78 The Marquis of Twceddale on the 



D. andamanensis. The difference in the colouring of the 

 ''gloss/' alluded to by Mr. Sharpe^ is not observable in the 

 large series from both localities to which I have access. 



D. andamanensis is almost a typical Buclianga. It has all 

 the habits of the continental species {teste Davison, Str. F. 

 1874, p. 211); and the tail is deeply forked, as in the common 

 King-Crow. A few of the erect frontal plumes being some- 

 what lengthened and denuded of their webs can scarcely con- 

 stitute a generic character ; and this is not relied on by Mr. 

 Sharpe ; while the only differentiating generic character given 

 by him seems to be still less distinctive, namely " outer tail- 

 feathers recurved at tip." Indeed, if a character at all, it is 

 a family characteristic ; for in all the Dicruridse there is a 

 marked inclination in the outer pair of rectrices, when pro- 

 duced, to recurve inwards. 



Dissemuroides edoliiformis. — For this species Mr. Sharpe 

 has rejected Vieillot's title of lophorhinus, which was adopted 

 many years ago by Sundevall, and has been in general use ever 

 since, although he admits Le Vaillant's plate of Le Drongup 

 (Ois. d'Afr. 173) to represent Blyth's species, and on this 

 plate and description Vieillot founded his title ■^. On the 

 other hand, Mr. Sharpe makes Vieillot's title [lophorhinus) 

 a synonym of D. forficatus, a species named cristatus by 

 Vieillot, from another of Le Vaillant's plates (/. c. 166). 

 Le Vaillant, in his account of Le Drongup, sho^s in what 

 manner it differs from Le Drongo {=D. forficatus (L.)=D. 

 cristatus, VieilL), and mentions its larger dimensions and the 

 shortness of the frontal crest as being points of difference. 

 The large size, the small frontal crest, and the absence of 

 rackets make the identification of D. lophorhinus with this 

 peculiar Ceylonese species a matter of certainty. And an ex- 



* Vieillot gave (N. D. d'll. N. vol. ix.) Latin titles to all the nine species 

 of Dicruri figured and described by Le Vaillant (Ois. d'Afr. iv.) ; but the 

 number of the plate on which Le Drongup is figured is the only one he does 

 not quote. It is manifest by the context that Vieillot merely reproduced 

 Le Vaillant's descriptive words ; indeed he uses Le Vaillant's very words ; 

 and under the word Drongup {t.c. p. 589) the reader is referred to Le 

 Drongo drongup, Y.=D. lophorhitms. Elsewhere and later (Euc. Method, 

 p. 752) Vieillot quoted Le Vaillant's plate. 



