, that in, perhaps, indifferent light he mistook this
bird for a _Dicrurus_. I may add that the first described type, of
which I have procured numerous specimens from different parts of
the Himalayas, taking _several_ nests with my own hands, is most
characteristic of this species.

In the type with the pinky-white ground, large or small spots often
occur about the large end of a deep purple colour, so deep as to be
almost black, and but for the absence of gloss some of these paler
eggs are very close to those of some of the Orioles. Intermediate
varieties between the two types above described occur, but in not one
of more than sixty specimens that I have examined has there been any
perceptible gloss.

The eggs vary in length from 0.85 to 1.01 inch, and in breadth from
0.7 to 0.75 inch, but the average of fifty-one eggs is 0.95 by 0.74
inch.

329. Dicrurus nigrescens, Oates. _The Tenasserim Ashy Drongo_.

Dicrurus nigrescens, _Oates; Oates, B.I._ i, p. 315.

Mr. Oates found the nest of this Drongo in Pegu. He says:--"I found
one nest on the 27th April at Kyeikpadein, near the town of Pegu, on
a small sapling near the summit. It contained four eggs[A]; they are
without gloss; the ground-colour in all is white. In three eggs the
whole shell is marked with spots of pale purple; these are perhaps
more numerous at the thick end, but not conspicuously so. The fourth
egg is blotched, not spotted, with the same colour.

[Footnote A: I recorded the nest and eggs of this bird under the name
of _Buchanga intermedia_ (S.F. v, p. 149). The parent birds of these
eggs are fortunately still in the British Museum, and I am able to
identify them with this species, which occurs generally throughout
Tenasserim and many parts of Lower Pegu.--ED.]

"The nest is composed of fine twigs and the dry branches of weeds; it
is lined very firmly and neatly with grass. Exterior diameter 5 inches
and depth 2; egg-chamber 31/2 inches across and 11/4 deep. The outside
of the nest is profusely covered with lichens and cobwebs. The eggs
measure from .83 to .95 in length, and .68 to .71 in width."

330. Dicrurus caerulescens (Linn.). _The White-bellied Drongo_.

Dicrurus caerulescens (_L._), _Jerd B. Ind_ i, p. 432.
Dicrurus caeruleus (_Muell._), _Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._
no. 281.

I have never seen a nest of the White-bellied Drongo. Mr. R. Thompson
says:--"This bird's breeding-habitat is from 2500 to 6000 feet in the
Himalayas. It is c