4 JO URNAL, BOMBAY NA TURAL HISTOR Y SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



and coarse grasses bound together with cobwebs and almost completely 

 covered outwardly with scraps of rough brown moss and lichen. I 

 only found them breeding at places over 4,000 feet. The eggs are 

 typical Drongo's eggs, and cannot be distinguished from many speci- 

 mens of D. ater or D. longicaudatus. None of my eggs have a white 

 ground, and the majority are rather a warm salmon or creamy pink. 

 One or two clutches are marked almost entirely with dark reddish- 

 brown, these blotches forming a very well-defined ring about the larger 

 end and scanty elsewhere. A few marks of pale lavender and neutral 

 tint are also to be seen if the eggs are closely examined. In most 

 eggs these latter marks predominate over the darker ones, but the 

 majority of eggs are but thinly marked with either. Twenty-five 

 eggs average •94"X*74", and they vary between "88" and T02" in length 

 and between *7" and *81" in breadth. 



Three appear to be the usual number of eggs kid, but I have taken 

 two eggs only more than once which showed signs of incubation. 



(128) D. atek.— The Black Drongo. 

 Oates, No. 327; Hume, No. 278. 

 Common everywhere, more especially below 2,500 feet. 



(129) D. longicaudatus. — The Indian Ashy Drongo. 

 Oates, No. 328 ; Hume, No. 280. 



(130) D. ctneraceous. — The Grey Drongo. 

 Oates No. 333. 



Length 11*3"; wing 5*6" ; tail 6'4" ; bill at front *8" and from gape 

 1-2" ; tarsus 'T. 



The above measurements represent the average bird of these parts ; 

 some few are slightly larger, others smaller. 



Nidification. — The nest is not, I think, to be distinguished by 

 general appearance from that of D. ater or D. longicaudatus. Two 

 nests now before me are both made of fine but strong grass-stems inter- 

 nally, and outside these are wound stems of plants, coarser grasses and 

 a few slender and soft twigs. These are almost completely covered 

 with lichen and cobwebs except at the bottom. Taking into con- 

 sideration the dozen or so nests that I have seen, I should say they are 

 less tidy than those made by the other members of this genus, the 

 inner part — it cannot be called lining— often protruding ever and 

 beyond the lichen and cobwebs. 



