216 mcnvRiDM. 



339. Bhringa remifer (Ternm.). The Lesser BacJcet-tailed Drongo. 



Bhringa remifer (Temm.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 434. 



Bhringa tenuirostris, Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 283. 



Of the Lesser Backet-tailed Drongo Mr. E. Thompson says : — 

 " This elegant Drongo is somewhat common in our lower Kumaon 

 ranges. Its lively clear and ringing notes are one of the greatest 

 charms of the spring season in our forests. It breeds in May and 

 June, and builds upon lofty trees in dense forests, usually in some 

 deep damp valley. The nest from below looks just like that of a 

 common King-Crow — a broad shallow cup ; but I never closely 

 examined either nest or eggs." 



Dr. Jerdon remarks : — " A nest with eggs were brought to me 

 in June, said to be of this species. The nest was loosely made of 

 sticks and roots, and contained three eggs, reddish white, with a 

 very few reddish-brown blotches." 



From Sikhim, Mr. Gammie writes: — "I have taken but one 

 nest of this Drongo. It was suspended between two small hori- 

 zontal forking branches of a tall tree, some 20 feet from ground. 

 It is a neat, saucer-shaped structure, somewhat triangular, to fit 

 well up to the fork, built of fibry roots, and firmly bound to the 

 branches by spiders' webs. The sides and bottom are strong, but 

 so thin that they can everywhere be seen through. Externally it 

 measures 4-5 inches across by 1'9 in height ; internally 3*5 by l - 3. 

 It was taken on the 15th May at 2500 feet, and contained three 

 partially incubated eggs." 



A nest of this species taken by Mr. 'Gammie at Eishap (elevation 

 4800) in Sikhim, on the 20th May, is a very broad shallow saucer, 

 composed almost entirely of moderately fine dark brown roots, 

 but with a few slender herbaceous twigs intermingled. It is sus- 

 pended in the fork of two widely diverging twigs, to which either 

 margin is attached, chiefly by cobwebs, though on one side at one 

 place part of the substance of the nest is wound round the twig ; 

 the cavity, which is not lined, is oval, and measures 3 - 25 inches by 

 2-75, by barely 0-75 in depth. The female seated on the nest had 

 long tail-feathers, so this species does not drop these for con- 

 venience in incubating. 



Several nests of this species obtained in Sikhim by Messrs. 

 Gammie, Mandelli, &c. are all precisely similar — broad saucers, 

 suspended Oriole-like between the fork of a small branch. Ex- 

 teriorly composed of moderately fine brown roots, more or less 

 bound together, especially those portions of them that are bound 

 round the twigs of the fork with cobwebs, and lined interiorly with 

 fine black horsehair-like roots. They seem to be always right up in 

 the angle of the fork, whereas in Ohaptia they are often some inches 

 down the fork, and consequently the cavity is triaugular on the 

 one side, and semicircular on the other. The cavities measure from 

 3 to nearly 4 inches in their greatest diameters, and vary from 1 

 to 1| inch in depth ; though strong and firm, and fully | of an 



