394 A FIRST LIST OF THE BIRDS 
A male with the black back measured :—Length, 5:12 ; expanse, 
7; wing, 2°3; tail, 2°12; tarsus, 0°56; bill from gape, 0°65. 
272.—Pericrocotus flammeus, [orst. 
‘A common species of gregarious habits, generally (as 
Jerdon says) frequenting the tops of tall trees. The males 
have a rather pleasing, but feeble warbling song, which they 
utter on the wing, while taking a short flight from the top of 
a tree, and usually returning to the same perch.—F. W. B.” 
In a recent article on the Pericrocott by Mr. Sharpe (Vol. 
III., p. 207), he takes exception to my statement that in fammeus 
the red of the wing patch only extends on to the 5th primary, 
and he remarks :—“TI find in one specimen that the red colour 
extends on to the 5th primary as noted by Mr. Hume, but 
in another it only goes to the 4th, so that character is not 
constant.” 
In the first place I do not understand here what is meant 
by the expression “ only to the 4th,” because this would look 
as if Mr. Sharpe was counting from the front of the wing, 
and that by the red extending to the 4th there was less red on 
the wing than when it extended to the 5th; I can only suppose 
that “ only” here is a slip of the pen for “also.” 
Accepting this view, I must submit to Mr. Sharpe that in my 
opinion either the bird he examined was not flammeus, or that the 
wing examined was imperfect. In a very large series I_ cannot 
find a single male in which any appreciable amount of red occurs 
on the outer webs-of any of the first four primaries, and this, 
I must consider, to be a constant character. In about one 
specimen in ten, a hair line of red occurs on the exterior 
margin of the fourth ; but I am unable to find a single specimen 
in which the wing is perfect, exhibiting any appreciable amount 
of this colour on the outer web of the fourth primary. 
These Travancore specimens all agree precisely with the 
Neilgherry birds in this particular. 
A male measured :—Length, 7:5 ; expanse, 10°25 ; wing, 3°68 ; 
tail, 3°75; tarsus, 0°68 ; bill from gape, 0°72. 
Female :—Length, 7:37 ; expanse, 9°5; wing, 3°63 tail, 3°5; 
tarsus, 0°65 ; bill from gape, 0°75. 
280.—Dicrurus longicaudatus, Hay. 
“Common, especially near cultivation; less abundant in 
deep forest and at the summit of the hills—F. W. B.” 
These specimens are typical longicaudatus. 
A female measured:—Length, 11; expanse, 15°87 ; wing, 5:4; 
tail, 6. Another female was only 10 inches long, and had the 
wing only 5. A third was 11°25 long, and had the wing 5:55. 
