220 
BIRDS 0¥ BRITISH BCJRMAH. 
213. BUCHANGA LONGICAUDATA. 
THE DARK-ASHY DRONGO. 
Dicrurus longicaudatus, A. Hay, Jerd. Madr. Journ. xiii. pt. ii. p. 121 ; Jerd. B. 
Ind. i. p. 430. Buchanga longicaudata, Wcdd. P. Z. S. 1866, p. 546 ; Hume, 
Nests and Eggs, p. 189 ; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 97 ; Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 130 ; 
Sharjje, Cat. Birds B. Mus. iii. p. 249 Hume Sf Dav. S. F. vi. p. 213 ; Anders. 
Yunnan Exped. p. 654 ; Legge, Birds Ceylon, p. 390 ; Tiveedd. Ibis, 1878, p. 74 ; 
Hume, S. F. yiii. p. 91 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 270 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 202. 
Dicrurus him alay anus, Tytler, Ibis, 1868, p. 200. Buchanga waldeni, 
Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 497. 
Description. — Male and female. The whole upper plumage with the 
wings and tail blackish ashy tinged with blue ; frontal plumes and lores 
black ; lower plumage dark ashy paling towards the vent ; under tail- 
coverts broadly tipped with white ; under wing-coverts also tipped with 
white j these white tips probably disappear in extreme old age. 
The young have the under surface brown ; wings and tail as in the adult ; 
upper surface dark brown, paling on the mantle and still further on the 
rump. 
Bill, legs and claws black ; iris red. 
Length 11 inches, tail 6*5^ wing 5*5^ tarsus '75,^11 from gape 1*1. The 
two sexes are about the same size. 
The Dark-ashy Drongo is abundant in Southern Pegu and appears to be 
a constant resident. Mr. Davison found it in Tenasserim from Moulmein 
down to Mergui, and I cannot find any notes with regard to its occurrence 
elsewhere in Burmah. Mr. Hume includes it in our list of the birds of 
Upper Pegu, but I cannot remember ever getting this species there. All 
the ashy Drongos I met with in Upper Pegu seemed to me to belong to 
B. leucophaa. 
Although Mr. Davison did not find this bird further south in Tenas- 
serim than Mergui, yet he seems to have procured it at Tonka on the 
coast of the Malay peninsula ; and this appears to be by far the most 
southern locality from which the bird has been obtained. 
It is found in the Indo -Burmese countries and over a great portion of 
the Indian peninsula. 
The Dark-ashy Drongo frequents forest and tree-jungle, never being 
seen near houses. It has the usual habits of these King-Crows. 
This species and the next are only to be distinguished by their colora- 
tion. In B. longicaudata the general tone of the plumage is very dark 
ashy ; in B. leucophcea it is a very light ashy. 
