Bhringa remifer (_Temm._), _Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 434.
Bhringa tenuirostris, _Hodgs., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._ no. 283.
Of the Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo Mr. R. Thompson says:--"This
elegant Drongo is somewhat common in our lower Kumaon 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. Sikhim, Mr. Gammie writes:--"I have taken but one nest of this
Drongo. It was suspended between two small horizontal forking branches
of a tall tree, some 20 feet from ground. It is a neat, saucer-shaped
structure, somewhat triangular, to fit well up to the fork, built of
fibry roots, and firmly bound to the branches by spiders' webs. The
sides and bottom are strong, 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 15th May at 2500
feet, and contained three partially incubated eggs."
A nest of this species taken by Mr. Gammie at Rishap (elevation 4800)
in Sikhim, 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 suspended in the fork
of two widely diverging twigs, to which either 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 3·5 inches by 2·75, by barely 0·75 in
depth. The female seated on the nest had long tail-feathers, so this
species does not drop these for convenience 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. Exteriorly composed of
moderately fine brown roots, more or less 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
_Chaptia_ 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 1½ inch in depth; though strong
and firm, and fully ¼ of an inch thick at bottom, the materials are so
put together that, held up against the light, they look like a fine
network.
The eggs of this species obtained by Mr. Gammie, though more elongated
in shape and somewhat larger, very closely resemble in coloration the
more ordinary type of the eggs of _Dicrurus longicaudatus_. In shape
they are elongated ovals, a good deal compressed towards the smaller
end. The shell is fine, but has scarcely any gloss. The ground-colour
is a moderately warm salmon-pink. It is spotted, streaked, and
blotched thickly about the large end (where there is a tendency to
form a cap or zone), thinly elsewhere, with somewhat brownish red, or
in some merely a darker shade of the ground-colour; where the markings
are thickest about the large end, in some only one or two, in others
numerous blotches and clouds of a dull inky purple are intermingled,
and a few specks and spots of the same colour often occur elsewhere
about the egg.
Two eggs measure 1·09 by 0·75, and a third measures 0·98 by 0·75.
340. Dissemurus paradiseus (Linn.). _The Larger Racket-tailed
Drongo_.
Edolius paradiseus (_L.), Jerd. B. Ind._ i, p. 435.
Edolius inalabaricus (_Scop.), Jerd. t.c._ p. 437.
Dissemurus malabaroides (_Hodgs.), Hume, Rough Draft N. & E._
no. 284.
Of the Larger Racket-tailed Drongo Dr. Jerdon tells us that he has
"had its nest brought him several times at Darjeeling; rather a large
structure of twigs and roots; and the eggs, usually three in number,
pinkish white, with claret-coloured or purple spots, but they vary a
great deal in size, form, and colouring. They breed in April and May."
The solitary egg that I possess of this species, given me by Dr.
Jerdon, is probably an exceptionally small one. It is a broad oval,
tapering a good deal towards one end, a good deal smaller than the
eggs of _Chibia hottentotta_, and not very much larger than some eggs
of _D. ater_. Its coloration, however, resembles that of _Chibia
hottentotta_, and differs conspicuously, _when compared with them_
(though it may be difficult to make this apparent by description),
from those of the true _Dicruri_. The ground-colour is a dead white,
and it is very thinly speckled all over, a little more thickly towards
the large end, with minute dots and spots, chiefly of a very pale inky
purple, a very few only of the spots being a dark inky purple. The
texture of the egg is fine and close, but it is devoid of gloss. This
egg measures 1·1 by 0·87 inch.