+ 



246 Mr. R. Swinhoe on the Ornithology of Hainan. 



while the Tenasserim bird, sex unknown, measures — wing 5*3, 

 tail 5'625, with outer rectrix exceeding the middle by 1*7. 

 This, by the appearance of its tail, I should take to be a male. 

 Mr. Blyth has labelled it D. longicaudatus. 



The Ashy Drongo, with which I have never met in other 

 parts of China, occurred in north-western Hainan, near the 

 capital city, and more frequently in central Hainan, about Tai- 

 ping-sze and Shuy-wei-sze. It is a bird of solitary habits, sit- 

 ting on high exposed places, and of a quarrelsome disposition. 

 1 watched one that made repeated flights from an adjoining 

 wood to attack a B. leucogenys that, with his mate, had taken 

 possession of a line of trees. The White-cheek was serenading 

 his mate, when the Grey bird attacked him, and drove him off 

 his perch. When the latter was gone, the former resumed his 

 position and his occupation. The attack was renewed again and 

 again, until the wife came to the front, and the united forces 

 vanquished the foe and made him retreat to his proper limits. 

 The notes of the Ashy Drongo are quite distinct from those of 

 the White-cheeked and of the Black species. 



55. BUCHANGA INNEXA, sp. n. 



Intermediate in size and colour between the two last is the Grey 

 Drongo of north-east Hainan. The banks of the Chinlan river 

 in the Weuchang District are lined with mangroves and dark 

 forests of cocoa-nut trees. Among the latter this species was 

 the chief bii'd, occurring in small parties, and in habits resem- 

 bling B. leucogenys. I shot a pair, and saw by the pale face- 

 mark and thQ yellowish crimson iris, that they were of a distinct 

 form : the iris of B. leucogenys is crimson, that of B. mouhoti 

 blackish crimson. This is just such a bird as one would expect 

 from a cross between the two species above mentioned. The 

 feathers edging the eyelids in front of the eye and the base of the 

 car-coverts are dusky whitish; the downy feathers of the abdomen 

 pure white, the vent greyish-white. On the crown of the head the 

 feathers are small and rounded, as in B. mouhoti, whereas the 

 wings and tail are coloured as in B. leucogenys, but darker, and 

 the tail is more deeply cleft. The remaining upper and under 

 parts are quite intermediate in tint. 



