of this bird received from Assam agree with the specific character and description given by Mr. Gould, in all points excepting the size, being about one-third smaller; but further observations are required to determine with precision the points by which the long-tailed Edolii are to be discriminated." Horsfield.

Together with the three allied species here noticed, Mr. Gould described one without the racket-tail, by the appellation E. viridescens, as follows: "E. intensé splendenti chalybeo-viridis, supra magis saturatus. Long. tot. 11 unc; rostri, 14; alœ, 5; caudæ, 5; tarsi, 1. Habitat apud Manillam :" the form of the bill (so variable in this genus), of the tail, the structure of the plumage, and how to distinguish it from the allied species, are left to be guessed at; but as the tail is not mentioned to be forked, we may suppose that it is square, and if so, there is a specimen in the Asiatic Society's Museum, which may be presumed to represent this species. Length as described, or a trifle less; of wing do., and outermost tail-feather do., the medial 4 inches: bill to forehead 1 inch, to gape 1 inch, in shape similar to that of E. cristatellus, but rather more compressed, and very densely impended at base by short and unelevated reflected feathers, scarcely lengthened in front as in E. remifer. Plumage nowhere distinctly hackled, but a tendency to this on the sides of the neck; and the clothing feathers are soft and somewhat loose in texture, their glossed tips imparting a spotted appearance to the neck, and a uniform shine on the back, the brilliancy increasing on the wings: tarsi inch. This species is nearly allied to the racket-tailed group, though wanting that particular character.

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12. E. annectans: Dicrurus (olim Buchanga) annectans, Hodgson, Ind. Rev. 1837, 326. There are two specimens of a Drongo in the Darjeeling collection, the smaller of which agrees very well with Mr. Hodgson's description above cited, but the larger (and they are very obviously identical) measures 12 inches to end of outermost tail-feather, the wing 5 inches, bill to forehead nearly 1 inch, and above 1 inch to gape, tarse inch, and hind toe and claw 1 inch in a straight line. The bill, as compared with that of the common E. balicassius (seu albirictus, Hodgson), is longer, considerably less Shrike-like, not so compressed at the terminal half, the ridge is much more angular, the point less hooked, the feathers impending its base are shorter, and less distinct from those of the forehead; the gloss of the plumage has less of a

greenish cast, but more of a greyish-blue, and is not very bright; and the under-parts especially are duller, the throat and belly being dusky and having scarcely any or indeed no gloss. The smaller specimen measures but 10 inches long, the wing 5 inches, outermost tailfeather 5, the medial (which are both imperfect in the other) 43 inches: the twirl of the outermost tail-feathers is less than in E. balicassius.

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I have also a species from the Malay peninsula, which is even intermediate to the last and D. balicassius, but has the tail much less forked than in either, and in this respect and also in its plumage approximates to my presumed C. viridescens. Bill much as in the latter, but widening somewhat more to the base, its upper ridge more elevated than in annectans, and the moderately hooked tip of the upper mandible intermediate to those of annectans and balicassius, and nearly resembling that of viridescens. Length of three specimens 9 to 10 inches, of wing from bend 51 to 5 inches, outermost tail-feathers 4 to 5 inches, medial 4 to 4 inches; bill to forehead 4, and to gape 1 inch, its vertical depth at base exceeding inch; tarse inch: frontal plumes not lengthened, but erect and reversed anteriorly, though to a much less extent than in viridescens; outer tail-feathers curling just perceptibly upwards at the tip. The plumage of this species very closely resembles that of E. balicassius, but inclines a little to assume the character of that of E. viridescens; the tail in the latter being all but square, while in the present it is very distinctly though slightly forked, and the much more angular ridge of the bill will always serve to distinguish it readily from E. balicassius. As out of the host of half descriptions in Latin, French, and English, to which I have access, there is not one that applies satisfactorily to this unquestionable species, I must sever the Gordian tie by styling it E. affinis.*

Recurring now to Mr. Hodgson's paper on the Drongos repeatedly referred to, it may be as well to recapitulate the conclusions at which I have arrived, concerning the species which are there described.

The Cometes (olim Chibia) casia, yields precedence to Edolius Crishna, Gould, and has long previously been figured and described by Latham as the Crishna Crow. The Cometes (olim Chibia) Malabaroides, H. is the Lanius Malabaricus as described by Shaw and figured by Latham and Stephens, but not the Malabar Shrike or Drongo of Sonnerat and Buffon, nor that recently styled Malabaricus by Gould and others it is the E. grandis, Gould.

The Melisseus (olim Bhringa) tectirostris, H. would seem to have been previously undescribed, and must be very closely allied to E. remifer.

13. Pomatorhinus ruficollis, Hodgson, As. Res. XIX, 182; where also are described P. schisticeps, H., which is clearly the same as, and takes precedence of, P. leucogaster, Gould (P. Z. S. 1837, 137); and P. erythrogenys, Vigors (P. Z. S. 1831, 173, and figured in Gould's Century, Plate LV). A fourth Indian species is the P. Horsfieldi, Sykes (P. Z. S. 1832, 89); and a fifth the P. montana, Horsf. (Lin. Trans. XIII, 165, and figured in the Zoological Researches in Java'), which was obtained by Dr. M'Clelland in Assam (vide P. Z. S. 1839, 166). Others inhabit Australia, as the P. turdinus and P. trivirgatus of Temminck (the latter having been figured in Messrs. Jardine and Selby's 'Illustrations of Ornithology,' Plate LXIX); and a third has been characterized by Mr. Gould from the north-western coast of that country, as P. rubecula (P. Z. S. 1839, 144). It is probable that still other species have been added, with which I am unacquainted; the genus having been originally constituted upon one only, which encourages me to distinguish and designate the following:

Xiphirhynchus, Nobis: allied to Pomatorhinus, but the bill much longer and more slender, very thinly compressed throughout its length, widening only at the extreme base, and describing a considerable incurvation. Plumage, wings, and tail, as in Pomatorhinus, but the toes and claws rather more slender and elongated.

The Dicrurus (olim Buchanga) albirictus, H., is clearly E. balicassius, which would appear to be very common throughout India; Mr. Hodgson has figured it in the 18th volume of the Asiatic Researches.

The D. (olim B.) annectans, H., does not appear to tally with any previous description with which I am acquainted.

The Chaptia muscipetoides, H., is identified by Mr. Jerdon with E. æneus, or Dicrurus æneus, Vieillot.

Mr. Jerdon, in his list of birds inhabiting the Indian Peninsula (Madr. Jour., No. XXXV., 238, et seq.), includes five species of this genus, viz. balicassius, cœrulescens, Vieillot (v. Fingal, Shaw, v. leucogaster), doubtful macrocercus, Vieillot, aneus (v. muscipetoides, Hodgson), and supposed retifer. Major Franklin's list (P. Z. S., 1831, 117,) contains only cœrulescens; and that of Col. Sykes (P. Z. S., 1832, 86, but cærulescens and balicassius. Dr. McClelland's collection from Assam comprised grandis, Rangoonensis, balicassius, and aneus: and finally, I may notice that three species are mentioned in Dr. Horsfield's catalogue of the birds of Java (Lin. Trans., XIII, 145), viz. forficatus (? this is an African bird), cineraceus (there described), and alleged Malabaricus.

A monograph of this genus, with full and adequate descriptions of every species known up to this time, would be highly acceptable to ornithologists. Various other insufficient notices of oriental species exist, of which several may refer to some of the foregoing.

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14. X. superciliaris, Nobis : size of a Shahmour (Copsychus macrourus), and slightly rufous brown, with dull ferruginous under-parts, a dark ash-coloured head, and narrow white streak over the eyes. Length of a male 8 inches, and of a female 8 inches; of wing, from bend 23 and 24 inches, and tail 3§ and 33 inches: bill to forehead 2 inches over the curve, and 17 inch in a straight line, the upper mandible a little exceeding the lower one in length: tarse 1 inch, middle toe and claw 1 inch, and hind toe and claw 1 inch, the latter nearly 1 inch. Colour of the upper-parts uniform brown, the quills and tail dusky; of the under-parts dull or but moderately bright rufo-ferruginous; crown, occiput, and sides of the head, dark cinereous, having a narrow superciliary white line continued backward to the occiput: throat whitish, streaked with dusky grey; and breast fainter rufous than the belly, and obscurely spotted with dusky: shoulders of the wings and tibial feathers dark cinereous bill dusky-black, with whitish tips to the mandibles; and legs apparently leaden-brown, perhaps tinged with greenish. The female only differs in having the rufous colouring of the under-parts not so bright. Inhabits Darjeeling, and is reported to be a pleasing songster.

:

The two last genera pertain to a vast natural group, mostly characterized by soft puffy plumage and its usual concomitants-rounded wings and a graduated tail, strong feet and claws (remedying the deficiency of the volar powers), in general a particular style of marking, and the bill assuming almost every modification of form, whence, from the undue consideration with which this organ has been customarily regarded, the various genera have been scattered about in systems according to the resemblances borne by it to the exclusion of everything else. These birds hop with the belly near the ground, taking moderately long springs, their action resembling that of a true Tree-creeper (Certhia) upon a horizontal surface: the greater number are gregarious in parties of eight or ten, chiefly but not wholly insectivorous, seeking their food much among fallen leaves as well as upon trees, and in general they have loud, harsh, and clamorous voices; their flight is short and feeble, and they sail with motionless expanded wings as far as they can before alighting. Many have the bill laterally very much compressed, as exemplified by the two genera last noticed, (but especially Xiphirynchus,) in which it is more or less prolonged and curved downward; the same

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tendency to curve, with strong lateral compression, is retained in the much shorter bill of Timalia (in the species of which considerable diversity in the form of this organ is observable, as seen by comparing T. pileata with T. Horsfieldi); and the brevity and vertical depth attain their ultimatum in Paradoxornis, Gould, (v. Temnoris, olim Suthora, Hodgson, and Bathyrynchus, McClelland,) where also there is considerable lateral compression. Other genera assume the meruline and warbler form of bill, as Prinia, various species of which differ in no other respect from Timalia, and even Orthotomus, where the diminution of size, and delicacy of general conformation are carried to the extreme. Crateropus (v. Ianthocincla, Gould), Cinclosoma, and their immediate allies, vary from the meruline form of bill, passing from that of Pomatorhinus into a corvine, as exhibited by Keropia (the Garrulus striatus of Vigors): and a meliphagidous modification occurs in Alcopus (olim Sibia), Hodgson, which in other respects borders closely upon Crateropus, while it leads off to the tribe of Leiothrix, Heterornis (olim Cutia), Hodgson, Pteruthius (with a Shrike-like bill), and others in every sort of way annectant, which it would be tedious to enumerate further. A second example of one of the most remarkable forms, I proceed to characterize asParadoxornis ruficeps, Nobis. A rigid divider might, indeed, constitate of this a separate division, ranging intermediate to Paradoxornis and Conostoma, Hodgson (ante, X. p. 856) ; but without having a specimen of Paradoxornis to compare it with, I shall provisionally refer it to that genus. Length 7 in., of wing from bend 31, and middle tail feathers 3 in., the two next on either side somewhat longer, the rest graduating, and the outermost in. shorter than the longest: 6th and 7th quills subequal and longest, 5th a mere trifle shorter: bill to forehead inch in a straight line, and above inch in greatest vertical depth, the ridge of the upper mandible describing a considerable curve, and rising somewhat from its base, while the point a little overhangs that of the lower mandible; the sides are compressed, the section of the upper ridge is rounded, and the general form denotes a high degree of compressive power; nostrils round, lateral, and basal, and concealed by semireflected feathers directed upwards: tarsi strong, somewhat exceeding 1 inch in length, and furnished with stout claws suited for perching. General colour olive-brown, darker and tinged with rufous on the wings; white underneath, a little sullied on the flanks and sides of the abdo