160 DICRUR1D/E. 



,S/r, F. ix. p. 174; Gates, Sir. F. x. p. 203; id. B. $r. Sunn. i. p. 225. 

 Dicrurus platurus, Vieill. N. Diet* d 'Hist. Nat. i. p. 588. Edolius Rangoonen- 

 sis, Gould. P. Z. S., 1836, p. 50. Edolius grandis, Gould. P. Z. S., 1836, 

 p. 5. Chibia malabaroides, Hodgs. Ind. Rev. i. p. 325. Dicrurus retifer, Jerd. 

 Mad. Journ. x. p. 241. Edolius cristatellus, Bly. J. A. S. B. xi, 

 p. 171. Edolius brachyphorus, (Temm.) Bonap. Consp. Av. i. p. 351. 

 Edolius paradiseus (Linn.) Jerd. B. Ind. i., p. 435. Edolius malabaricus, 

 (Scop.) Jerd. B. Ind. i. p. 437. Dissemurus malabaroides (Hodgs.), Hume, 

 Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 123 ; id., Sir. F. iii. p. 101. Dissemurus grandis, 

 (Gould.), Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 92; Gates, Sir. F. viii. p. 1 66 ; id., Gates, B. 

 Br. Burm. i. p. 225. The GREAT RACKET-TAILED DRONGO. 



Whole plumage black, glossed with steel blue, except on the inner webs of 

 the quills, the throat, lower abdomen and vent. The outer pair of feathers in 

 both sexes lengthened and furnished with a racket ; in the young the gloss is 

 less developed, and the under wing coverts are tipped with white ; bill, legs 

 and feet black ; irides red (brown in the young). 



Length. 14 inches; wing 6'6 ; tail 7; outer feathers 13 to 15; tarsus 

 riS ; culmen 1-3. 



Hab. The Indian Peninsula, Ceylon, Andaman Islands, Indo-Chinese and 

 Indo-Burmese Countries, the Malayan Peninsula, Java and Borneo ; also 

 Sumatra, Cochin-China and Nepal. It is recorded as occurring from the 

 Himalayas to the Eastern Ghats as far South as N. L. 15; also at Nellore, 

 Goomsoor, Central and S. India, N.-W. Provinces, Lower Bengal, the Sunder- 

 buns, Assam, Sylhet, Burmah and Tennaserim. Mr. Sharpe has very carefully 

 gone into the question, whether all the species hitherto described as distinct, 

 were so or not. Brachyphorus from Borneo, appeared to be a distinct form, 

 but there was not sufficient ground upon which it could be specifically sepa- 

 rated. The specific characters held to constitute a species were the length of 

 tails, the size of the rackets on the outer feathers, and the development of the 

 crest. These Mr. Sharpe has carefully studied, and the outcome is that he has 

 united all under one species (Dissemurus paradiseus}. He says that after a 

 careful study of what has been written on the subject of these racket-tailed 

 Drongos, and after comparison of the series in the British Museum collection, he 

 has arrived at the conclusion that between D. malabaroides (a very full-crested 

 form) of the Eastern Himalayas and D. brachyphorus of Borneo, an unbroken 

 chain of races exists. Blyth came to the same conclusion in 1849, Mr. 

 Sharpe adds, that he does not see that the labors of ornithologists have tended 

 to upset this conclusion. His review of these species ends with the following 

 remarks ; " Finding it, however, quite impossible to define exact specific 

 characters for these supposed species, I have united them under one name, and 

 merely keep the specimens arranged under different headings ; for I fully 

 believe that a larger series will only show more connecting links, and that it will 



