34 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 
ordinary length, less than seven inches long. The big 
side-streamers are not fully developed the first season, 
and, of course, are usually broken off in the miserable little 
cages in which these poor birds are usually kept. 
The plumage of the Bhimraj is of the usual Drongo blue- 
black, young birds having a few white spots under the 
wing. The bill and feet are also black; but once I 
saw in Mr. Rutledge’s possession a most curious variety 
which had an ivory-white beak, contrasting very well with 
the black plumage. The only other sign of albinism the 
bird showed was that some of its secondary wing-feathers 
and its two hind-claws were also white. White claws 
and white feathers are not so very uncommon among 
these birds, I fancy ; but I never saw any such variation 
in the humbler King-Crow, though Mr. B. B. Osmaston once 
showed me the two wings of an ash-grey specimen of 
the latter bird which he had shot. 
The Bhimraj is found over a large part of India and 
extends east through Burma to the Malay Peninsula. It 
is a jungle-haunting bird, and more sociable than Drongos 
generally. Mr. Oates states that it is probably the finest 
song-bird in the East. In confinement it is very friendly 
and fond of notice, and the best of all pet birds. But it 
must have a large cage—about three feet square—and 
plenty of live insects, or it will not thrive long. It is 
_well worth taking trouble over, as it is a most perfect 
mimic, giving the cries and songs of all sort of birds and 
other animals, whistling tunes perfectly, and occasionally 
even talking. It isa very good aviary bird if kept along 
with such birds as Jays, large Babblers, &c., for it is too 
