256 



EVEN-TAILED DRONGO. 



Dicrurus atripennis, SWAINS. 



Entirely glossy blueish-black ; tail almost even ; inner web 

 of the quill-feathers very deep black. 



THREE specimens of this species, winch, we consider 

 as altogether new, were sent from Sierra Leone 

 with the Bristle-necked thrushes here described, so 

 that we have no doubts whatsoever as to its being 

 a species peculiar to Western Africa. 



It is almost impossible, in a group of birds posses- 

 ing so few marks of distinction among the species 

 as the present, to find specific names for each which 

 will express something definite and peculiar. "We 

 have therefore been obliged to name this from a 

 circumstance not very expressive, yet calculated in 

 some measure to identify it. 



The only species with which this may be con- 

 founded is the D. remifer in a young state, where 

 the tail is also even. In this, however, there is a 

 very slight indication of the forked structure in two 

 out of the three specimens. So slight, however* 

 that there is only two-tenths of an inch difference 

 between the length of the middle and the outer- 

 most tail-feathers. All the tail-feathers are trun- 

 cated at their tips, but having the shaft prolonged 



