Dicmraus. 317 



abdomen dark brown, the lower part of the abdomen frequently 

 mixed with white; vent and under tail-coverts generally white, 

 sometimes merely albescent; occasionally only the under tail- 

 coverts are white. 



Iris red ; bill, legs, and feet blackish (Hume Coll.}. 



( H' the same dimensions as D. ccerulescens. 



The amount of white on the lower plumage of this and D. cceru- 

 lescens is variable, and occasionally a bird is met with which might, 

 as regards this character, be assigned indifferently to one or the 

 other species, but the colour of the throat and breast will, in these 

 cases, be a safe guide to identification. 



Distribution. Ceylon only. 



Habits, $c. This species breeds from March to May, constructing 

 its nest in a tree at a considerable height from the ground. The 

 eggs, two to four in number, are whitish marked with red, and 

 measure about *93 by '7. 



332. Dicmrus leucogenys. The White-cheeked Drongo. 



? Dicrurus intennedius, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 298 (1846). 



Dicrurus cineraceus (Howf,\ apud Blyth, Cat. p. 203. 



Buchanga leucogenys, Walden, A. M. N. H. (4) v, p. 219 (1870) ; id. 

 in Blyth' s Birds Bunn. p. 131 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii, p. 251 j 

 Tweedd. Ibis, 1878, p. 69 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 216 j Hume, 

 Cat. no. 280quat. ; Gates, B. B. i, p. 222. 



Dicrurus leucophaeus (Vieill.'), apud Hume, S. F. ii, p. 210. 



Coloration. Whole upper plumage clear pale bluish grey ; the 

 shafts of the tail and quills and the tips of the first six or seven 

 primaries black; lores, ear-coverts, and a space round the eye 

 pure white ; forehead and nasal bristles black ; lower plumage like 

 the upper but paler, and the vent and under tail-coverts albescent ; 

 under wing-coverts white tinged with grey. 



Young birds have the white of the face less pure and smaller in 

 extent, but even in the youngest birds the lores are white or 

 whitish ; the upper plumage, wings, and tail are suffused with 

 brown, rendering the black shafts less conspicuous ; the under 

 wing-coverts are grey tipped with white. 



Legs, feet, claws, bill, and eyelids black ; iris pale lake to crimson 

 (Davison). 



Length about 10-5 ; tail 5*7 ; wing 5-5 ; tarsus '75 ; bill from 

 gape I'l. 



Distribution. Tenasserim from Mergui southwards ; the Anda- 

 man Islands. This species extends down the Malay peninsula to 

 Singapore, and eastwards to Siam, Cochin China, and China, and 

 it is found even in Japan. It is stated to be a migratory bird. 



Habits, fyc. According to Davison this Drongo is a forest 

 species, but it is also found in clearings, and it has the usual 

 habits of the genus. 



