Tail feather of the racket-tailed drongo, used as hair ornament. [El.B 06/06/2008]

Collection type: Object
Description: Tail feather of the racket-tailed drongo, used as hair ornament. [El.B 06/06/2008]
Long description: Five feathers 1923.85.345 .1-.5 are mounted together in a glass-fronted frame. [El.B 06/06/2008]
Geographical reference: India
Asia > Southern Asia > India; Nagaland
Cultural groups: Naga
Person: Field collector John Henry Hutton; PRM source John Henry Hutton
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1924
Date collected: By 1924
Acquisition information: Donated: 1924
Materials and processes: Material Bird Feather
Dimensions: Length: max 460 mm approx
Object numbers: Accession number: 1923.85.345.1
Research and responses: Presumably this is the Racket-tailed Drongo (Dissemurus poradiseus) as mentioned in other entries. A drongo is any of 20 species of Old World woodland birds constituting the family Dicruridae (order Passeriformes). The tail of the Southeast Asian racket-tailed drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) bears 30-centimetre (12-inch) "wires", outer feathers that are unbranched for most of their length and carry rather large vanes at the ends. [Encyclopaedia Britannica on line] [AP 26/4/2001]

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