( 45r) ) 



side of the sliaft to t!ie liaso ol" tlu' I'l'iitlicrs. In oflicr rcs]i<H'ts tliis sjiccii's is verv 

 similar in ])lnmage to I., li'/iccj/fmi.t, but tiio cliest and sliles of tlu' lirrast liavc a 

 distinct pinkish tint. 



Total longth ca. 1 1 :"> in ; wing 47 — 4"S, tail 5'7 — Tj-s, tarsns 1-2. 



Adult female. — Resembles the male. 



ImmaUtre birds. — Hescmhh' tlie adult in geiiei-iil jilnmage, Imf tlie upiiei' 

 ])arts are washed with brown, indistinctly mottled witli dnsky, and the wing-coverts 

 are strongly edged with biitf. 



U((h. Eastern Mongolia, iManchnria, and North Cliina, ranging north to the 

 month of the Amnr Hiver, westwards to Kan-sn and Alashan, sonthwards to Shen-si 

 and Kiang-sn. 



Lanius giganteus (I'l. XXVI. fig. li). 



Laniux (/ii/ariteiix Deditius, J. f. (). 1887. p. 2H0 (Upjier Yellow R. and Koko-nor). 



Adult male in freskh/ moulted jdmnaqe. — Top of the head, back of the nock, 

 and buck rather dark grey, becoming somewhat lighter on the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts ; lores, feathers below eye, and ear-coverts black; scapulars white ; chin, 

 throat, and under parts white, with a slight rosy tinge from the breast downwards ; 

 wings black, the basal half of the primaries and tiie tijis of the secondaries white, 

 the former forming a conspicuous speculum ; middle pair of tail-feathers black, 

 the remaining pairs black with white tips, the white ra])idly increasing on each 

 successive pair, so that the sixth pair are white, merely black along the basal part 

 of tlie web ne.xt the shaft. 



Total length ca. ]2'5 in. ; wing 0-5, tail, lin, tarsus IS. 



Adult female in freshly moulted plumage. — Similar to the male. 



Adult male in worn plumage. — Has the feathers of the crown and back worn 

 to a brownish white, jirodncing a slightly barred ap])earance. 



Younger birds. — Have the grey of the ujijier parts strongly washed with brown, 

 especially on the rump, and the breast is more distinctly suli'used with buff. 



This species, as its name implies, is easily distinguished from all the other 

 species of Lanins liy its great sine. It is perhaps most nearly allied to L. 

 sphonocercus. 



For the loan of the specimens described I am indebted to the kindness of 

 I'r. Bianchi. 



Hab. Upper Yellow Hiver, Koko-nor, Kansn. 



We now come to the group of smaller Grey-Shrikes, including a number of 

 forms, the extreme types of which, though widely different from one another, as in 

 L. major and its allies, are completely connected by a chain of intermediate forms. 

 At one end we have J.. Iiemileururus with the basal half or more of the i)rimary 

 quills white, the secondaries white with a black patch on the terminal half of the 

 onter web next to the shaft, and the three onter pairs of tail-feathers pure white. 



At the other end of the chain we have A. uncinatus, in which the white at 

 the base of the primary (piills is much reduced, the secondary ([uills black tipped 

 with white, and even the outer pair of tail-feathers are black along the basal jiart 

 of the web next to the shaft. The connecting links between L. Iiemileucurus at one 

 end and L. uncinatus at the other are L. elegans, L. dealLatu.t, L. assimilis, and 

 L. jmllidirostris. In typical examples of L. elegans the wings are marked as in 

 /,. liemili'U<-urus, the secondary (|uills being while ;it I he base of the onter web, but 



