1878.] IN THE BEITISH-MUSEUM CATALOGUE. 583 



generally shorter than the 4th and 5th. Beyond these points all resemblance ceases. The 

 tarsus and feet are short and weak in Irena ; the toes and nails are singularly slender for the size 

 of the body ; and the outer toe is free, whereas in Dicrurus it is ankylosed up to the first joint. 

 The tail consists of twelve rectrices, and not of ten ; and this character of itself removes Irena 

 from the Dicruridse, according to Mr. Sharpe's own definition*. The plumage is of a totally dif- 

 ferent character. The skin in Irena is especially tender ; in Dicrurus it is exceedingly tough. In 

 Dicrurus the sexes wear the same plumage, even the ornate plumes ; in Irena the male has a 

 brilliant, and the female a sombre attire. Every species of Irena has a number of fine nuchal 

 hairs, which are wanting in Dicrurus. This last character (unknown to Blyth and Jerdon), 

 together with the short and weak feet, indicates a great affinity to Criniger. The Dicruri are 

 insectivorous, some even killing small birds, whereas Irena is frugivorous. The structure of the 

 sternum in Dicrurus is, I believe, diff"erent from that of Irena. The notes of Irena are those of 

 Oriolus, and have no similarity to those of Dicrurus. If we turn to the characters whereby 

 Mr. Sharpe differentiates Irena from the other genera of the Dicruridse, the terms will be found 

 to be not altogether exhaustive or satisfying : — " Tail square ; plumage of upper surface 

 enamelled." 



Irena criniger. — Mr. Sharpe separates Bornean and Sumatran examples from the Malaccan 

 /. cyanea under this new title, solely on the ground that in /. criniger " the under tail-coverts are 

 produced to the very end of the tail," while in /. cyanea they " fall short of the tip of the tail by 

 half an inch." In a Malaccan example {mus. nostr.) the under tail-coverts reach within one eighth 

 of an inch of the tip of the rectrices. But even if the character holds good, how can /. criniger, 

 according to Mr. Sharpe's own views, rank higher than a subspecies'? The presence of nuchal 

 hairs is not mentioned in the description; but the specific title implies their existence, and the j^^jg J3jg 

 head is figured showing them. This character, as already observed, is possessed in common by P- ^■^^ 

 every species of the genus. 



The following are some of the titles given to various species of Dicrurus which are not 

 accounted for, and some not even mentioned by Mr. Sharpe : — D. mystaceus, Vieill., founded on 

 Le Vaillant's 169th plate, =either to D. assimilis, or else taken from a manufactured specimen, as 

 suggested by Verreaux (Hartlaub, Syst. Orn. W. Afr. p. 101) ; D. leucoplmus, Vieill., D. leuco- 

 gaster, Vieill., and D. intermedius, Lesson, already referred to ; D. ashantensis, Temm., Hartl. 

 {t. c), =D. modestus ; Oriolus furcatus, Gm. {conf. Walden, Tr. Z. S. ix. p. 181f ) ; D. marginatus, 

 Blyth, Ibis, 1865, p. 46, a species founded on a specimen in the Derby Museum, Liverpool, 

 habitat unknown. 



Since the publication of the Catalogue an additional species, Dicrurus striatus, Tweeddale 

 (P. Z. S. 1877, p. 545 $) , has been described. 



* See the characters of Dicruridse (t. c. p. 4). t [Anted, p. 346. — Ed.] 



i [Aniei'i, p. 469.— Ed.] 



4p2 



