260 DICECHIDJS. 



colour of which is grey ; under wing-coverts purplish black ; bill 

 and feet black; iris red. Total length 10'6 inches, cultnen 1-25, 

 wing 5"55, tail 5-4, tarsus 0'9, long outer tail-feathers 12. 



Obs. I am unable to separate D. bracht/phorus from Sumatra and 

 Singapore from those of Borneo : the latter, however, have much 

 smaller rackets at the end of their tails, which are also shorter. 

 The measurements of a pair in the Museum are as follows : — 



a. (S . Singapore ( Wulluce) lO'o 



b. 5 • Sumatra ( Wallace) 



Young birds appear to be more dusky in colour than the adults, 

 and to have the under wing-coverts tipped with white. 



After a careful study of what has been written on the subject of 

 these racket-tailed Drongos, and after comparison of the series con- 

 tained in the British Museum, I have arrived at the conclusion that 

 between D. malabaroides of the Eastern Himalayas and D. hrachy- 

 phorus of Borneo, an unbroken chain of connecting races exists ; 

 and this I believe I can show bj^ the accompanying observations. 

 This conclusion is very much the same as that adopted by Mr. 

 Blyth in 1849 ; and I do not see that the labours of subsequent orni- 

 thologists have much tended to upset this, though many more species 

 have recently been recognized. Of these the late Mr. G. R. Gray 

 admitted in the ' Hand-list ' no less than eight, as follows : — 



4240. malabaricus, Lath. India, Malabar, Tenasserim. 



4241. brachyphorus, Temm. Borneo. 



4242. malabaroides, Hodgs. India, Himalayas, &c. 



4243. forynosus, Cab. Java, Bauda. 



4244. singularis, Gray, n. sp. Malabar. 



4245. platurus, Vieill. Java, Malacca. 



4246. paradiseus, L. Siam, Biirmah. 



4247. affinis, Tickell. Andamans. 



These species may at once bo reduced to seven by suppressing 

 the supposed new species, D. singularis, which is nothing but the 

 young of the Malabar bird with a smaller crest and racket. It is 

 quite certain that the size of both of these portions of the plumage 

 varies, even in specimens from the same locality ; and although the 

 development of the crest is greater in old birds than in young ones, 

 it must be remembered also that the preparation of the skin has a 

 great deal to do with the appearance of the crest ; for if the latter 

 has been flattened when the bird was skinned, it will be very difficult 

 to restore it to its original proportions ; this is more especially the 

 case with the short-crested forms, the full-crested species having the 

 crest always remarkably developed. 



Taking the remainder of Mr. Gray's species in somewhat dififerent 

 order, the most distinct is, of cotirse, the Nepalese D. malabaroides. 

 with an enormous crest (fig. 1). 



