324 DlCRTJRID-'E. 



339. Bhringa remifer. The Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo. 



Edolius remifer, Temm. PI. Col. iii, pi. 178 (1823). 



Bhringa tectirostris, Hodgs. 2nd. Rev. i, p. 325 (1837); Hume, N. fy 



E. p. 193 ; id. 8. F. iii, p. 101. 

 Bhringa remifer (Temm.\ Blyth, Cat. p. 200; Horsf. $ M. Cat. i, 



p. 159 ; Jerd. B. 1. i, p. 434 ; Blyth | Wold. Birds Sunn. p. 128 



Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iii, p. 257 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi, p. 218 ; 



Tweedd. Ibis, 1878, p. 80 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 652 ; 



Hume, Cat. no. 283; Gates, B. B. i, 224 ; Hume, S. F. xi,p. 100 



Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. i, p. 216. 



Nep. ; Nambong punnony, Lepch. ; Piadiyapo, Bhut. 



Fig. 98. Head of B. remifer. 



Coloration. The entire plumage black, the head, neck, throat, 

 and breast glossed with metallic violet, the back and the outer webs 

 of the quills and tail-feathers with metallic blue ; tinder wing- 

 coverts and axillaries tipped with white. 



Iris red ; bill, legs, and claws black ; eyelids plumbeous. 



Length to end of middle tail-feathers aboufc 11 ; tail to end of 

 middle feathers about 5*5 ; length of lateral tail-feathers up 

 to 21, of which 12 is bare shaft ; wing 5*5 ; tarsus '8 ; bill from 

 gape 1-2. 



Distribution. The Himalayas from Garhwal to Assam up to 

 5000 feet ; thence through the hill-tracts of Assam and throughout 

 Burma to Tenasserim. Davison failed to observe this species 

 south of 'Amherst, but Binghain procured it in the Thoungyeen 

 valley. It reappears in the mountains of Perak, Sumatra, and 

 Java. 



Habits, <Sfc. Entirely confined to forest country. This species 

 sallies after insects from the summit of the highest trees. It breeds 

 in May and June, constructing a shallow nest of small twigs and 

 roots in a fork of a branch at a considerable height from the 

 ground. The eggs are pinkish, marked with brownish red, and 

 measure about 1-05 by '75. 



