— 266 



Family DICRURIDAE. 



Dicrurus modestus coracinus. 



Dicruius coracinus Verr., Rev. Mag. Zool., 1851, p. 311. — 

 Type locality : Gaboon. 



Four spécimens of this Velvet-backed Drongo were shot bv 

 Mr LowE at Iju near Lagos in December and Januîirv. It had 

 previously been obtained bv Sir Harry Johnston at Rio del Rev 

 wliich is now included in the Southern Nigérian Province. 



From Northern Nigeria Boy'D Alexander brought back a spéci- 

 men from Bulturi, a village between Gaidam and Yo, near Lake 

 Chad, and there is another skin in the British Muséum collection, 

 labelled, « River Niger, Dr Baikie. » 



Note. — For the characters which separate D. m. coracina from 

 D. m. modestus, see mv paper in Ibis, 1920, p. 440. 



Range. — Southern Nigeria, Northern Nigeria, Congo, Gaboon, 

 Cameroon, North x\ngola. Fernando Po, N. Belgian Congo, 

 Uganda and Kenya Colonv. 



(A fairlv common bird sometimes observed at the top of very 

 tall trees, flving round and round catching insects on the wing. — 

 W. P. L.) 



Since mv revievv of the African members of this genus appeared 

 (Ibis, 1920, pp. 439-445), the Uganda bird has been separated from 

 the above by Dr Van Someren under the name Dicrurus >nodestus 

 ugandensis : I do not admit this supposed race for reasons given 

 hereafter and recognise onlv two forms of D. modestus as follows : 



r. — Dicrurus modestus modestus. 

 Range. — Prince's Island. 



2. — Dicrurus modestus coracinus. 

 Range. — Cf. supra. 



