98 LIST OF BIRDS IN MANIPUR, 



[This species is abundant in the Dibrugarh district and with 

 the usual habits of the genus. On the 31st May, 1879, I found 

 a nest in the Bhaman Tea Garden with three fresh eggs, shoot- 

 ing the female as she flew off. It was of the type described in 

 " Nests and Eggs," page 184, and was placed on the upper side 

 of a large lateral iDranch of a tree that grew on the main garden 

 road about 15 feet off the ground. All day there were people 

 passing under this tree, but the nest was hardly vi&ible. — 

 J. R C ] 



This species is widely, but in most places sparingly, dis- 

 tributed throughout British Burmah in all suitable localities. 



278. — Buchanga atra, Herm. 



Not observed in either the Western or Eastern hills ; a few 

 only were seen in the northern and central portions of the 

 Mauipur level, but in the south, especially about Kokshin, 

 Koonoo, and Soognoo, they were more plentiful. Nowhere 

 are they half as numerous as in the plains of India. 



Every single Manipur specimen wants the rictal spot, and they 

 run very much smaller than the Sylhet birds ; for instance, one 

 of these latter I measured for curiosity, it seemed so fine : — 



Length, 13'5 ; expanse, 190; tail, 7'3 ; wing, 6'0 ; tarsus, 

 67 ; bill from gape, 1-15; weight, 2*075ozs. Outer exceed cen- 

 tral tail-feathers by 3*0 ; bill, legs and feet black ; irides lac red. 



But the finest Manipur bird I measured — and it looks now 

 nearly the finest out of some twenty specimens — a perfectly 

 adult male, only measured : — 



Length, 11-3 ; expanse, 17'7 ; tail, 5*5 ; wing, 5'6, &c. 



Moreover, besides the want of the rictal spot (as the late 

 Marquis of Tweedale remarked, a most inconstant character) 

 and their smaller size, the colouring is somewhat different, all 

 the specimens showing more or less of a purplish brownish 

 bronzy lustre on more or less of the head, middle of back, 

 scapulars and tertiaries, not commonly seen in adult Indian 

 King Crows. Many, I have no doubt, would class these as 

 cathoecus, Swinh., but even with these they do not agree, and 

 the fact is that we must either keep this sub-group of Drongos 

 all as " atra," or make about fifty species out of them, one 

 for every well-defined natural area. 



This species is found throughout Assam, Cachar and Sylhet, 

 though not as a rule ascending the higher hills. It is widely 

 distributed, but in many parts as a seasonal visitant only, 

 throughout British Burmah in suitable localities. 



[Not very common, sticking to the open grass and cultivated 

 parts in the Dibrugarh district. The largest bird I procured, 



