BtJCHANGA. 



. 12 inches ; wing 575 ; tail 6-25 to tip of outer feather ; tarsus 0*9. 



Hab. The whole of India and Ceylon, extending to Assam, the Indo-Chinese 

 region, China, Formosa and Burmah. Occurs also in Java, Siam, Cochin- 

 China, the N.-W. Himalayas, Nepaul, Beloochistan and Afghanistan. If is found 

 throughout the Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Rajpootana, Central 

 India, Kutch, Guzerat, Konkan, Deccan, Travancore and South India generally. 

 According to Gates it is a common bird in Burmah and Pegu. In the latter 

 it is common from October to January. Dr. Armstrong found it common in 

 the Irrawaddy delta ; Davison found it common in Tennaserim from Moul- 

 mein to Malewoon, and Captain Bingham met with it at Tounghoo. 



The King Crow is chiefly found in open jungle, and seldom or never in 

 forests. It is a conspicuous bird everywhere about a station. Its presence is 

 readily known simply by its cheerful and pretty notes. Perched on a telegraph 

 wire, wall, or on a bare branch, its sweet notes are uttered, not forgetting now 

 and again its rather harsh cry. A couple of pairs within one's grounds often 

 make their chattering, as if one to another for half an hour at a time, sound 

 disagreeable. Its loquacity is unsurpassed, especially in the early morn. It 

 is often seen on the backs of cattle, sheep and goats when out grazing in com- 

 pany with Acridotheres tristis or ginginianus, the common crow, and not un- 

 frequently Neophrons. 



The food of the King Crow is chiefly insects of sorts, as grasshoppers, 

 mantises, bees, wasps, ants, dragon flies, moths and butterflies. I don't know 

 that it has a predilection for anything higher than members of the Inverte- 

 brates. During the breeding season, which lasts from May to July, March to 

 April, and August and September, according to locality, the King Crow is very 

 pugnacious. It pursues and drives away every bird it suspects, even hawks, 

 kites, and crows, especially when the female is sitting for incubation. It places 

 its nest generally in the fork of the outer branches of a tree, selecting generally 

 an Acacia. It is cup-shaped and shallow, and made of fine twigs and grass. 

 In some instances lined outside with cobwebs and inside with a little hair or 

 feathers. Eggs generally 4 in number, reddish or pinkish white, prettily 

 streaked, spotted and blotched with brick red or brown. 



102. Buchanga longicaudata, A. Hay, Jerd. Mad. Journ. xiii. 

 p. 121 ; Jerd. B. lnd.\. p. 430, No. 280 ; Wald. P. Z. S. 1866, p. 549 ; Hume, 

 Nests and Eggs, p. 189 ; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 97 ; Wald. in Bl. B. Burnt. 

 p. 130 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. p. 249 ; Hume and Davison, Sir. F. vi. 

 p. 213 ; Legge, B. Ceylon, p. 390; Tweedd. Ibis, 1878, p. 74 ; Hume, S/r. F. 

 viii. p. 91 ; Scully. Sir. F. viii. p. 270; Gates, Str. F. x. p. 2O2. Dicrurus 

 himalayanus, Tytler, Ibis, 1868, p. 200. Buchanga Waldeni, Beavan, Ibis, 

 1868, p. 497; Gates, B. Burm. i. p. 220. The DARK-ASHY or LONG-TAILED 

 DRONGO. 



Whole upper plumage including the wings and tail blackish ashy, with a 

 greenish gloss sides of the face, frontal plumes and under surface of the body 

 21 



