The Marquis of Tweeddale on the Dicruridse. 69 
VI.— Notes on the Dicruridse^ and on their Arrangement in the 
Catalogue of the Collection of the British Museum"^. By 
Arthur_, Marquis of Tweeddale. 
The Dicruridse constitute a natural^ self-contained_, sharply 
defined familywhich has its members ranging throughout the 
Ethiopian and Indian regions and the Austro-Papuan_, inclu¬ 
ding the Moluccas. One^ and only one_, appears .to be migra¬ 
tory, Buchanga leucogenys, which reaches Japan in the summer 
months. As indicated by the form of the beak, the presence 
of strong rictal bristles, the short tarsus, short toes, and 
ankylosed first phalanges of the outer and middle toes, the 
Dicruri are Muscicapine in their affinities ; and this relation¬ 
ship is unmistakably exhibited in their habits. All the 
species of which the ways have been recorded, have the habit 
of descending from their perches to catch insects on the 
wing, and then immediately returning to the same or some 
adjoining place of rest. Some species, such as members of 
the genera Bhringa, Chaptia, Bissemurus, and several of the 
genus Buchanga, never descend to the ground, but capture 
their prey entirely on the wing. Edolius forficatus, accord¬ 
ing to Pollen (‘^Faune de Madagascar"’), has similar habits. 
Those species that do descend to the ground, such as Buchanga 
atra, do so to seize their food, and only remain for a short 
time. This last-named species has the useful habit, where 
there are extensive plains of long dry grasses without 
suitable trees or bushes, of sitting on the backs of ante¬ 
lopes, sheep, cattle, &c., using them as beaters, and catching 
on the wing the insects disturbed by the feet of the grazing 
animals. The feet in all the Dicruri are essentially con¬ 
structed for grasping, by which, together with the lengthened 
tail, walking is rendered difficult, if not altogether impossible. 
During a seven years^ residence in India, I never once ob¬ 
served the common King-Crow {Buchanga atra) move along 
the ground; and it is the most widely spread and least speci¬ 
alized of all the Asiatic species. The flight of all is short, but 
* Catalogue of the Passeriformes in the Collection of the British Mu¬ 
seum.— ColiomorplicB, ' By R. Bowdler Sharpe. (1877.) 
