546 VISCOUNT WALDEN ON BIRDS FROM TENASSERIM. [Nov. 22, 



" This is the commonest species of Bierurus in the gardens ahout 

 Moulmein, and extends to my knowledge some distance up the Sal- 

 ween Valley. It is a pretty songster. Irides crimson-red. On the 

 same trees as Chaptia cenea." These specimens belong to one of 

 the numerous races of which Dicurus leucophceus, Vieill.,=D. cine- 

 raceus, Horsf., ex Java, may be considered the type. They may be 

 termed Ashy Drongos, from the bluish ashy hue which, in darker or 

 lighter shades, characterizes their plumage. They are very closely 

 allied to another group of Drongos, the type of which is B. longi- 

 caudata, (A. Hay) ; and although between some of the races of the 

 two species the "distinguishing characters are not at once apparent, 

 yet individuals belonging to the group of Ashy Drongos are always 

 to be recognized by their general ashy (rather than black) tone of 

 colour, by the upper surface of the rectrices, especially the central 

 pair, being greyish and only becoming black towards the tips, by 

 the entire under surface of the body being dull ashy, without any 

 silky gloss, save a slight indication on the breast, and by the tail 

 being much less deeply forked and its feathers considerably broader. 

 The entire body-plumage is also of a looser texture, the webs being 

 decomposed. At the same time the two groups possess many con- 

 necting links ; and though the most superficial observer could not 

 confound a Malabar specimen of B. longicaudata with a Java spe- 

 cimen of B. leucophcea, other races, such as this one from Tenas- 

 serim, have to be carefully examined before it can be decided to which 

 of the two groups they belong. At the foot of the Himalayas, cer- 

 tainly extending as far to the westward as the Deyra Doon, the two 

 groups are severally represented, and the divergence between the 

 two is very strongly marked ; yet the large Ashy Drongo of the Hi- 

 malaya has hitherto been confounded with B. longicaudata of Ma- 

 labar and its allied races by both Messrs. Jerdon and Blyth. I refer 

 Captain Beavan's specimens to Mr. Blyth's species with some doubt. 

 Dr. Jerdon, in his recent work, reduces D. intermedins, Blyth, to a 

 synonym of B. longicaudatus, A. Hay ; yet Mr. Blyth's description 

 appears to agree better with some individuals of the ashy group. 

 Moreover he mentions that it is intermediate between B. ccerulescens 

 (Linn.) and B. longicaudatus, A. Hay, whence doubtless his designa- 

 tion ; and at the time, Mr. Blyth was unacquainted with the true Javan 

 B. cineraceus, (Horsf.). Mr. Blyth's type came from Penang; and 

 as I have never met with a specimen of Ashy Drongo, or of the other 

 species, from so far south in the Malayan peninsula, I am unable to 

 identify Mr. Blyth's bird ; but in his * Catalogue of the Calcutta 

 Museum,' he has enumerated under this title another specimen from 

 Moulmein. I have, however, good reason to believe that a race of 

 the longicaudatus group also inhabits Tenasserim ; and it is not 

 impossible, it is even probable, that the Malay race is distinct from 

 that of Burmah. Until Penang specimens are actually compared 

 with the Moulmein race, the correct title of the latter must remain 

 undetermined. From the Javan species these specimens differ by 

 being altogether of a darker bluish ashy ; the wings are of a greenish 

 black, rather than a greenish ashy ; the tail is more deeply forked, 



