1842.] Notes on various Indian and Malayan Birds. 171 



at the tip: bill to forehead - inch, and to gape above If inch; very 

 feebly hooked, and rather less compressed than in the next species : tarse 

 1 inch, hind-toe and claw rather more. Frontal crest about twice 

 the length of that of E. cristatellus (Nobis), measuring fully 2} inches, 

 and reclining back beyond the occiput : coronal feathers slightly hackled, 

 the occipital and nuchal strongly so, and those on the fore-neck shaped 

 as on the crown. Plumage generally somewhat loose and puffy : 

 and colour uniformly black, with a steel-blue gloss. I have seen this 

 species alive, in the possession of a native. Its song is very fine ; loud 

 and sonorous, with the deep tone of the European Blackbird. The 

 specimen described is from Tenasserim; and the species is known 

 to range from Nepal and Assam to Sumatra. 



E. cristatellus, Nobis; E. Malabaricus of Gould and most recent 

 authors, but not of Shaw, nor the Malabar Drongo or Shrike of Buffon 

 and Sonnerat. Shaw's species, it would seem, remained unnoticed for 

 a long period, during which the name Malabaricus came to be applied 

 to the present nearly allied one, but it remains to be shewn that either 

 of these inhabits the Malabar coast, or any part of the Indian peninsula. 

 That now under consideration is inferior in size to the preceding, with 

 frontal crest but half as long, and vaguely comparable to that of Pastor 

 cristatellus, as the crest of E. grandis has been compared to that of P. 

 roseus : in the finest specimens, when pressed down, this barely reaches 

 to the occiput, and as usually elevated it does not recline beyond the 

 middle of the head, its longest feathers measuring generally under 

 1^ inch. Length, to extremity of penultimate tail feather, 13 inches or 

 somewhat less ; of wing from bend 5f to 6£ inches, and middle tail 

 feathers 5f to 6 inches, the penultimate 6£ to 6f inches, and the 

 prolonged stem and terminal barb of the outermost with its amount of 

 twirl the same as in E. grandis. Plumage also generally similar, with 

 the exception of the Crest, the shorter feathers of which describe an equal 

 curvature to the longer ones of E. grandis. The young differ only in 

 the looser texture of their feathers, which underneath and on the rump 

 are glossless fuscous, while the forehead is not more crested than in 

 the next species, and the feathers of the crown and neck are not 

 hackled, but of flimsy texture and rounded at the tips, where alone 

 they are glossed : the greater length of the tail readily distinguishes 

 them from the species next noticed ; and the specimens here described 

 are from the Tenasserim coast. 



