GREAT DICRURUS . — Dicrurus grandis . 
The Wood Swallows, together with many other birds, are classed together 
under the name of Dicrurine, or Double-tailed Birds, because their tails are 
very deeply cleft. The most conspicuous of these birds is the remarkable and 
beautiful creature represented in the engraving. In its general outline this 
beautiful bird bears some analogy to the Leona nightjar, having two long 
feathery appendages, naked throughout the greater portion of their length and 
webbed only at their extremity. There is, however, this great difference, that 
in the Leona nightjar they proceed from the wings, whereas in the Great Dicrurus 
they are merely prolongations of the external tail-feathers. The colour of this 
bird is deep blue-black, like that of the raven, and its weird-like aspect is 
further strengthened by a large and well- developed crest that starts from the 
top of the head and fiends backwards over the neck. A few of its feathers 
project slightly forwards so as to come beyond the base of the beak. 
