102 • LIST OF BIRDS IN MANIPUE, 



286.— Chibia hottentotta, Lin. 



I first met with the Hair-crested Drongo in Manipur on a 

 Bombax tree in the Kopum Thull, and once again I saw it in 

 the basin near Soognoo. Beyond this I never met with it in 

 Manipur. On each occasion "there was a small party of five or 

 six of the birds. 



A male from the Kopum Thull is about the largest bird I. 

 ever saw. It measured : — 



Length, Expanse. Tail. Wing. Tarsus. Bill from gape. WeigTit. 

 $ ...13-6 21-7 70 7-2 M5 18 S'l ozs. 



Bill, legs and feet black ; irides deep reddisli brown (as a 

 rule the irides have no reddish tinge in adults). We have this 

 from N.-E. Cachar, Shillong, Sadiya, and many other places in 

 the Dibrugarh district, and Godwin-Austen gives it from the 

 Garo and Khasi hills, and includes it in his Dafla hill list, 

 but I do not know as yet of its occurrence elsewhere in 

 Assam, Sylhet or Cachar. 



[Very common in the forests all over the Dibrugarh dis- 

 trict. None of my specimens measured as much as the one 

 mentioned above from the Kopum Thull. The irides of all 

 my birds were brownish red. They are very noisy birds, and 

 during the breeding season continually keep darting at any 

 other birds that come near their nests. During this season 

 they have a peculiar way of darting upwards in the air, with 

 closed wings, for about 20 feet, then down again, continuing 

 these manoeuvres for five minutes at a time. Their note 

 is a fine loud clear whistle. From my notes I find the follow- 

 ing : 17th May, 1879 — Nest with three fresh eggs, attached to a 

 fork of one of the outer branches of an Otenga {Dillenia 

 pentagyna) tree and about 15 feet off the ground. 15th May, 

 1880 — Three fresh eggs in nest 20 feet off the ground, and 

 a few yards from my bungalow, in an Oorian (Bischo'ffia 

 javanica, BL). 5th June, 1880 — Nest with three partly incubat- 

 ed eggs, in one of the outer branches of a Jack {Artocarpas 

 integrifolia) tree, and about 15 feet off the ground. 27th May, 

 1881 — Three fresh eggs in nest on a Soom (Machilus odora- 

 tissima) tree, at the edge of the forest, bordering the tea. 

 The nests are deep saucers, 3| inches in diameter, internally 1| 

 inches deep, with the sides about I inch thick, but the bot- 

 toms so flimsy that the eggs are easily seen from below ; the 

 materials being grass roots and fine tendrils of creepers, 

 especially if these are thorny, when they are used as a lining. 

 The nest is always situated in the fork of a branch. — 

 J. R. C] 



