18G6.] ON BIEDS FROM TENASSEEIM. 23 



until that is clone the question of identity must remain in doubt. The young bird is sordid 

 in all its plumage, and has the first quill entirely black, the second with only a white spot. A 

 Sumatran specimen in tlie Indian Museum has the white on the primaries very much restricted ; 

 it is also a larger bird, and may be specifically separated. 



16. Graucalus macei. Less. Trait. d'Orn. p. 390. 

 No. 62. Moulmein. 



When compared with specimens from Central India, the one sent exhibits no difference of 

 plumage ; and the dimensions are identical, save those of the bill being somewhat less. 



17. DiSSEMURUS PARADISEUS (Linn.) ■? 



Cucidus paradiseiis, Linn. S. N. ed. 12 (1766). 



No. 19. Salween Valley. 



A single specimen and in moulting plumage is sent. It represents one of the numerous 

 races of which C. paradiseus, Linn., may be taken as the type. But it is in such indifferent 

 order, the outer rectrices being absent, that without further specimens it is impossible to 

 determine its position among the numerous races of the Racket-tailed Drongos. 



18. BuCHjVNGA INTERMEDIA (Blyth) ] 



Dicrurus mtermedius, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1846, p. 298. 



Nos. 27, 55, 60, 74, 79, a- Moulmein. 



"This is the commonest species of Dicrurus in the gardens about Moulmein, and extends P.Z.S. ISGG, 

 to my knowledge some distance up the Salween Valley. It is a pretty songster. Irides crimson- ^' 

 red. On the same trees as Chaptia cenea." These specimens belong to one of the numerous 

 races of which Dicrurus leucophwus, Vieill., ^=D. cineraceus, Horsf., ex Java, may be considered 

 the type. They may be termed Ashy Drongos, from the bluish ashy hue which, in darker or 

 lighter shades, characterizes their plumage. They are very closely allied to another group of 

 Drongos, the type of which is B. longicaudata (A. Hay) ; and although between some of the races 

 of the two species the distinguishing characters are not at once apparent, yet individuals 

 belonging to the group of Ashy Drongos are always to be recognized by their general ashy 

 (rather than black) tone of colour, by the upper surface of the rectrices, especially the central 

 pair, being greyish and only becoming black towards the tips, by the entire under surface ot the 

 body being dull ashy, without any silky gloss, save a slight indication on the breast, and by the 

 tail being much less deeply forked, and its feathers considei'ably broader. The entire body- 

 plumage is also of a looser texture, the webs being decomposed. At the same time the two 

 groups possess many connecting links ; and though the most superficial observer could not confound 

 a Malabar specimen of B. longicaudata with a Javan specimen of B. Icucopluea, other races, such as 

 this one from Tenasserim, have to be carefully examined before it can be decided to which of 

 the two groups they belong. At the foot of the Himalayas, certainly extending as far to the 

 westward as the Deyra Doon, the two groups are severally represented, and the divergence 

 between the two is very strongly marked ; yet the large Ashy Drongo of the Himalayas has 

 hitherto been confounded with B. longicaudata of Malabar and its allied races by both Messrs. 



