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 11/2 inch in depth; though strong and firm, and fully 1/4 of an inch thick at bottom, the materials are so put together that, held up against the light, they look like a fine network.