72 The Marquis of Tweeddale on the 



thus have the small South-African Z>. ludwigi made con- 

 generic with D. balicassius ; and although "tail nearly square, 

 outer feathers" not curved upwards/' constitutes in the key 

 the differentiating generic character, D. annectens with its 

 considerably forked tail and twisted outer rectrices finds a 

 place in the genus. 



Dicrurus annectens is an incipient species of a crestless 

 Dissemurus, on the confines of which genus it should be 

 placed. 



Dicrurus airipennis, D. modestus, D. ludwigi. — These 

 three African species cannot be generically separated from 

 D. assimilis (ranked as a Buchanga in Mr. Sharpens Cata- 

 logue) . The four known African species of the family form 

 a natural group with subfurcate tails, and should be kept 

 distinct under Reichenbach's title Musicus. The continental 

 Dicrurus coracinus, is not kept separate from the insular D. mo- 

 destus, on the ground that the only tangible distinction is one 

 of dimensions. This sound principle, as will be shown further 

 on, is not always acted upon, 



Chibia. — All the Austro-Papuan and Moluccan species with 

 nearly square tails are included under this genus by Mr. 

 Sharpe. The arrangement does not appear to be natural. 

 Chibia hottentotta, the type of the genus, is an isolated form 

 with a curved mandible. The gonys is curved, and does not 

 rise from the chin-angle in a straight line. The bird is to some 

 extent a floAver- pecker, and clings to the twigs of large flower- 

 ing trees, searching for its food in the calyx and among the 

 petals of each blossom ; and although little has been recorded 

 of the habits of the Papuan species, their bills are formed 

 on a model such as that of any species of Dissemurus, and 

 apparently are not adapted for exploring flowers. "All the 

 principal groups of the Indo-Malayan islands " are brought 

 by Mr. Sharpe within the area inhabited by the members of 

 the genus Chibia as defined by him, while China is omitted. 

 With the exception of Lombock and Flores, I am not ac- 

 quainted with any Indo-Malayan island which is inhabited by 

 any one of its members. As yet not one has been recorded 

 from the three large Sunda Islands, nor from the Philippine 



