73 
Dicruridae and their Arrangement. 
archipelago; nor has one been found at Malacca. Exclusive 
of C. hottentottay the species form a natural section of the 
Dicrurid(By limited in distribution (with the exception of 
D. bimaensis) by the bounds of the Austro-Papuan area^ the 
Moluccas inclusive^ D. leucops and D.,pectoralis dwelling on 
its confines in Celebes and the Sula Islands. 
Chibia hottentotta. —The title given to the Chinese race of 
this species {brevirostris) and its reference (Mus. Hein. i. 
p. 112. no. 603) are not to be found in the list of synonyms, 
although C, brevirostris is considered by Mr. Sharpe as being 
specifically inseparable. An examination of the type specimen 
at Halberstadt, and a comparison made with forty examples 
from China, lead me to the same opinion. The bill is slightly 
shorter j but that is all. 
The long silky hairs of Mr. Sharpe, which spring from 
the base of the maxilla in C. hottentottay and, recurved back, 
fall over the nape, are really the denuded shafts of a certain 
number of the frontal plumes. Under a lens the aborted 
rudiments of the lateral webs can be readily detected. Behind 
these denuded shafts are usually a number of elongated frontal 
crest-plumes in different states of perfection. 
Chaptia. —Three species are admitted; yet, as Mr. Sharpe 
employs the expression subspecies for forms which, in his 
opinion, are closely allied, it is not easy to detect his reasons 
for allowing C. malayensis and C. brauniana to stand as full 
species. The former is little else than a smaller form of C. 
(Bnea, while the latter is hardly distinguishable at all. 
Buchanga. —Hodgson formed this genus for the reception 
of B. albirictus^ and B. annectens. The latter species is 
scarcely congeneric with the former; but all the long- and 
deeply forked-tailed Asiatic species constitute a natural group, 
to which Hodgson^s generic title is generally applied. Mr. 
Sharpe includes in the genus an African species f, which has 
hitherto, and apparently with good reason, been classed under 
a separate section. 
Buchanga atra. —Under the specific title given by Hermann 
* Mr. Sharpe gives B. macrocerca as the name of the type—a title he 
does not admit when dealing with the species. 
t D. musicus, Vieill.= C. adsimilis, Bechst. 
