BUCHANGA ATRA. 



(THE BLACK DRONGO.) 



Muscicapa atra, Hermann, Obs. Zool. p. 208 (1804). 



Dicrurus macrocercus, Vieill. N. Diet. ix. p. 588 (1817); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 1854, xiii. p. 129 ; Jerclon, B. of Ind. i. p. 427 (18G2). 



Buchanga albirictus, Hodgs. Ind. Rev. i. p. 326 (1837); Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 186 (1873); 

 Butler, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 465. 



Edolius malabaricusl, Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 124 (1852). 



Dicrurus minor, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 22 (1849); id. Ibis, 1867, p. 305. 



Dicrurus longus (Temm.), Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 152 (1854). 



Buchanga minor (Bl.), Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 438; Legge, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 202. 



Dicrurus albirictus (Hodgs.), Hume, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 97. 



Buchanga atra, Sharpe, Cat. B. iii. p. 246 (1877). 



Le Drongolon, Levaill. Ois. d'Afr. iii. pi. 174. 



The Drongo-Shrike of some ; King-Crow, " Flycatcher," Europeans in Ceylon. 



Kolsa, Hind. ; Finga, Bengal. ; Japal kalchit, Punjab ; Kunich in Sindh ; Thampal, N.W. 

 Prov. ; Kotwal, Natives in Deccan ; Yeti-inta, also Passala-poli-gadu, lit. " Cattle Tom- 

 bird," Telugu ; Karri kurumah, Tarn., Jerdon. 



Kaii kuruvi, Tamils in Ceylon ; Pastro barbeiro, Portuguese in North Ceylon. 



Adult malt- ami female. Length 1(>75 to 11*1 inches ; wing 5 - to 5'45 ; tail 5 - l to 5'7, depth of fork 2'1 ; tarsus 0-8 



to 0*85 ; mid toe and claw - S2 to 0*9 ; bill to gape 1*05 to 1-15. 

 Males slightly exceed females in size. 



Iris dull red, or brownish red in not fully adult birds ; bill black ; legs and feet black. 

 Above and beneath metallic blue-black ; quills brown-black, glossed on the tail with green ; lower surface of quills 



brown ; a small white spot at the lower corner of the gape, not perceptible in many specimens until the black 



feathers round it be lifted up ; in some it consists of a single feather. 



Youwj. Birds of the year have the wing from 4 - 8 to 5'0 inches. 



Iris reddish brown ; bill and feet as in adult. 



Above glossed as in the adult; beneath, from the chest, the feathers are fringed with white, coalescing into whitish on 

 the abdomen ; under tail-coverts and primary under wing-coverts with white terminal bars ; greater under wing- 

 coverts with a white spot at the tips. This plumage is acquired after doffing the nestling dress, which is brownish 

 beneath, with similar white markings. After the next moult the white tips are present in the longer under tail- 

 covert feathers, and sometimes on the under wing, this latter part losing the spots first, as a rule. 



05s. The Ceylon birds form a small race of this widely-spread species, and have been usually separated as B. minor ; 

 I cannot, however, keep our bird distinct as a subspecies even, for I find an example in good plumage in 

 the British Museum from Behar which is no larger than fine specimens from Jaffna. It measures in the wing 

 5-5, tail G - 3, and lias a small rictal spot. The generality of Indian specimens are, however, larger than this. 

 Several from Nepal measure 6-0, 6 - l, and 6-2 in the wing, and about 7 - in the tail. In Burmah they are similar 

 in size to those in the Himalayan subregions. The Black Hrongo of China and Formosa (B. cathma) is united by 

 Mr. Sharpe with B. atra ; and, I think, justly so too, fori can see no difference whatever between specimens in the 

 British Museum from either of these localities and those from Nepal and Burmah. An example from Formosa 

 measures — wing 5 - 7, tail 6-5 ; one from China — wing G-2, tail 7-0. I find the white rictal spot present in these, 

 although it is very minute, and it likewise exists in all Indian specimens I have examined. South-Indian birds 



