98 A FIRST LIST OF THE 



Dr. Jerdon in his recent supplementary notes (Ibis, 1872, 

 p. 120) remarks as follows in regard to the present and a 

 supposed nearly allied species : — 



" It has been asserted that the Himalayan bird generally 

 referred to under this name is distinct from the bird from 

 Southern India ; and the late Mr. Beavan named it B. Waldeni, 

 with which B. Jiimalayanus of Tytler is identical. I have 

 recently compared specimens from the Himalayas with others 

 from Southern India, and have been unable to detect any 

 appreciable difference. Hodgson's name of pyrr/wps is given as 

 a synonyme of this bird by Gray and Blyth, and I followed 

 them. This so far appears to be correct that one drawing 

 of this species in Hodgson's collection is named by him 

 D. pyrrhops ; but there is another decidedly distinct bird figured 

 by Hodgson under the same name, which will therefore stand as 

 Buchanga pyrrhops, Hodgson, the Grey Long-tailed Drongo. 

 Viscount Walden first discriminated this species. It somewhat 

 resembles in coloration B. cineraceus, Horsfield, being of a 

 moderately dark shade of grey, with a distinct metallic shine ; 

 and the tail feathers always show the ashy grey tinge in a marked 

 manner when compared with specimens of B. longicaudatus. 

 The dimensions of one killed at Dacca were as follow : — 



" Length, 11; wing, 5| ; extent, 16$; tail, 5f. 



" I am not certain now whether I ever procured this atDarjeeling 

 ( having confounded it with B. longicaudatus) ; but the specimen 

 I got at Dacca I looked upon as a pale individual of that species, 

 and it was not till Lord Walden had pointed out its distinctions 

 and showed me a similar specimen from the Himalayas that I fully 

 recognized its claim to specific separation. ' I found it by no 

 means rare at Dacca, in groves, and at the edges of jungle, with 

 a strong and rapid flight, quite similar to that of B. longicaudatus, 

 capturing insects in the air at a considerable distance from its 

 perch. I have little doubt that it will be found to extend south- 

 wards through Chittagong to Arracan; and it was probably 

 seeing specimens of this race that caused Blyth to remark that 

 Bicrurus cineraceus, Horsfield, in advancing northwards from the 

 Malayan Peninsula, appears to grade into B, longicaudatus. 



" I may here remark that Lord Walden considers Blyth's 

 B. intermedins, placed as the synonyme of B. longicaudatus, to be 

 a distinct race from Burmah." 



Now, I quite agree with Dr. Jerdon that Waldeni and Mma- 

 layensis are mere synonymes of longicaudatus; but I absolutely 

 dispute Lord Walden's supposed species which Jerdon identifies 

 with Buchanga pyrrhops, Hodgson. I have some very fine speci- 

 mens from Dacca, one quite grey enough and pale enough, espe- 

 cially on the under surface, and with the grey tint on the lateral 

 margins of the tail feathers quite strongly enough developed 



