394 BUCHANGA LEUCOPYGIALIS. 



somewhat distinct from one another, but which grade into each other in such a manner as to forbid their being 

 rightly considered as distinct species ; and I will leave it to others who like to take the matter up for investigation 

 to prove whether my conclusions are erroneous or not. I see no reason why, in writing of birds from the north 

 of Ceylon, future collectors should not style them B. immlaris, inasmuch as these birds form a race of themselves. 

 A perusal of the above-mentioned localities will show that the pale birds inhabit the dry portions of the island, 

 grading into the dark race on a line drawn from Chilaw across the southern part of the N.W. Province, and thence 

 over to the Badulla country and down into the Park districts. Mr. Boate's specimens in the British Museum 

 came from " between Kandy and Nuwara Elliya," which I take to be the Rambodde or Pusselawa districts ; thev 

 are neither strictly leucopygialis nor insularis, but resemble Deltota and N.W.-Province birds, which are interme- 

 diate, whereas examples from the dry district of Uva are the same as those from Trincomalie. The dark form 

 from the South-west and Western Provinces is extremely variable as regards the pale lower parts, the dusky hue 

 of which depends, as I have shown, on abrasion of plumage ; and in some instances, as exemplified in the 

 Ambepussa bird, the offspring are paler than the parents. As the plumage becomes abraded, it darkens, and the 

 whole appearance of the pale belly is changed. Moreover it seems probable that the light form in the north 

 sometimes becomes dark ; for I have a specimen shot by Mr. Cotterill, C.E., at llurulle tank, which is in highly 

 abraded plumage it is true, but which has the lower breast and belly so very dusky that it could scarcely, when 

 in new feather, have been a very light-coloured bird. 



Mr. Sharpe rightly discriminated the pale Ceylonese form of the present species from B. ccerulescens, the Indian bird. 

 The latter has a greyer hue on the green gloss of the upper surface, the tail is a rather pale brown, instead of a 

 dark blackish brown, and the throat and chest are dull ashy blackish, without any green gloss on the latter. These 

 distinctions are especially noticeable in northern birds, from Nepal, Kattiawar, and Behar ; but from further south 

 I have examples which are darker on the chest, but of course not black, glossed with green, as in Ceylonese. South- 

 Indian birds may perhaps be very close to ours ; but I regret to say I have not seen any from that region. It is 

 not improbable that an almost unbroken sequence from the Himalayan to the Ceylonese type could lie got together, 

 proving that there is but one species of this Drongo, divisible into local races, the darkest of which would be 

 B. lewopygialis of Blyth from South Ceylon. 



Examples of B. ccerulescens which I have measured vary from 4 - 9 to 5 - l inches in the wing. 



Layard's specimens from Pt. Pedro evidently belonged to the usual pale-bellied bird found in the north of Ceylon, which 

 were not discriminated by Blyth, at the time they were sent to him, as distinct from the Indian birds. 



Distribution. — The dark race of this Drongo inhabits the South-western District, the Western Province, 

 and the adjacent slopes of the Kandyau hills, perhaps as far eastward as the valleys in Pusselawa and Kotmalie ; 

 while, turning to the south again, we find it spreading into the country lying between Badulla and Hamban- 

 tota, and inhabiting the dividing valley which is continuous with the Saffragam division. It is generally 

 diffused through the Western Province, being numerous in the Korales surrounding Colombo and along the 

 sea-board generally. In large forest-tracts like those on the Pasdun and Kukkul Korales it is scarce, but even 

 there it will be found in the open country formed by isolated tracts of cultivation. A short distance inland 

 from Colombo it is a very common bird, and is one of the most familiar species to those who enjoy the usual 

 evening drive round the outskirts of the "cinnamon-gardens." It is equally well known in the Galle and 

 Matara districts. 



In the Seven Korales, where the country is open in many places, it is tolerably numerous, becoming 

 scarcer [in the light form) in the forests as we proceed north. In this part of the island it is not nearly so 

 plentiful as its dark relative is in the south; but the heavy nature of the jungle probably tends much to its 

 concealment; and the spots in which I have chiefly observed it were the outskirts of forest, clumps of jungle 

 in grassy wastes, or the borders of village tanks. Layard seems only to have obtained it at Pt. Pedro, and 

 regarded it as a visitor, an opinion which its scarceness on the peninsula naturally occasioned. It extends 

 down the eastern side of the island to the country between Batticaloa and the Uva ranges, in which it is also 

 found to an elevation of about 4500 feet. On the eastern side of the Badulla valley I frequently observed it 

 on the estates between the capital of Uva and Lunugalla ; but I did not see it on the Fort-MacDouald patnas, 

 although I believe it is found in that tract of country. 



Habits. — The " King-Crow," one of the best-known Ceylonese birds to European residents in the island, 

 frequents native compounds, openly wooded land, the borders of paddy-fields and tanks, the outskirts of jungle, 

 or the vicinity of grassy forest-glades; and in the coffee-districts it may usually be seen seated on stumps or 



