38 TEE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



•whether the right or the left I have not observed, 

 nor can I suggest an explanation — ^unless it is that 

 the bird when sitting on a bough or wire and turning 

 round always does so on the same side, so as to bring 

 all the consequent friction on one-half of the tail. 

 The King-Crow's tail, indeed, seems rather an 

 unwieldy member, for he does not lift it up in the air 

 when on the ground, where it must be rather in his 

 way, and although a forked tail is undoubtedly meant 

 as an aid to evolution in flight, in our present subject 

 it seems unnecessarily long, and from its turned-up 

 edges looks as if it were quite as much for ornament 

 as for use. 



The whole family of Drongos haVe more or less 

 forked tails ; this and their almost invariably black 

 plumage easily distinguishing them from their near 

 relatives, the shrikes, of which a typical represent- 

 ative may be seen in Calcutta gardens in the person 

 of the brown shrike {Lanius cristatus) a bull-headed, 

 black-eyebrowed bird rather larger than a sparrow, 

 given to making highly unpleasant noises and very 

 appreciative of cockroaches thrown out for him. 

 Both shrikes and Drongos have the habit of holding 

 their food in one foot like a parrot, but the latter 

 are not known to impale their prey like the former. 

 No Drongos are found outside the Old World, but 

 in general domineering their place is ably filled in 



