18/1.] MR. R. SWINHOE ON THE BIRDS OF CHINA. 3/7 



allied throng with which they came into contact, and so pass on with 

 it inadvertently. Thus it is matter of no great surprise that the 

 typical L. luciunensis is occasionally obtained, as Mr. Blyth informs 

 me, in Ceylon, whither it would have travelled with L. cristatus, or 

 in the Tenasserim, whither the company of L. superciliosus would 

 have conducted it. To account for this phenomenon I was before 

 led to suppose that the variation of the three species was not con- 

 stantly fixed, and that each race occasionally developed the peculia- 

 rities of either of the others. But my present hypothesis is, I think, 

 the right one. There need be no confusion of races by the inter- 

 crossing of species, for the misguided birds would be among strangers 

 only for the winter ; in the summer, on their return journey, they 

 would have the opportunity of rejoining their species. 



Lanius incertus is founded on one male specimen, and, from its 

 being so different in plumage, will, I think, be found to belong to 

 another geographical race, with winter and summer resorts of its 

 own, which has, in a similar way, been allured from its ordinary 

 course of migration. 



304. Tephrodornis pelvica (Hodgs.) ; Ibis, 1870, p. 241. 



Tenthuca pelvica, Hodgs. Ind. Rev. 1837, p. 447. 

 Hainan. 



305. Artamus fuscus (Vieill.) ; Ibis, 1862, p. 306", 1870 

 p. 247; P.Z.S. 1863, p.287. = 



Hainan. Macao (Cassin, v. Perry's Exp. to Japan). 



306. Dicrurus cathoicus, n. sp. 



D. macrocercus, Swinh. Ibis, 1860, p. 59, 1861, pp. 43, 340 

 1863, p. 266, 1865, p. 348, 1866, p. 121, 1870, p. 244: P. Z s' 

 1862, p. 319, 1863, p. 285, 1870, p. 433. 



The term macrocercus has been applied in India to two distinct 

 species of Black Drongos,— the one a long bird,always distinguishable 

 by a white spot close to the gape, the D. albirictus of Hodgson ; 

 and the other allied to our Chinese bird. The name was given by 

 Vieillot to the Java bird of this group— the Edolius lonyus, Temm., 

 and E. forficatus, Horsf. The Java species is smaller than the 

 Indian bird, of more slender and elongated form, and has smaller 

 feet. Our China bird, which is found throughout China, Hainan, 

 and Formosa, is larger than its Indian ally, with longer bill and 

 much longer wing, and has a rich bronze gloss over its leathers, in- 

 cluding its wings and tail ; wing 6 inches, tail 6. I propose to sepa- 

 rate it specifically under the above name. Our Hrongo, in its nestling 

 plumage, is of a greyish black (which browns with wear), deeper on 

 the upper parts, bronzed on its wings and tail, with white on its ax- 

 dlaries and carpal edge. In changing into the bronzed plumage of 

 the adult, the feathers of the underparts appear with broad white 

 margins, which gradually give place to uniform bronze. Young 

 males often begin to acquire the adult plumage on leaving the nest, 



