Dicruridae and their Arrangement. 77 



subspecies of Buchanga. " B. carulescens , Holds worthy nee 

 Linn/^ is added as a synonym. Mr. Holdsworth included the 

 Linnsean species in his list (P. Z. S. 1872, p. 439) on the autho- 

 rity of Mr. Layard, who states (Ann. & Mag. N. H. ser. 2, 

 xiii. p. 129) that he procured one or two specimens of D. caru- 

 lescens at Point Pedro (the extreme north of Ceylon), a very 

 likely locality for this Indian species. Mr. Sharpe, on the 

 authority of Capt. Legge, gives as its range " the whole east 

 of Ceylon and central province, eastern district. ^^ B. 

 insularis is introduced by Mr. Sharpe as a subspecies of 

 No. 6. B. caerulescens ; but when writing on No. 7. B. leuco- 

 pygialis, a species very distinct from B. ccBrulescens, Mr. 

 Sharpe says, '' very similar to B. insularis, if, indeed, really 

 separable.^^ Of which of the two very distinct species, B. ccBru- 

 lescens or B. leucopygialis, is B. iyisularis then a subspecies ? 

 And why should the species obtained at Point Pedro by Mr. 

 Layard, and identified by him as belonging to the continental 

 species, B. ccerulescens, be considered by Mr. Sharpe to belong 

 to his new subspecies ? We shall not be very far wrong if 

 we reduce B. insularis to a synonym of B. leucopygialis, and 

 if we continue to retain, on Mr. Layard's authority, B. cceru- 

 lescens as an inhabitant of, or migrant to. North Ceylon. 



Buchanga waldeni is, by the formation of its massive bill, 

 closely allied to Dicrurus forficatv^ ; and through it Mr. 

 Sharpe passes to the latter species, which he keeps separate 

 under Edolius, Cuv. D.forficatus is also the type of Reichen- 

 bach's genus Drongo (Syst. Av. t. Ixxxviii.), a title which is 

 omitted in the synonymy of the genus. 



Dissemuroides andamanensis and D. dicruriformis. — These 

 are the titles adopted for two races of a species, the first an 

 inhabitant of the Andamans, the other of Great Coco and 

 Table Islands. The two races merely difi'er in size, the 

 latter being somewhat the largest. Those who regard an 

 excess of a few tenths of an inch in the principal dimensions 

 of birds of this size, or of a few grains in the weight, as con- 

 stituting specific and differentiating characters, Avill follow 

 Mr. Sharpe and keep these two birds apart ; for he admits D. 

 dicruriformis into the Catalogue as a distinct subspecies of 



