1877.] DISTEICT OF LAMPONG, S.E. SUMATKA. 497 



106. DiSSEMURUS PLATURUS. 



Le Brongo a raq^iiette, Le Vaillant, Ois. d'Afr. iv. p. 73, t. 175 (1805). 



Dicrurus ])laturus, Vieillot, N. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. ix. p. 558 (1817), ex Le Vaill. 



Lanius malaharicus. Lath., Raffles, t. c. p. 306, " Sumatra," nee Lath. 



Edolius retifer, Temra. Rec. d'Ois. livr. 30, sub EdoHus remifer, "Malacca, Java, Sumatra" 

 (1823), partim, ex Le Vaill. 



(]) EdoHus intermedins. Less. Tr. p. 380, "des Moluques" (1831). 



Edolius rangoonensis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 5, "Rangoon;" J. & S. lUustr. Orn. t. xxxviii. 

 (1840), ex Gould. 



Edolius malai/ensis, Blyth, Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 438 (1862). 



Four examples of the genus Bissemurus contained in Mr. Buxton's collection cannot be 

 separated from the crestless Malaccan species. But the difficult question arises. What is the 

 correct title of the Malaccan Racket-tailed Drongo 1 Sumatra, Borneo, and Malacca are the only n)i3, 1877, 

 three areas, so far as is now known, which are inhabited by full-plumaged birds devoid of a frontal 

 crest ; but Sonnerat figured and described a species of Bissemurus without a crest from the 

 Malabar coast (Voy. Indes, ii. p. 195, t. 111). On this Scopoli founded the title of Muscicapa 

 malaharica (Del. Fl. Faun. Insubr. ii. p. 96, 1786), and later on Latham the title of Lanius 

 malaharicus (Ind. Orn. i. p. 66, 1790). It has consequently been contended by some authors 

 that Sonnerat described from and figured a Malaccan bird, and that therefore the title of 

 malaharicus does not belong to the Malabar bird ; by others {e. g. Temminck, I. c), that the 

 Malabar bird belonged to the same species as the Javan and Sumatran ; and as tlie title of 

 malaharicus was inappropriate, Temminck altered the name to retifer (lege setlfer), a title 

 restricted by recent authors to the Javan crested bird. Sonnerat's figure, from whatever species 

 it may have been taken, is, without doubt, most inaccurate ; and Le Vaillant (/. c.) severely 

 criticised it ; but Sonnerat distinctly leaves it to be understood that his type was from the 

 Malabar coast ; and Bufi"on (Hist, Nat. iv.) alludes to Sonnerat having sent him the bird from the 

 coast of Malabar, Sonnerat [1. c.) stating that the bird he describes and figures is the one he sent 

 to Buff"on. The crest in adult Malabar birds is not largely developed ; and it is quite possible 

 that Sonnerat figured a young bird, or else that he overlooked the short impending nasal plumes. 

 Le Vaillant {I. c.) was the next author who wrote on a species of Racket-tail Drongo ; and he 

 gave a description and plate of a crestless species of Bissemurus. The origin of his type it is now 

 impossible to discover ; for he merely tells us that it came from the collection of a Mons. Dorcy. 

 The description and plate most accurately represent the Malaccan and Sumatran form ; and as 

 Vieillot founded his title of 2)laturus {I. c.) on Le Vaillant's description and plate, I adopt it for 

 that species. It could not well have been taken from a Javan ; for that race is crested, and 

 great care is exhibited in the drawing. 



The only other crestless form inhabits Borneo, and was separated by Temminck under the 

 title of hrach)jphorus (Bp. Consp. i. p. 351). Count Salvadori [t. c. p. 154) somewhat doubts the rbis, ISJT, 

 propriety of separating the Bornean from the Malaccan Bissemurus ; but the much smaller 

 spatulate termination of the outer pair of rectrices seems to be a constant character in the adults 

 of the Bornean species ; and I have examined a very large series, both at Leiden and in my own 

 collection, from Labuan, Sarawak, and Banjermassing. Rangoon adult birds have a crest, and 

 belong to true B. paradiseus. 



