The DRONGO SHRIKES (_Edolii_) constitute a family of birds found extensively throughout Africa, Southern Asia, and New Holland; they appear to form the connecting link between the Shrikes and the Fly-catchers. All the various members of this family have slender bodies, long wings and tails, broad beaks, and short feet. The fourth and fifth wing-quills exceed the rest in length; the tail is composed of ten feathers, and is more or less deeply forked at its extremity. The large thick beak is surrounded with bristles at its broad base; the slightly-curved upper mandible is incised at its edges and terminates in a hook; the tarsi are short, the feet small but muscular, and armed with strong claws. The plumage is dark-coloured, thick, harsh, and possesses a very peculiar gloss. Most species are black, others blue, and some few light or deep blue upon the back and whitish beneath; the eye is always bright red, and the beak and feet black. All the members of this family are very similar in their habits and mode of life. THE KING CROW, OR FINGA. The KING CROW, or FINGA of Bengal (_Dicrourus macrocercus_), is one of the most remarkable and most numerous of the many species inhabiting India. Its length is about twelve and its breadth sixteen inches; the wing measures five inches and three-quarters, and the tail about six inches. In this bird the entire body is of a resplendent black, deepest in shade upon the wings and tail; the under portions are brownish black; the region of the nape is decorated with a white spot. The sexes are alike in colour, and the young are readily distinguished from their parents by white crescent-shaped spots upon the feathers that cover the under surface. The nest is composed of grass, twigs, and roots carefully put together, and contains from three to five eggs of a white colour, with pale brown or purplish spots. The Finga is found throughout the whole of India, Assam, and Burmah, as far as China, occupying almost every locality except the densest parts of the jungle. An almost identical but larger bird is met with in Ceylon. We are also acquainted with four other Indian varieties, and several very similar species inhabit Africa and Australia. * * * * * The DRONGOS (_Chaptia_) are recognisable from the last-mentioned group by their more delicate feet and less decidedly pointed tails. THE SINGING DRONGO. The SINGING DRONGO (_Chaptia musica_) is nine inches long; its wing and tail both measure four inches and a half. The plumage is of a blueish black, enlivened by a most brilliant gloss; the wing and tail-feathers are black; the belly and lower wing-covers dark grey, approaching to black. Le Vaillant discovered this bird in South-eastern Africa, and more recent travellers have seen it in the northern parts of that continent. India possesses a very similar species, which, however, unlike the rest of the group, frequently inhabits dense thickets.