326 LANIID^. 



Colonel Marshall has since kindly sent me two of the eggs above 

 referred to; they are clearly, it seeuis to me, eggs of Dicrurus 

 longicaudatus, or the slightly smaller hill-form named liimalaijanus, 

 Tytler. 



Colonel Gr. F. L. Marshall writes : — " A nest found at about 

 three feet from the ground in a thick bush at Bheem Tal, at the 

 edge of the lake, contained five fresh eggs on the 28th May : the 

 nest was a coarsely built massive cup ; the eggs were about the 

 same size as those of L. eri/thronotus, but the spots were larger and 

 less closely gathered than is usual with that species." 



Dr. 8cully says : — " The Grey-backed Shrike is common iu the 

 "Valley of Nepal fi'om about the end of September to the middle of 

 March ; it is the only Shrike found in the Valley during the winter 

 season, but it migrates further north to breed. In December it 

 was fairly common about Chitlang, which is higher than Katbmandu, 

 but seemed to be entirely replaced in the Hetoura Dun by L. nvjri- 

 ceps. It frequents gardens, groves, and cultivated ground, perch- 

 ing on bushes and hedges and small bare trees. It has a very 

 harsh chattering note, louder than that of L. nigriceps, and appears 

 to be most noisy towards sunset, when its cry would often lead 

 one to suppose that the bird was being strangled iu the clutches of 

 a raptor." 



Mr. O. Moller has kindly furnished me with the following 

 note : — " On the 7th June, 1879, my men brought a nest containing 

 four fresh eggs, together with a bird of the present species ; I send 

 two of the eggs : perhaps you recollect the eggs of L. tcpJironotus, in 

 which case you of course wUl be able to see at a glance if I am 

 correct. I have never come across such large eggs of L. nigricejis, 

 the eggs of which also as a rule have well-defined spots and no 

 blotches ; the two other eggs the nest contained measure 1 bv 0-74, 

 and 1-01 by 076 inch." 



The eggs of this species are of the ordinary Shrike type, moder- 

 ately elongated ovals, a little compressed towards the small end. 

 The shell extremely smooth and compact, but A^'ith scarcely any 

 perceptible gloss. The ground-colour pale greenish or yellowish 

 white ; the markings chiefly confined to a broad irregular ill-defined 

 zone round the large end — blotches, spots, specks, and smears of 

 pale yellowish brown more or less iutermingled with small clouds 

 and spots of pale sepia-grey or inky purple. In some eggs a good 

 number of the smaller markings and occasionally one or two larger 

 ones are scattered over the entire surface of the egg, but typically 

 the bulk of the markings are comprised within the zone above 

 referred to. 



In length four eggs vary from 0-97 to 1*06 inch, and in breadth 

 from 0-76 to 0-81 inch. 



481. Lanius cristatus, Linn. The Brown Shril-e. 



Lanius cristatus, Liim., Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 400 ; Hume, Rtnujh Draft 

 N. ^ E. no. 261. 



lam induced to notice this species, t]ieBro\\n Shrike, although I 



