226 
BIEDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Iris red ; bill^ feet and claws black; in the young the iris is brown. 
Length about 21 inches_, tail about 15 to the tips o£ the rackets^ about 
6' 5 to the end of the central tail-feathers_, wing 5* 7-6*6, tarsus 1*1_, bill 
from gape 1*5 ; the crest varies in length from '5 to 2 inches. 
After examining a very large number of these Drongos from all the 
parts of Asia they inhabit, I am of opinion that Mr. Sharpe is correct 
in uniting all the races into one species. Mr. Hume recognizes three 
species in India, Burmah, the Andamans and the Malay peninsula, viz. : — 
D. grandis, with a very large crest and wing from 6*75 to 7 inches; 
D. paradiseus, with medium-sized crest and wing about 6 to 6' 6 inches ; 
and D. platurus, practically without any crest and with a wing about 
5*4 to 5*8 inches. Both D. grandis and D. paradiseus, according to 
Mr. Hume^s views, inhabit British Burmah. I am unable to recognize 
them. My own Burmese specimens have wings ranging from 5*7 to 6*7 
inches in length and crests varying from '5 to 1*5 inch, and they all run 
into one another. It is a precisely similar case to that of the Pale-ashy 
Drongos. There are very numerous specimens which cannot with certainty 
be allotted to one species or the other, and under these circumstances it 
is useless trying to maintain that there are any specific differences of value. 
Mr. Sharpe ends his review of these birds with the following remarks : — 
" Finding it, therefore, quite impossible to define exact specific characters 
for these supposed species, I have united them under one name, and 
merely keep the specimens arranged under difi"erent headings ; for I fully 
believe that a larger series will only show more connecting links, and that 
it will be found more and more impossible to give specific characters for 
those diff'erentiated under the various titles mentioned.^'' 
The Large Backet-tailed Drongo is found over every portion of British 
Burmah except in the vast grassy plains in the south of Pegu, but even 
there it will be found if there be any large number of trees together. 
It is spread over a great portion of India, Ceylon, the Andaman Islands, 
the Indo- Burmese countries, Siam, Cochin China, the Malay peninsula, 
Sumatra, Java and Borneo. 
This handsome and well-known bird is found abundantly in all forests, 
well-wooded parts of the country, compounds and gardens. It is more 
abundant in thick forests than elsewhere, and is of a sociable nature, many 
birds being generally seen together in the same spot. It takes its post on 
a branch, a fence or a fallen trunk of a tree, and flies gracefully after 
passing insects, catching them sometimes on the ground, but without 
alighting on it. The song of this bird is very rich and varied, and it may 
be heard at most times of the year in the morning and evening. 
I have frequently found its nest, but it is usually so inaccessible that it 
is most dangerous to attempt to reach it. It generally selects the extreme 
tip of a bough either on the top of a high tree or well out at the sides, and 
