THE PALE-ASHY DUONGO. 
221 
214. BUCHANGA LEUCOPHiEA. 
THE PALE-ASHY DRONGO. 
Dicrurus leucophaeus, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d^Hist. Nat. ix. p. 587 ; Hume, S. F. iii. 
p. 99. Edolius cineraceus, Horsf. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 145. Dicrurus 
pyrrhops, Hodys. in Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 84. Dicrurus intermedius, Bl. 
J. A. S. B. XV. p. 298. Buchanga mouhoti, Wald. Ann. Nat. Hist. ser. 4, v. 
p. 220 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 109. Buchanga wallacii, Wald. Ann. 
Nat. Hist. ser. 4, v. p. 220. Buchanga innexa, Sioinhoe, Ibis, 1870, p. 246 ; 
David et Oust. Ois. Chitie, -p. 110, Buchanga intermedia, Bl. Sf Wald. B. 
Burtn. p. 130 ; Ar?nstrony, iS. F. iv. p. 319 ; Oates, S. F. v. p. 149^ x. p. 202. 
Buchanga pyrrhops, Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 130 ; Armstrony, S. F. iv. 
p. 320 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mtis. iii. p. 251 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 216 ; 
Hume, S. F. viii. p. 92 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 202. Buchanga cineracea, Sharpe, 
Cat. Birds B. Mus. iii. p. 250 ; Ttueedd. Ibis, 1878, p. 75. Buchanga leuco- 
phaea, Hume Sj- Dav. S. F. vi. p. 317 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 92. 
Description. — Male and female. Frontal plumes and lores black ; the 
whole plumage bluish ashy, glossy above, palei' underneath and without 
gloss except on the breast ; upper wing-coverts centred darker ; quills 
more or less brown, tinged with ashy on the outer webs ; tail clear bluish 
ashy, the shafts black and the tips brownish. 
The young have the mantle and tail like the adult ; the other portions 
of the plumage light brown ; the wing-coverts conspicuously edged paler. 
The young change to the adult plumage in the August or September of 
their first year. 
Bill black ; mouth dusky flesh-colour ; iris crimson ; feet and claws 
black ; in the young the iris is brown. 
Length 11 inches, tail 5*4-6*5, wing 5'2-5*75, tarsus '8, bill from gape 
I am ifaable to separate the Pale- ashy Drongos that occur from Java 
up to the Himalayas into two or more species ; they are all absolutely 
identical in coloration and differ in size only. Java birds are the smallest, 
and they gradually increase in size northwards till the maximum dimen- 
sions are reached in birds from Burmah and India. I have never myself 
seen birds with a wing of 5*75 inches, and 1 think that Lord Tweeddale^s 
specimen (/. c.) with a wing of this length must have been quite an excep- 
tional one. In Pegu the wings seem to average about 5*4 and the tails 5*9. 
If we attempt to separate these birds by size only, there will be found to 
be numerous individuals which cannot be ranged either with B. pyrrhops j 
B. intermedia orB, leucophcsa. LordTweeddale maintained the three species; 
Mr. Sharpe retains two only, one of them indeed being, in his opinion, 
merely a subspecies ; and Mr. Hume, as far as 1 can judge, would join them 
all together as 1 have done. 
