DICBURUS. 811 



and Palawan, and is the Edolius cineraceus of Horsfield. All 

 Hodgson's birds in the British Museum are the dark continental 

 species D. longicaudatits, and were killed in Xepal or Sikhim, and 

 consequently his name (D. pyrrhops) cannot be applied to this pale 

 Burmese species, even if a name were required for it, which fortu- 

 nately is not the case. The third species is a dark bird inhabiting 

 portions of Lower Pegu, all Tenasserim, and the Malay peninsula, 

 as far south as Junk Ceylon. Its upper plumage may be termed 

 deep ashy indigo and the lower dark grey. This bird has never 

 received a name ; it appears to be the BucJimif/a leucoplicea of 

 Vieillot apud Hume. The Dicriirus leucophceus of Yieillot is, how- 

 ever, in my opinion, a bird which can never be satisfactorily deter- 

 mined, and the continued use of the name can only lead to 

 confusion. 



There remain two species w 7 hich are characterized by the presence 

 of a considerable amount of pure white on the lower plumage. 

 This character will suffice to separate them from all the other 

 Dicruri. They may be separated from each other, not so much by 

 the amount of white on the lower parts as by the colour of the 

 throat and breast and the upper plumage, 



In Dicrurus the bill is stout, sharply carinated, and covered at 

 the base by thick-set feathers, which partially conceal the nostrils. 

 There is no crest or tuft on the head. The tail is well forked, the 

 outermost feather exceeding the middle pair by a distance of from 

 one to two and a half times the length of the tarsus. The outer 

 tail-feathers have a slight curl upwards. 



Key to the Species. 



ft. Entire plumage deep glossy black ; the lower 



plumage sometimes mixed with white, 

 a'. Outermost tail-feather exceeding middle 



pair by a distance about equal to tarsus. 1). annectens, p. 312. 

 b'. Outermost tail-feather exceeding middle 

 pair by a distance greater than twice 

 tarsus D. ater, p. 312. 



b. Upper plumage deep indigo. 



c. Lower plumage uniform dark grey. 



". Outermost tail-feather exceeding mid- 

 dle pair by more than 2 inches ; length 

 of tail 5-5 to 7 inches D. lonyicaudatus^ p. 314. 



b". Outermost tail- feather exceeding mid- 

 dle pair by much less than 2 inches; 



length of tail 4-9 to 5-5 inches D. nigrescens, p. 315. 



d 1 . Lower plumage partially white. 



c". Throat and breast grey D. c&ritlescens, p. 316. 



d". Throat and breast dark brown D. leucopygialis, p. 316. 



c. Upper plumage bluish grey. 



e 1 . Lores or whole side of head "white or 



whitish D. leucogenys. p. 317. 



f. Lores blackish ; sides of head similar to 



upper plumage D. cineraceus, p. 318. 



