BUCHANGA LEUCOPTGIALIS. 395 



perched on the branches of dead trees left standing among the luxuriant sweeps of Ceylon's staple plant. To 

 the admirer of bird life it must always be an interesting species, as its lively manners, familiar habits, and bold 

 onslaughts on its winged prey make it an unfailing subject of observation. Its diet is entirely insectivorous, 

 consisting chiefly of beetles, bugs {Hemiptera) , termites, and such like, which it catches on the wing, returning 

 again to its perch, on which I have observed it striking its prey before swallowing it. It is occasionally, when 

 there is an abundance of food about, a sociable species, as many as three or four collecting on one tree and 

 carrying on a vigorous warfare on the surrounding insect-world. It is abroad at daybreak, and retires very 

 late at night to roost, appearing to be busy throughout the whole day, and never to be tired of uttering its 

 cheerful whistle. One or more may often be seen chasing an unoffending Crow to a great height in the air ; and 

 though their attacks must be comparatively feeble, I have observed that they have the capability of considerably 

 disconcerting their powerful enemy ; it is from this singular habit that these and other Drongos have acquired 

 the name of King-Crow. The ordinary note of the dark race is a whistling cry, accompanied by a quick jerk 

 of the tail, a movement which the bird is constantly performing ; but in the breeding-season the male has a 

 weak twittering song, somewhat resembling that of the Common Swallow. I have listened to this in the north- 

 country birds ; but the ordinary note of the latter always seemed to me to be less powerful than that of the 

 Western-Province form. This species and the Long-tailed Drongo have an inveterate hatred of Owls, and 

 never fail to collect all the small birds in the vicinity when they discover one of these nocturnal offenders, 

 chasing it through the woods until it escapes into some thicket which baffles the pursuit of its persecutors. 



Nidification. — The breeding-season of this Drongo is from March until May ; and the nest is almost 

 invariably built at the horizontal fork of the branch of a large tree, at a considerable height from the ground, 

 sometimes as much as 40 feet. It is a shallow cup, measuring about 2^ inches in diameter by 1 in depth, and 

 is compactly put together, well finished round the top, but sometimes rather loose on the exterior, which is 

 composed of fine grass-stalks and bark -fibres, the lining being of fine grass or tendrils of creepers. The number 

 of eggs varies from two to four, three being the most common. They vary much in shape, and also in the 

 depth of their ground tint ; some are regular ovals, others are stumpy at the small end, while now and then 

 very spherical eggs are laid. They are either reddish white, " fleshy," or pure white, in some cases marked 

 with small and large blotches of faded red, confluent at the obtuse end, and openly dispersed over the rest of 

 the surface, overlying blots of faint lilac-grey ; others have a conspicuous zone round the large end, with a few 

 scanty blotches of light red and bluish grey on the remainder ; in others, again, the markings are confined to a 

 few very large roundish blotches of the above colours at one end, or, again, several still larger clouds of brick- 

 red at the obtuse end, with a few blotches of the same at the other. Dimensions from TO to 086 inch in 

 length, by - 72 to 0'68 in breadth. I once observed a pair in the north of Ceylon very cleverly forming 

 their nest on a horizontal fork by first constructing the side furthest from the angle, thus forming an arch, 

 which was then joined to the fork by the formation of the bottom of the structure. 



The parent birds in this species display great courage, vigorously swooping down on any intruder who may 

 threaten to molest their young. 



The figure of the southern bird in the Plate (fig. 1) accompanying this article is that of a female from 

 Heneratgoda, that of the northern bird (fig. 2) is of a female shot near Trincomalie. 



OE2 



