440 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



warmer valleys near Darjeeling. Mv. Hodgson states that it feeds 

 on wasps, bees, green beetles, &c., very rarely vetches ; that it 

 lives part of the year in pairs, or singly, and the rest in families ; 

 that it descends from its lofty perch to seize an insect on the wing, 

 and occasionally seizes on the ground. I imagine that the vetches, 

 stated by Hodgson to vary its food occasionally, must have been 

 taken in its mouth with some insect which it seized off the plant. 



Buch. Hamilton says it is common in the neighbourhood of 

 Calcutta, building among bamboos, living in pairs, and feeding on 

 insects and fruits. It is said to sing well, he says, and is frequently 

 tamed by the j\Iussulmans, who in the morning carry it about, 

 and invoke the name of God and the prophet, in the same manner 

 as they do Avith Parrakeets. The Lepchas at Darjeeling brought 

 me the nest, which was said to have been placed high up in a large 

 tree. It was composed of twigs and roots, and a few bits of grass, 

 and contained two eggs, livid white, with purplish and claret spots, 

 and of a very elongated form. 



Sub-fam. Artamin-s:, Swallow-shrikes. 



Bill short or moderate, wide at the base, deep, slightly curved ; 

 culmen rounded ; commissure gently curved ; barely hooked at the 

 tip, and entire ; nostrils basal, impended by a minute tuft at their 

 base only ; a few inconspicuous rictal bristles ; tarsus and toes 

 short, strong ; claws well curved, acute ; wings long ; 1st quill 

 minute, 2nd longest ; tail short, or moderate, even or slightly 

 emarginate ; lateral toes nearly equal. 



The Swallow-shrikes are placed by Swainson and Horsfield in 

 their Dicrurina. Gray elevates them to a distinct sub-family, 

 in which I follow him, but consider that they do approach near to 

 the Drongos. Blyth places them as a distinct family, between the 

 Dicruridce and the Swallows ; and others place them with the true 

 Shrikes, or even with the Swallows. They comprise a small num- 

 ber of birds from India and Malayana, but greatly developed in 

 Australia, which hunt for insects in the air like Swallows, for 

 which their long wings are well suited, though they are unable to 

 keep up their flight for a great length of time. Some of the 

 Australian species have the very remarkable habi* of clustering 

 like bees. They are mostly of sober grey plumage ; some from 



