446 



DICRURID^E. 



Genus BHRINGA, Hodgson. 



Bhringa remifer ( Temm.). 



(Plate XX. fig. 21.) 



Bhringa remifer, Sharps, Cat. Birds B. M. iii. p. 257 (1877) ; Oat.es, 

 Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. .324 (1889); Oates, ed. Hume, Nests fy 

 Eggs Ind. Birds, i. p. 216 (1889) ; Nehrk. Kat. Eiersamml. p. 20 

 (1899), p. 355 (1910); Sharpe, Hand-l. v. p. 565 (1909). 



Three eggs of the Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo are of a regular 

 oval form and fairly glossy. The ground is of a rich salmon-pink 

 colour. Two specimens are rather thickly spotted and blotched 

 with chestnut and lavender ; the third is smeared with dull 

 chestnut and purplish-grey. In all the markings are chiefly 

 distributed over the broad end of the shell and are more or less 

 confluent. They measure respectively : 1'07 by *73 ; 1-07 by -75 ; 

 97 by -72. 



2. Darjiling, Sikhim, ]5th May Hume Coll. 



(,/. Gammie). 

 1. Darjiling, 20th May (J. G.). Hume Coll. 



Genus DISSEMURUS, Qlogw. 

 Dissemurus paradiseus (Linn.). 



Dissemurus paradiseus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. iii. p. 258 (1877) ; 

 Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 399 (1879); Oates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, 

 i. p.' 325 (1889) ; Oates, ed. Hume, Nests $ Egg* Ind. Birds, i. p. 217 

 (1889); Nehrk. Kat. EiersammL p. 21 (1899), p. 355 (1910); 

 Osmaston, J. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. xvii. p. 157 (1906) ; Sharpe, 

 Hand-l. v. p. 566 (1909). 



The eggs of the Larger Racket-tailed Drongo are usually of a 

 blunt oval form, but a few are somewhat pointed. They have a 

 fair amount of gloss. The specimens are of three types. In one, 

 the ground is white, speckled, spotted, and sometimes blotched 

 with darker and paler shades of inky-purple, the markings being 

 most numerous at the larger end. In the second type, the ground 

 is pinkish-white, spotted, blotched, and clouded with two or more 

 shades of chestnut and with pale lilac. In the third type, which 

 is represented by one example only, the ground is pale salmon-pink, 

 blotched all over with lavender and very pale rufous. The es:gs 

 measure from 1-05 to 1-2 in length, and from -75 to -85 in breadth. 



1. Darjiling, Sikhim, May (T. C. Hume Coll. 

 Jerdori). 



1. Darjiling, 14th May. Hume Coll. 



2. Mysore, 10th April (J. Macpher- Hume Coll. 



son). 



