408 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
broad bar of white across the inner web; head pearly grey, with a 
slight gloss of lilac, the forehead and lores white, the grey colour 
occupying the chin and entire sides of the face, as well as the head ; 
throat black, forming a collar which runs round the neck and sepa- 
rates the head from the greenish black of the back; breast greyish 
white ; rest of under surface light chestnut or deep tawny ; under 
wing-coverts black; bill and feet red. Total length, 7-5 inches; 
culmen, 0°85; wing, 4°45; tail, 3:2; tarsus, 0°85. 
Fam. DICRURIDZ. 
392. Bucnanea assimitis, Bechst. African Drongo. 
Dicrwrus musicus, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 154. 
This species is easily told by its entirely black colour and forked 
tail; it is very abundant in the forests of the Knysna, and extends 
to Swellendam, Beaufort, and the Karroo. We have also seen 
them near Grahamstown and the whole of the eastern frontier. 
Mr. Rickard records the species both from Port Elizabeth and 
East London; and it is very common near Kingwilliamstown, 
according to Lieut. Trevelyan. Mr. Ayres states that in Natal 
they are plentiful throughout the coast district, and he gives the 
following note:—‘They are generally found in pairs, excepting 
during the winter months, when they hasten from fire to fire as the 
grass is burnt, and take insects on the wing as they are driven out ; 
in fact, I have frequently seen them dart through the densest 
smoke in their eagerness to seize some coveted morsel. They 
are intrepid little birds, attacking without hesitation the largest 
Raptores ; and they are-especially fond of bullying any unlucky 
Owl or strange bird that attracts their notice, rising quickly and 
repeatedly in the air, and darting upon the back of, or making 
feints at, the object of their aversion, at the same time uttering loud 
and harsh notes of alarm or defiance, and spreading and shutting 
the tail very quickly, which has a curious appearance. Many 
small birds collect at once to add their voices to the hubbub, until 
they fairly worry their victim away. These Drongos appear par- 
ticularly fond of bees, feeding on scarcely anything else when 
these are plentiful; so that a few of them would soon clear a hive. 
They generally take up a position on a dead bough of any con- 
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