210 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



as he speaks of "the common Malayan drongo," it was probably 

 halicassius, of which he received a specimen caught at sea by 

 Captain Lewis when nearing the Nicobars. As the specimen 

 does not now appear to be forthcoming one cannot be quite 

 certain of this, but anyhow one crow-billed drongo must 

 be included in the list of occasional stragglers to the 

 Nicobars. 



280 bis.—- Dicrurus leucopheeus,* Vieill. (1.) 



We never met with this species, but long subsequent to our 

 return Captain Wimberley obtained one specimen which he very 

 kindly sent to me. 



This specimen answers perfectly to the descriptions given 

 below, especially to Elytr^s, but is slightly smaller than he des- 

 cribes, although agreeing well, both as regards size and colour, 

 with Burmese and Malayan birds from Thyet Myo to Malacca. 



The bird was killed on the 5th of November. It was a 

 female and measured, length, to end of middle tail feather, 9*0 ; 

 exterior tail feathers an inch longer; wing, 5*25; bill, at 

 front, 0"7 ; from gape, 1*0 • width at gape, 0*58 ; tarsus, 0*7 • 

 tail, from vent, 4 - 75. 



I have nothing to add to Blyth's description, except that the 

 lores and entire orbital region are very pale and contrast mark- 

 edly with the almost black forehead and the dark blue grey 

 crown. 



* This species occurs, apparently, only as a straggler in the 

 Andamans. 



* Dicrurus leucoplieeus, Vieillot. Diet. Class, d' Hist. Nat. V., 621. "Tout le plu- 

 mage d' un gris plombe avee 1' extremite des remiges d' un bran noiratre ; barbes ex- 

 fcerieures des rectrices noires, queue longue et fourckue ; bee et pieds piombes. Taille 

 neuf pouces." 



This is certainly Blyth's cineraceus, J. A. S., XV., 1846, 299. 



"Its length to tip of middle tail feathers is about ten inches, the outermost exceed- 

 ing them by about an inch, and the tail fork much divaricated ; wing, five inches and 

 three quarters ; bill as in_D. longicaudatus and D. ccerulescens, but less carinate above, 

 especially towards its base : general plumage deep ash grey, passing to blackish just 

 over the beak, also on the exterior web of the outermost tail feathers, and on the wing 

 primaries; ear-coverts and around the eye, with the vent and lower tail coverts, albes- 

 cent grey : bill and leet black." 



This species is aiso ceylonensis, Steph.; but whether it really occurs in Ceylon is 

 doubtful. 



This is also probably JE7. cineraceus, Horsf. Lin., Trans. XIIL, pt. 1, p. 145 : — " JS 

 cineraceus, saturatus concolor, remigibus supra ad apicem rectricibusque lateralibus 

 margine exteriore, nigris. Longitude- 11 poll." 



Le Vaillant's " Le Drongri" ; Ois : D'afr., pi. 170 ; which he pretends came from 

 Ceylon, very fairly represents, so far as color goes, this Andaman bird and some of the 

 Thyet Myo specimens, but the tail is figured as more deeply forked than any of our 

 specimens or than any I have from the Straits, &c. I have never seen a Ceylon bird 

 nearly so pale as his figure. 



