270 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



LANIUS CABANISI Hartert 



Lanius cabanisi Habtert, Nov. ZooL, vol. 13, p. 404, 1906 : Mombasa. 

 Specimens coixected: 



1 adult male, Tana River, camp no. 5, Kenya Colony, August 19, 1912. 



1 immature male, 1 adult female, junction of Tana and Tliika Rivers, 

 Kenya Colony, August 23, 1912. 



This shrike is the eastern counterpart of L. excubiforlus and ranges 

 from southern Italian Somaliland south through Kenya Colony east 

 of the Rift Valley to northeastern Tanganyika Territory (to Dar es 

 Salaam, Morogoro, and Kilosa). 



As Schiebel has shown,^" this species is phylogenetically closely 

 related to excuhitorius, but as it is so very distinct from the latter 

 in color, it seems better to use a binomial for the present bird. 



This species lives in the thorny scrub of the relatively low plains 

 of coastal and subcoastal eastern Africa, getting inland as far as 

 Nairobi, but chiefly confined to the area known zoogeographically 

 as the southern extension of the Somali region. Inasmuch as the 

 members of the Frick expedition did not ent^r this faunal area 

 until near the end of their journey, only a few specimens were pro- 

 cured — at the Tana River, while others were noted on the Athi 

 River as well. 



The immature bird is molting into adult plumage. The molt is 

 farthest advanced on the head and nape and underparts, least so 

 on the upper back, wings, and tail. The adult male is also in molt; 

 the female is in fresh plumage. 



The breeding season is indicated by the reports of nests in north- 

 eastern Tanganyika Territory late in January, in the Teita district 

 in September, and in southern Somaliland in May and June. 



LANIUS EXCUBITORIUS INTERCEDENS Neumann 

 FiGtJRE 16 



Lanius excuhitorius interccdens Neumann, Journ. fiir Orn., 190.'), p. 228: 



Hawash, Ethiopia. 

 Specimens collected: 



3 males. Lake Abaya, Ethiopia, March 5-20, 1912. 



1 female, Gidabo River, Ethiopia, March 18, 1912. 



1 "male" [==female]. Black Lake Abaya, Ethiopia, March 23, 1912. 



1 male, 3 females, Gato River near Gardula, Ethiopia, April 8-18, 1912. 



1 male, no data. 



The African great gray shrike occurs throughout eastern Africa 

 from the north end of Lake Nyasa north through Tanganyika Terri- 

 tory, Kenya Colony, and Uganda, to Ethiopia and the Sudan, west in 

 the latter country to Lake Chad and northeastern Northern Nigeria. 

 Throughout its range it has become differentiated into four races. 



«> Journ. far Orn., 1906, pp. 174-179, 200. 



