THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 289 



drongo but agree in color with a series of hopwoodi from Yunnan. 

 Ticehurst has shown (Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. 36, 1933, 

 pp. 927-928) that in the genus Dicrurus the measurements of first- 

 year birds are without value in subspecific identification. 



DICRURUS LEUCOPHAEUS LEUCOGENIS (Walden) 



Hupeh White-cheeked Pale Ashy Drongo 



Buchanga leucogenis Walden, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 4, vol. 5, 1870, pp. 219- 

 220 (Nagasaki, Japan, error; type locality corrected to China, by Stuart 

 Baker, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, vol. 27, 1921, p. 474; here restricted 

 to Ichang, Hupeh ) . 



Dicrurus leucogenis leucogenis, Relet, U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 172, 1938, p. 282 

 (Ban Nam Khian). 



The two examples recorded by Riley, a male and a female taken by 

 Smith, April 18 and 21, 1930, in the vicinity of Nan, are the only ones 

 yet recorded from our provinces. This race may prove to be a rare but 

 regular migrant through the more eastern districts. 



From the preceding forms it differs in having the general colora- 

 tion a soft, pale gray (without sheen) ; the lores, sides of head, and 

 ear coverts white. The female is slightly darker than the male and 

 has the white on the head less clearly defined from the surrounding 

 gray. 



I am wholly in accord with Riley (1938) in believing Buchanga 

 leucogenis Walden to be the paler race of the continental white- 

 cheeked drongo. It is said to have the "general colour pale, delicate 

 slate-grey, or French grey"; immediately following this, Buchanga 

 mouhoti is described as having the upperparts "ashy grey or plum- 

 beous, rather darker than in B. leucophaea, ex Java." The fact is 

 that mouhoti and the darker type of white-cheeked drongo have the 

 upperparts much the same color; since not only is this not brought 

 out but the two are described in wholly different terms, one may as- 

 sume that Walden was indeed naming the lighter type, which has the 

 upperparts markedly different in color from those of mouhoti. 



If this be the case, Buchanga leucogenys cerussata Bangs and Phil- 

 lips (paratype examined) is an unwarranted renaming of Buchanga 

 leucogenis Walden, and the darker form is left without a name unless, 

 as seems probable, salangensis of Reichenow be applicable to it. 



Walden's type specimen was erroneously stated to have come from 

 Nagasaki, and Stuart Baker has properly altered the type locality to 

 China (loc. cit.). Boden Kloss has attempted to restrict it to Yunnan 

 (Treubia, vol. 13, 1931, p. 358), but since Dicrurus leucophaeus leuco- 

 genis of Kloss (darker form) is not, according to my views, the same 

 as Buchanga leucogenis of Walden (paler form), his restriction seems 

 to be without standing. I now restrict the type locality of Buchanga 

 leucogenis Walden to Ichang, Hupeh, which is also the type locality 

 of Buchanga leucogenys cerussata Bangs and Phillips. 



