partially-incubated eggs." 



Mr. Oates, writing from Pegu, says : — " In the first week of 

 May I took several nests of this bird, but in all cases the nests 

 were situated in such dangerous places that most of the eggs got 

 broken ; there were three in each nest. The position of the nest 

 and the nest itself are very much like those of V. paradiseiis. 

 Comparing many nests of both species together, the only difference 

 appears to be that the uests of the Hair-crested Drongo are slightly 

 larger on the ^^■hole. 



"The only two eggs saved measure 1*10 by '8 and 1-11 by 'SI ; 

 they are slightly glossy, dull white, minutely and thickly freckled 

 and spotted with reddish brown and pale underlying marks of 

 neutral tint. 



" I may add that at the commencement of May all the eggs were 

 much incubated." 



Major C. T. Bingham remarks : — " During the breeding-season 

 in the end of March and in April 1 saw a great number of nests 

 round and about Meeawuddy in Tenasserim, but all inaccessible, as 

 they were invariably built out at the very end of the thinnest 

 branches of eng, teak, thingaii (Ifojxa ochrata), and other trees. 



" Except during those two months, I have not seen the bird 

 plentiful anywhere." 



Mr. 3. E. Cripps has written the following valuable notes 

 regarding the breeding of the Hair-crested Drongo in the Dibru- 

 garh district in Assam : — 



" 17th May, 1879. Nest with three fresh eggs, attached to a 

 fork in one of the outer branches of an otinga {DUlenia pcntcujyna) 

 tree, and about 15 feet off the ground. 



" 15th May, 1880. Three fresh eggs in a nest 20 feet off the 

 ground, and a few yards from my bungalow, in an oorian {Bm-Jtoffia 

 javanica, BL). 



" 5th June, 1880. Nest with three partly-incubated eggs, in one 

 of the outer branches of a jack {Artocarpas integrifolia) tree, and 

 about 15 feet off the ground. 



" 27th May, 1881. Three fresh eggs in a nest on a soom {Ma- 

 cliihis odoratissima) tree at the edge of the forest bordering the 

 tea. The nests are deep saucers, 3| inches in diameter, internally 

 1^ deep, with the sides about ^ thick; but the bottom is so 

 flimsy that the eggs are easily seen from below, the materials being- 

 grass, roots, and fine tendrils of creepers, especially if these are 

 thorny, when they are used as a lining. The nest is always situated 

 in the fork of a branch." 



The nests are large, shallow, King-Crow-like structures, often 

 suspended between forks, sometimes placed between four or five 



