igiS.] recently collected m Siain. 229 



■^140. Dissemnrus paradiseus malayensis (Jerclon). 



Edolius malayensis Jerdon, Birds of India, i. 1862, 

 p. 438. 



Dissemurus paradiseus Hume & Davison (^parfun), Stray 

 Feathers, vi. 1878, pp. 219-222. 



1 ? ad. Koh Lak. 



Iris brown; bill and feet black. 



W. 148; B. f. g. 32. 



The northern Malayan race of Paradise-Drongo seems 

 first to have been definitely separated by Blyth as E. malay- 

 ensis, a name first published [in passim) with a description 

 by Jerdon and since overlooked. 



It is a go'od subspecies and differs from D. p. para- 

 diseus in its smaller size, smaller crest, and in having 

 the metallic sheen of the upper-parts less green, more 

 purplish. 



The examination of a large series from the Malay 

 Peninsula shows that this race extends down to about 

 Lat. 4° N., south of which birds, though similar in other 

 respects, become practically crestless, the frontal feathers 

 no longer assuming the form of a backward-curving longi- 

 tudinal ridge, but presenting merely a tufted appearance 

 but little more developed than the frontal feathers of 

 Bhringa remifer. These latter birds should stand as D. p. 

 platurus (Vieill.), which is a species of crestless Paradise- 

 Drongo based on material of unknown provenance ; but as 

 Tweeddale ('Ibis,' 1877, p. 315) has adopted the name for 

 Malaccan and Sumatran birds, is it available for the small, 

 practically crestless race of the southern extremity of the 

 Malay Peninsula ? 



Tliese differences have been well demonstrated by Hume 

 and Davison, but though they recognised D. p. pilaturus 

 (Jt. c. s. p. 220) and clearly indicated the difference betAveen 

 birds occurring north of Mergui and those found south of 

 that place, they yet " lumped " both forms under the name 

 D. p. paradiseus. 



