MSSEMTJBTJS. 217 



inch thick at bottom, the materials are so put together that, held 

 up against the light, they look like a fine network. 



The eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Grammie, though more 

 elongated in shape and somewhat larger, very closely resemble in 

 coloration the more ordinary type of the eggs of JDierurus loiigi- 

 caudatvs. In shape they are elongated ovals, a good deal com- 

 pressed towards the smaller end. The shell is fine, but has scarcely 

 any gloss. The ground-colour is a moderately warm salmon-pink. 

 It is spotted, streaked, and blotched thickly about the large end 

 (where there is a tendency to form a cap or zone), thinly elsewhere, 

 with somewhat brownish red, or in some merely a darker shade of 

 the ground-colour ; where the markings are thickest about the large 

 end, in some only one or two, in others numerous blotches and 

 clouds of a dull inky purple are intermingled, and a few specks and 

 spots of the same colour often occur elsewhere about the egg. 



Two eggs measure 1-09 by 0-75, and a third measures 0-98 by 

 0-75. 



340. Dissemurus paradiseus (Linn.). The Larger Racket-tailed 



Drongo. 



Edolius paradiseus (X.), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 435. 

 Edolius malabaricus (Scop.), Jerd. t. c. p. 437. 

 Dissemurus malabaroides (Hodgs.), Hume, Bough Draft N. ty E. 

 no. 284. 



Of the Larger Racket-tailed Drongo Dr. Jerdon tells us that 

 he has "had its nest brought him several times at Darjeeling ; 

 rather a large structure of twigs and roots ; and the eggs, usually 

 three in number, pinkish white, with claret-coloured or purple 

 spots, but they vary a great deal in size, form, and colouring. 

 They breed in April and May." 



The solitary egg that I possess of this species, given me by Dr. 

 Jerdon, is probably an exceptionally small one. It is a broad oval, 

 tapering a good deal towards one end, a good deal smaller than the 

 eggs of Ohibia hottentotta, and not very much larger than some eggs 

 of D. ater. Its coloration, however, resembles that of Ohibia liot- 

 tentotta, and differs conspicuously, wlien compared with them (though 

 it may be difficult to make this apparent by description), from those 

 of the true Dicruri. The ground-colour is a dead white, and it is 

 very thinly speckled all over, a little more thickly towards the large 

 end, with minute dots and spots, chiefly of a very pale inky purple, 

 a very few only of the spots being a dark inky purple. The texture 

 of the egg is fine and close, but it is devoid of gloss. This egg 

 measures 1-1 by 0-87 inch. 



Mr. Iver Macpherson writes from Mysore : — 



" Eaheneotte State Forest, Mysore District.— I send you six eggs, 

 specimens from three different nests. 



" This bird is very common in the heavy forests of the Mysore 

 District, but the only nest I have ever found myself was on the 

 2nd May, 1880, and contained two or three young birds. I could 



