BFCHANGA ATEA. 387 



are usually about the size of the above noticed Behar example. I notice that in some instances the young of conti- 

 nental birds have a great deal of white near the edge of the under wing ; but in this respect Ceylonese examples 

 vary too, though apparently not quite to the same extent as the former. 



Distribution. — This Drongo has a very singular distribution in Ceylon, which, as in the case of the Red- 

 legged Partridge, leaves the impression that it had found its way, at some remote period, to the island, and, not 

 liking it, had determined not to continue its explorations much beyond the point of its arrival ! It is confined 

 to the Jaffna peninsula and the north-west coast, down as far south as Puttalam, perhaps occurring as a 

 straggler about Colombo, though it is certainly not resident there. I never saw it anywhere on the west coast 

 south of the above-mentioned town, though I searched most diligently for it at Chilaw, a locality which I was 

 prepared to find it in, as the conditions of climate and vegetation are those of the more northern parts which it 

 frequents. Layard writes of it : — " D. minor is common about Colombo, frequenting natives' gardens." This 

 is the habit of B. leucopygialis, and there must have therefore been a wrong identification here. Mr. Holds- 

 worth says, " it is also found about Colombo, but by no means commonly within my experience." No speci- 

 mens were procured by him there as I understand, and it is possible that the above-mentioned bird may have 

 been mistaken for it. Others have been on the look-out for it for years past, but have not yet seen it in the 

 Colombo district ; and this is, therefore, one of the points in the island distribution of this bird which requires 

 settling. There is no reason why it should not stray down the coast to Colombo ; and if Mr. Holdsworth's 

 identification of the bird at large were correct, it was most likely as a wanderer to the district that it made its 

 appearance there. It does not seem to pass down the east coast at all. I have seen it near Elephant's Pass, 

 but did not meet with it on the sea-board south of that, though it may occur at Mullaitivu. In the island 

 of Manaar, on the open plains near Salavatori and to the north of Mantotte, it is very common, but it does 

 not appear to take to the paddy-lands of the interior. 



On the continent, the " Common King-Crow " is found, according to Jerdon, throughout the whole of 

 India, extending through Assam and Burmah into China, and is to be met with in every part of the country, 

 except where there is dense and lofty jungle. Commencing at the north-western limit of this wide range, I 

 find that Mr. Ball observed it on the lower parts of the Suliman hills, and Mr. Hume procured it in Sindh ; 

 Captain Pinwill collected it in the N.W. Himalayas; Dr. Hinde at Kamptee; Messrs. Adam and Butler speak 

 of it as common in the Sambhur-Lake district and in Northern Guzerat, though it is scarce, according to 

 the latter gentleman, in the Mount-Aboo range. It is "very abundant in Chota Nagpur" [Ball), and also, 

 further south, in the Deccan and the Carnatic. Mr. Fairbank found it common at the base of the Palanis 

 and on the plains, but not at any elevation on the hills themselves. It is spread throughout the country to 

 the south of this district as far as~the island of Ramisserum. Turning to the north-east again, we trace it 

 through north-eastern Cachar, where it is " extremely common " (Inglis) to Burmah, in which country 

 Mr. Oates says that for many months of the year it is very abundant, being rare, however, from April to 

 September. He did not see it on the Pegu hills. In Tenasserim Mr. Hume writes that it does not occur east of 

 the Sittang. South of Moulmein it is not rare, and it extends to the Pakchan river. Concerning the country 

 which forms the eastern limit of its range, namely China, Mr. Swinhoe writes (P. Z. S. 1871) that it is found 

 throughout it, including the peninsula of Hainan and the island of Formosa ; southward it extends into Siam, 

 and thence across to Java, where it is the Edolius longus of Temminck. 



Habits. — In Ceylon this Drongo frequents open lands, tobacco- and pasture- fields, bushy plains, and 

 scattered thorny jungle on the outskirts of the latter. It is, like the rest of its genus, a tame bird, and is 

 frequently to be seen sitting quietly on the backs of cattle or on the tops of fences near the bungalows in 

 Jaffna, until a passing beetle attracts its notice, and it darts suddenly after it ; sometimes a long chase occurs, 

 and when the hapless insect is captured, it is dispatched on the nearest fence or tree, and the watch again 

 commences. It often alights on low eminences on the ground, such as the top of a rut or a similar projection ; 

 and when frightened from this flies along close to the earth with a buoyant flight, and generally alights on a 

 fence or low bush. It is usually solitary, or associates, perhaps, with one or two of its fellows in scattered 

 company ; but in close company I have not noticed it often. Its principal food consists of Coleoptera, grass- 

 hoppers, winged termites, of which it is very fond, and ticks, which latter it takes from cattle. It was the 



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