216

339. Bktinga remifer (Temm.). The Lesser Eaclctt-tailed Dromjo.

Bhiinga remifer (Temm.), Jerd. B. Ind. i; p. 434.

Bliringa tenuirostris, Hodgs., Hume, Hough Draft N. $ E. no. 28-'l

Of the Lesser Eacket-tailed Drongo Mr. E. Thompson says:—
" This elegant Drongo is somewhat common in our lower Kuintioii
ranges. Its lively clear and ringing notes are one of the greatest
charms of the spring season in our forests. It breeds in May and
June, and builds upon lofty trees in dense forests, usually in some
deep damp valley. The nest from below looks just like that of a
common. King-Crow—a broad shallow cup ; but I never closely
examined either nest or eggs."

Dr. Jerdon remarks :—" A nest with eggs were brought to me
in June, said to be of this species. The nest was loosely made of:
sticks and roots, and contained three eggs, reddish white, with a
very few reddish-brown blotches."

From Sikliiin, Mr. Gammie writes:—"I have taken but one
nest of this Drongo. It was suspended between two small hori-
zontal forking branches of a tall tree, some 20 feet from ground.
It is a neat, saucer-shaped structure, somewhat triangular, to lit
well up to the fork, built of fibry roots, and firmly bound to the
brandies by spiders' webs. The sides and bottom are si rung, but
so thin that they can everywhere be seen through. Externally it-
measures 4*5 inches across by 1*9 in height; internally 3*5 by 1/3.
It was taken on the loth May at 2500 feet, and contained three
partially incubated eggs."

A nest of this species taken by Mr. Gammie at Eishap (elevation
4800) in Sikhirn, on the 20th May, is a very broad shallow saucer,
composed almost entirely of: moderately fine dark brown roots,
but with a few slender herbaceous twigs intermingled. It is sus-
pended in the fork of two widely diverging twigs, to which cither
margin is attached, chiefly by cobwebs, though on one side at one
place part of the substance of the nest is wound round the twig ;
the cavity, which is not lined, is oval, and measures 3-25 inches by
2'75, by barely 0"75 in depth. The female seated on the nest hail
long tail-feathers, so this species does not drop these for con-
venience in incubating.

Several nests of this species obtained in Sikhim by Messrs.
Gammie, Mandelli, &c. are all precisely similar—broad saucers,
suspended Oriole-like between the fork of a small branch. Ex-
teriorly composed of moderately line brown roots, more or loss
bound together, especially those portions of them that are bound
round the twigs of the fork with cobwebs, and lined interiorly with
fine black horsehair-like roots. They seem to be always right up in
the angle of the fork, whereas in Ohaptia they are often some inches
down^the fork, and consequently the cavity is triangular on the
one side, and semicircular on the other. The cavities measure from
3 to nearly 4 inches in their greatest diameters, and vary from 1
to 1| inch in depth; though strong and firm, and fully* J. of an