CHAPTER III. 
PassERINE Birps—continued. 
SuRiKES, Mynaus, Orioues, &c. 
THE DRONGOS. 
Tuts small family stand very much by themselves in 
most classifications, but there can be little doubt that 
they are simply peculiar-looking Shrikes, and I put them 
here simply out of deference to the order followed in the 
Fauna of British India bird volumes, where they are given 
family rank as usual. Certainly no one can mistake a 
Drongo for any other Shrike or small bird of any kind, the 
usually jet-black plumage and long-forked tail making 
it conspicuous at once. The bill is strong and rather like 
a Crow’s on a small scale, and the legs and feet short but 
powerful and sharply clawed. The wings are of medium 
length, and the birds though they cannot rival Swallows 
and such-like birds in the air, are nevertheless very active 
and graceful flyers, and remarkably clever at aerial evolu- 
tions. They feed on insects, and make sallies from a fixed 
perch, returning to it on completing their capture. If 
the prey is too big to be swallowed whole, they hold it in 
one foot, while tearing it into pieces, like many other 
Shrikes. Both male and female have the same plumage, 
and the young merely differ in being spotted with 
white below. 
