Genus DI8SEMURTT8. 



Bill stout, the culmen more acutely keeled than in- Buchanga, as also higher at the base ; 

 forehead furnished with a tuft of frontal plumes, the anterior ones projecting forwards, and the 

 posterior more or less curved back over the forehead. Wings with the 4th and 5th quills the 

 longest, and the 3rd shorter than the 6th. Tail with the outer feathers prolonged more or less, 

 in some species with the web complete and slightly upturned, in others with the shaft denuded 

 of the webs to within a short distance of the tip. 



Of large size. Plumage highly glossed above and below ; the feathers of the hind neck 

 " hackled." 



DISSEHURUS LOPHOPiHINUS. 



(THE CEYLONESE CRESTED DRONGO.) 



(Peculiar to Ceylon.) 



Dicrurus lophorhinus, Vieill. N. Diet, d'llist. Nat. ix. p. 587 (1817); Gray, Hand-1. B. i. 



p. 285 (1869). 

 Dicrurus cdoliiformis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1847, xvi. p. 297 (1847) ; id. Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 



p. 202 (1849) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 124 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. 



Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 129 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 305 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 17. 

 Dicrurus lophorhinus, Gray, Hand-1. B. i. p. 285. 

 Dissemurus lophorhinus, Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, p. 439. 



Dissemuroides cdoliiformis, Sharpe, Cat. Birds, iii. p. 256 (1877); Tweeddale, Ibis, 1878, p. 78. 

 Le Drongup, Levaill. Ois. dAfr. pi. 173. 

 Jungle King-Crow, in Ceylon. 

 Kowda, Sinhalese ; Kaputa-baya, Sinhalese in Southern Province. 



Niger, chalvbeo-viridi nitens, cauda valde forficata, rectricibus nigris chalybeo-viridi marginatis, rectrice extima longiore 

 et ad apicem paullo reeurvata : crista frontali densa, setis nasalibus longis antice directis et pluruis crista: posticis 

 paullo recurvatis : subtiis niger, chalybeo nitens, plumis pra^pectoralibus chalybeis vis lauceolatis : rostro et pedibus 

 nigris : iride brunneseeuti-rubra. 



A hilt i,xti,\ Length 13-4 to 14-1 inches ; wing 5 - C to 6 - ; tail — outer feathers 7"2 to 7 - 6, central feathers 2-3 to 2-5 

 shorter; tarsus 1*0 to LI ; mid toe 0-75, claw (straight) 0-3; hind toe 0-5, claw (straight) 0-4 ; bill to gape 1*35 

 to L4 ; limit of the length of frontal feathers about 0-5. 



Adult female. Somewhat smaller than the male. Length 13 - 25 inches; wing 5 - to 5 - 6 ; tail 7'0. 



In this species the tail assumes a constant character, and does not vary at all. It is shaped as in the genus Buchanga ; 



the web is the same width throughout, broad and flat, the outer portion only slightly upraised, but not sufficiently 



to be called curved. 

 The anterior frontal plumes are directed forward, and the posterior ones are erect, but have no tendency to curve back 



over the forehead as in D. paradiseus. 



Iris dull brownish red or dark yellowish red ; bill, legs, and feet black. 



Plumage black, highly glossed with a metallic lustre, which on the head, hind neck, throat, and chest is of a steel-blue 

 tinge, and on the back, wing-coverts, and outer webs of the tail-feathers dark green ; quills black, the outer webs 

 glossed ; bases of the feathers at the sides of the rump greyish, generally showing on the surface of the plumage ; 

 flanks and abdomen brownish black, scarcely glossed ; the under tail-coverts glossed at the tips ; the frontal 

 plumes in fine specimens reach to within - 4 of the tip of the culmen ; the feathers of the hind neck are pointed 

 and to some extent elongated. 



