528 



PASSERIFORMES 



{Dicranostreptus). Chibia hracteata is the only species in Australia, 

 while Biichanga leucogenys is said to reach Japan ; B. waldeni is 

 peculiar to Mayotte, and Edolius forficatus to Madagascar and 

 Joanna Island. Both sexes are typically black, with a metallic 

 gloss of blue, pui'ple, or green, though a few are greyer or browner, 

 or have a little white below. The variable bill is usually large 

 I and more or less curved, with a 



\\ / hooked tip, a notched maxilla, and 



* *-— fairly strong rietal bristles — much 



developed in Ghaetorhyncltus. The 

 metatarsi are short, the toes small, 

 the wings long. The tail 

 has only ten rectrices, and 

 is generally very deeply 

 forked, though 

 less so in Dlcru- 



Fiu. 117. — Drongo. TUssemunit 

 paradiseus. x ?j. 



rus, Clbihia, a.nd Ch'Hrtorhyy n,- 



chus. In Chibia the two outer 



feathers ar6 slightly elongated 



and turned up, in Dissemuro'ides 



they are produced and recurved 



at the tip, in Bioranostreptus they 



are extraordinarily lengthened 



and turned to face one another. 



In Bhringa and Bissemurus the 



long bare shafts terminate in racquets, and have a twist that brings 



the upper side inwards in the former, and one in the racquet itself 



in the latter. On the forehead a large, erect tuft occurs in Edolius, 



a still more extensive recurved crest in Bissemurus, a bunch of 



long, silky hairs in Chihia hotientotta. A few similar hairs are 



found in C. pectorcdis, and scanty plumes in C. bimaensis ; Bisse- 



muToides having the one or the other. Various species exhibit a 



tendency to lanceolate hackles on the head and neck, while the 



feathers of the former are scaly-looking in Chaetorhynclius. The 



bill and feet are black ; the eyes red, white, or brown. 



These wary, active birds frequent gardens, open country, and 

 forests up to at least eight thousand feet, more usually in pairs 



